<ul>
<li>Age 21 - Graduate with engineering degree. Get good job.</li>
<li>Age 24 - Decided to go to law school to become an IP/Patent law attorney
— (or Masters in Eng, or MBA, etc. or maybe decided to become an MD - who knows?)</li>
<li>Age 27 - Done with law degree, masters, etc. - possible move into new career area based on present interests.</li>
<li>Age 27-30s - Keep working </li>
<li>Age 30s (perhaps sooner) - decides to have a baby. Has one or two. Decides one of 3 options - keep working at work, be a stay at home mom, work at home (perhaps in a planned way by choosing an appropriate position and company, especially a top 100 great place to work that’s flexible in this area)</li>
<li>Age 40s-50s - Keeps working, if desired</li>
<li>Age 50s - Starts fretting over her own kids’ life plans. Posts as much on CC for therapeutic purposes. The cycle repeats.</li>
</ul>
<p>You know you can’t have her life plan laid out in front of you since even she has no idea what the plan will be. We all are presented forks in the road and even obstacles in the road ahead of us and we make decisions at the time of encountering them based on our best efforts/plans at the time. </p>
<p>This also isn’t etched in stone as she heads down this path. If she decides she doesn’t like the path she’s on she can change it - i.e. if later on she decides to get a Masters or PHD she can.</p>
<p>One might end up with regrets but that works out both ways - what if she spends the next x years of her life getting the PHD and then finds out she doesn’t like the position options open to her - she might regret that she wasn’t able to work in industry all that time and very real, could regret the lost income. You can’t predict ‘regrets’.</p>
<p>I worry that my daughter will get offered something early in her senior year and then second-guess herself the rest of the year. It sounds as though your daughter feels good about this company and that is wonderful. It is worth a lot that she feels as though it is the right move. Best wishes to her.</p>
<p>In my experience, many young women these days are concerned about balancing family and career long before they are married or ready to have children. I have heard these concerns expressed by HS students aiming for a career in science. This may be a factor in the OP’s daughter’s decision to take a position at this company. If she has spoken to or worked with older women there who have children, and observed that the atmosphere is supportive, that could be a major factor in her decision.</p>
<p>Work / family balance is a pipe dream this day and age. Sure, if you luck into SAS Institute or some other known entity, but the Mrs. has worked in two companies that are renowned for their work life balance and it was a joke of epic proportions. More ‘Animal Farm’ where some animals are more equal than others than anything else…</p>
<p>This message board is full of postings from very successful career women. The content of their posts makes it reasomably clear to me that to say they have simultaneously managed to be involved in their children’s lives is a nassive understatement. So it can be done. Or I suppose they could all be lying.</p>
<p>My friend got her MBA while working full-time, being a great mom & wife (though she was not an engineer). Another friend is also working full-time, a single mom & pursuing her PhD in electronic curriculum. I don’t think it’s all that unusual for young people to be able to pursue graduate school after working awhile, whether they choose to work & go to school and/or start their families. It depends on motivation, organization & resources. </p>
<p>It is not really our choice to make in any case, which is why we are encouraging our kiddos to make choices that work for them (even if secretly we can see advantages if our S had also pursued his grad engineering studies instead of accepting his full-time job, which we did discuss with S but respected the choice he made).</p>
<p>The bottom line is, Grad. school degree may or may not be used in a future, may or may not present any advantage, while job experience in your field is ALWAYS a huge plus. Actually, in my field, any schooling is just a little ticket to get employment. I had 9 jobs, I had to get educated all over (by myself) at every one of them. Different industries, different company business cultures, different computer platforms, languages, other software requirments, policies, procedures. Formal education is just a way to open little door and start learning all over again about real things that are much much more complicated than any class at any school can cover.</p>
<p>I think your daughter is on the top-flight career path for an engineer. If she were a chemist who wanted to work in an industrial lab, then she would need a Ph.D. in order to run her own research group (generally speaking). Engineering operates differently as a field. If she looks at the structure in her company, she can tell you whether a Ph.D. in engineering would be of any advantage. Most places, it would not. If she changed direction, and wanted to become a professor, then of course she should get a Ph.D. However, if you are concerned about her income, then working for a company is the better choice (even at the Ph.D. level).</p>
<p>Down the road, she may be encouraged to get an MBA and go into management. By the time she reaches that juncture, she may well be ready to do that. This path could lead to the highest levels in the company.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have anything to worry about.</p>
<p>I’m a woman electrical engineer. I went to grad school immediately after undergrad, in a PhD program, but ended up quitting with a master’s degree, because I found that I didn’t like the very theoretical stuff and wanted to try working. I have two children, which I had somewhat young, one 2 years after leaving school with the MSEE, and another 3 years later (5 years after MSEE). At various points in time I have considered returning to school to finish the PhD or get an MBA, but never did it, both because of family concerns, and because my career was advancing fine without the additional degrees. I did take a number of “executive education” business school classes, on my company’s dime, which I found valuable. When I was an undergrad, it would never have occurred to me that I might be interested in taking business classes someday.</p>
<p>I agree that it is harder and less likely for women with children to go back to grad school, although I have known some who have done so. Still, I wouldn’t consider that to be a reason to go to grad school immediately after undergrad if the student isn’t interested in it. Interests change over time. Taking a job as an engineer at a good company doesn’t close possible future paths, but opens up a lot of possible paths.</p>
<p>My girlfriend is an electrical engineer and wound up going back to get her MS through night classes at a large, well known school starting about two years after she graduated. It took a bit of time and some hard work, but she got her MS for free from a great school while earning a full engineer’s salary. Really not a bad deal.</p>
<p>I am not in the chemical engineering industry but I am in engineering (software). The M.S. or M.Eng degree does not have to come until later on (late 20’s even early 30’s). Although your daughter says that she does not want to manage, she will probably find out that it would be wise to get that M.S. or M.Eng to qualify for the senior-level non-management positions.</p>
<p>As for management, many tech companies are now only paying the senior-senior management more money (like CIO’s, CTO’s and maybe the managers directly below them). In many companies today, the senior strictly-technical engineer is making the same money as the manager…because many of us “techies” do not want to manage. A manager’s pay usually comes out of the company’s “overhead” money bucket. That leads to unpaid overtime hours. A senior non-management engineer may be on a contract with the company/employer and some other client and (depending on how the contract is structured) can be paid for EVERY HOUR worked…plus they are not worried about 100 other employees who report to them.</p>
<p>Over the years, many employers have created more lanes (and pay) for engineers who do not want to manage.</p>
<p>I would not fault your daughter for her thought process. The whole “aim to be a manager” goal is not what it used to be.</p>
<p>^One reason my husband and I started our own design firm is that it was the best way to increase our earnings without moving into management positions. We LIKE doing design.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t push your daughter to go to grad school if she doesn’t want to. I would suggest encouraging her to interview at a few more companies. She’ll never again have this chance to so easily find out what is out there, and who knows–she might even find something she likes better than her current one.</p>
<p>DH is a design electrical engineer who works for a company. He is very well compensated and does not have an advanced degree at all. His experience in the field is what has earned him new jobs and promotions within jobs. </p>
<p>Working for a company you like is PRICELESS. The OPs daughter has a company she WANTS to work for…and she knows that company. There is nothing to say that this is a forever thing…but for now, it sounds terrific. Congratulations to her.</p>
<p>"I agree that it is harder and less likely for women with children to go back to grad school, although I have known some who have done so. "</p>
<p>-Here is another one. Not only to grad. school, started back at CC becasue I did not like my original profession - also Electrical engineering. I love what I do now. I went back to CC, found a job after graduation and many various employers paid for another BS and MBA. It was fun, at some point of time all 3 of us were going to school, one (Son) as a full time student. It is very possible to do everything and have a great fun with each activity, I never quit my daily exercise either and in a summer studied mostly by the pool. But somebody mentioned it absolutely correctly, everything is easy (although might still be time consuming) after engineering, there is simply no comperison, well aside maybe from going to Med. School, it is not easy at all, actually it might be harder.</p>
<p>I have a friend (BS in industrial engineering), who, like me, went back to a part time MBA program in the evening paid for by her employer. Then life intervened. She became pregnant w triplets and put on medical leave. She was at home w them for a few years and ran a small business out of her home. Then she went back to her MBA program full time -at this point, a good 10-15 years older than her classmates -and is now a vp at Morgan Stanley. (the triplets are now high school age)</p>
<p>Today I was asking DD about her upcoming interviews. She said that her sponsor at her current internship job is going to really push for her to get quality engineering. Apparently that is not usually offered to new grads. You guys are right. She will excel on her own terms. She’ll be fine…and happy.</p>
<p>That’s great news,land64shark! My son,soon to be a senior in engineering, just got offered a permanent position , in writing, for when he graduates next year- with the company he interned for this summer. He likes the company, they are also considered a great place to work, and he likes the work they are doing. He is excited and relieved to have a job in the bag. He may interview at the Career Fair this fall but he seems pretty happy already with having a great opportunity at a place he is familiar with ,is in a great area for young people (DC area)and likes. Good luck to your daughter! Our kids are very lucky to already have jobs waiting for them. It’s all good.</p>
<p>OP - You are right to trust your DD to excel on her own terms. Most 22 year old engineering grads (female and male) have no near term plans for children. Delaying grad school has the advantage of picking preferred specialty based on experiences (if engineering) or perhaps even degree (MS vs MBA). Good luck - enjoy the ride.</p>