<p>Im graduating in two weeks with a degree in Industrial Engineering from University at Buffalo and currently have 1 internship under my belt. After working at this internship I realized it's not something I want to do for the rest of my life due to how quickly they cap out (financially). It doesn't allow too many opportunities to move up in to a company. I see some of my friends who graduated 5-6 years ago are still in the same position that they started in engineering.</p>
<p>I want to eventually work where I have opportunities to move up in the career. So I want to know what would be my best option to enter into Business setting where I can use my engineering degree. I don't have a solid GPA to start with. And as far as going to MBA school, its not an option right now due to financial reasons. But any idea or experience with this would be really helpful.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what type of internship you have, but there are a lot of jobs out there in which you don’t get stuck. </p>
<p>You mention a “non solid” GPA, that may hinder you into getting the business roles as some of those roles that I have had offers from had a 3.5 cutoff. </p>
<p>If I were you I would go on Indeed and just search for Industrial Engineering. Look through the enormously diverse amount of jobs on there that request IE’s and see which one you like as opposed what you don’t like. I have found many jobs in healthcare and finance that request IE’s and have full fledged IE departments.</p>
<p>IE may or my not be the right field for you but I’m not sure I would base that on one internship. Maybe that employer and job just wasn’t the right fit for you? The good thing about something like IE is that it seems very flexible. You could work in a plant, for a bank, for a consulting firm, etc. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!</p>
<p>There is no shortage of CEO’s, CTO’s, CIO’s, vice presidents, and directors who are engineers. Do what they all did; work for a few years in an engineering role and then move to management. </p>
<p>IE’s also do well moving into areas like operations or program management, again within just a couple of years of graduation. One internship should not dissuade from applying your education, there are plenty of genuinely good opportunities out there. </p>
<p>Don’t base your career decisions on your friends job advancements or on your internship itself. Why?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Job advancement, in any career, depends on how much you go out and push yourself; and how you push yourself. You can just show up for work every day and do as you are told and get no where. BUT, those that figure out what needs to be done and goes and does it will surpass you every time. If you have to be told, then it really isn’t sinking in. You need to inform your boss what you are doing as to keep within budget and usually some other bounds, but you get the idea. You really want your boss’s job, so start helping him with it. If that doesn’t set well with him/her just remind him that you are only trying to make him look better as he trained you and you are freeing him up for doing more of his “upper level” work (i.e. so he can do HIS boss’s job, etc.). So, I would guess that your friends aren’t really pushing themselves the right way in their job (although they may feel that they work very hard, it was what they are working at that doesn’t fit the mold to advance)</p></li>
<li><p>I hired many an intern. The hard thing about interns is finding something interesting for them to do that fits within their skill level, is not a critical job as they have no proven track record and it could be a big risk to give them a critical task, finding a task that can be accomplished within the timeframe of the internship. So what happens is that many interns get dull, uninteresting, unchallenging tasks. I was able to avoid doing that, but it wasn’t easy. Most interns aren’t so lucky. Did you spend any time seeing what the full time employees did and whether or not those jobs would be interesting to you?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Work for a while. Save some money. Then decide if you want to go back to school for a business degree. A business degree with no industrial experience is, IMHO, an even more boring job (and paid less) than any engineering job I can think of. You may also discover that a business degree isn’t always that best set of skills you need to advance. People skills and knowledge of your particular field of engineering are typically much more important skills to learn to advance within a company. Once (if?) you reach middle management, then a MBA might help, but usually not much before that.</p>
<p>@parh6512 You are making a lot of wrong conclusions based on bad information and anecdotal evidence. People who are mediocre will most certainly stay at the same position for years and not get a raise or be promoted because they probably do not deserve it. It has nothing to do with their degree.</p>
<p>And yes, there is a lot of mediocre people in IE, people who think they will get through life by doing the bare minimum and never go above beyond, even more so with this younger generation who seem to believe that they are entitled to a life of luxury because they earned a piece of paper.</p>
<p>Even more disturbing is the idea that a MBA will fix your life and be a solution to all your problems. I don’t know where you people get your ideas from but I think, you need to experience real life first before you make so many erroneous assumptions about your future.</p>
<p>Our CEO is a plant rat (aka industrial / manufacturing engineer). He started about as low as they get 30 years ago setting up storage bins and the like. He now runs the company and is very well respected by his underlings.</p>
<p>Some IE’s do get stuck (how’s 16 years in the same role with the same manager sound? we both love what we do) but more often than not it’s because they found their niche. Lots of people in my wife’s line of work are IE’s (manufacturing IT). </p>
<p>There’s no job that has guaranteed money and advancement. That’s called a ‘trust fund’ ^:)^ </p>
<p>@Turbo93 makes some great points. If I found an IE job making decent money where the stress level was relatively low, I would stick with it too.</p>
<p>Sometimes I get tired of hearing these kids complain about their “First World Problems”. </p>
<p>If @parh6512 only knew what is like to be an Industrial Engineer in Elbonia. Making 1/10th of what we make here, having to deal with corrupt Government bureaucrats and clanky Soviet era equipment.</p>
<p>Are you kidding? IE is one of the most diverse yet useful degrees in the country. You can literally go into any industry. There are thousands of new job postings on indeed every day! </p>
<p>Check this: I just read a job posting by the US Gov that was stating that with 1 year of experience and a 4 year IE degree you could be making 100,000 in Washington DC! You are looking in the wrong places my friend!</p>
<p>Start at an IE job then look for opportunities for lateral movement which will expand your business & management skills.</p>
<p>Supply Chain Management is also a good area for IE’s if you like Manufacturing and Logistics. People with an IE degree will much more competitive for those jobs than people with Business, Econ or even Supply Chain Management degrees.</p>
<p>If you follow a clear path, get your certifications, become involved with APICS and get into Management, a typical Supply Chain Management manager with some years of experience will easily make 100 K. A VP of Supply Chain Management can break the 200K/year + bonus.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the positive feedback everyone! </p>
<p>I will definitely look into all the options. I just don’t want to stay in the engineering field for so long. Getting into management has always been my dream. Hence I didn’t go to business degree. But IE field is so broad and is there specific field that has more potential then other? For example, Manufacturing vs Operations Research vs Human factors. Im mainly applying for all the IE postings on job sites. Not sure what other keywords I can use to get more results for the search. But any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>I bet you will find a good fit IE job. Don’t give up after a sample size of one 
</p>
<p>Tell us what you liked (if anything) and disliked in your internship. Ditto for your classes. Maybe we’ll have some more ideas for you. </p>
<p>Just because the degree says IE it doesn’t mean you can - or should - apply indiscriminately. I have a grad degree in IE in Human Factors, and my wife a graduate degree in IE - manufacturing. </p>
<p>We had 2-3 classes together and the rest was things like ‘Product Usability’ for me and ‘Material Handling Systems’ for her. Hardly any overlap.</p>
<p>Agree. Something will click. My IE son interviewed for a couple of companies that were great , well regarded companies but not doing something he seemed all that excited about. In contrast, he called after the interview with the place he ended up with and he was very excited, confident, energized. I got off the phone with him and thought that was it and it was .</p>
<p>What I like about my internship was that the work didn’t require me to stare at the computer screen all day. I was actually working in a production facility where I would have to walk around and talk to people and engage with them to figure out the problem.</p>
<p>What I disliked about the internship was the work was related to making documents for ISO standard like (SOPs and Process Flow charts). It wasn’t necessarily hard but but I figured I could do more. Part of the reason I disliked working with this company was also that they DIDN’T have any engineers working for them. We (first time interns) were the first ones with engineering background so nobody we could go to and have our work checked. </p>
<p>I took wide variety of classes in IE. Here are some to list few:</p>
<p>-Engineering Economy
-Operations Research 1 and 2
-Production Planning
-Facility Design
-Computer Integrated Manufacturing
-Quality Assurance
-Digital Simulation Modeling
-Human Factors in Systems Design
-Work Physiology
-Ergonomics
-Technology Entrepreneurship (A Business class where I had to design a new product and come up with a business plan and present it in front of judges to get funding for it)
-Independent Study (Worked with one of my IE professors to make class notes for a new class he’s teaching next semester)</p>
<p>@parh6512 Your internship is probably as real as the workplace is going to be. There will be a lot of frustration and yes, sometimes you will be doing stuff that is below your capacity but you can’t really complain because most companies could care less, it is not about you, it is about the bottom line.</p>
<p>If you are not happy, they will either hint you to leave or get rid of you.</p>
<p>Chaotic environments is the norm in most companies I have worked for. I do not have any experience working in manufacturing but my buddy described the co/op he is doing at a local manufacturing company as very chaotic at times</p>
<p>Sorry, but your internship is a pretty good representation of what the work environment will be like. </p>
<p>^Yeah, I have seen a few companies do this-not have actual engineers… I spoke with a recruiter at Eaton and she said they used to have “operations engineers” that came without actual engineering degrees. She said they were phasing this out because everything worked great until something actually complicated happened… I’m pretty sure P&G does this too with their manufacturing/production engineers. Everyone is always trying to save a buck. </p>
<p>So, out of those courses, which ones did you like, and which ones did you hate? Most jobs that IE’s end up in will all involve the human element. Processes, of all kinds, need people.</p>
<p>My wife worked on the software for a machine that makes medicines. Let’s just say that they wrote it and tested it to CMM Level 5 standards. </p>
<p>Part of it involved writing the SOP’s and work flow documents. So, one of them involved the bucket which collects pellets of the ‘raw’ medicine (bulk). They used a bucket that looked, well, like, a bucket from Home Depot.</p>
<p>The bucket had its own RFID tag which talked to the rest of the system. The bucket also had its own maintenance and use SOP. =)) </p>
<p>I got to read the SOP looking over her shoulder. It included cleaning instructions, paying special attention to the ring of the bucket which collects dust… with pictures and everything and a quiz that the operators had to take.</p>
<p>She taught the class on how to use and clean the bucket too.</p>