<p>I need an advice from you guys, and i'm not sure if i'm in the right forums. I did search for a long time for a place that i can ask for an advice on my concerns.</p>
<p>I'm a recent graduate from Industrial Engineering, i really like the major especially the business side in it and how it improved my analytical thinking and problem solving (i.e. finding solutions for making stuff better). On the other hand i hated the manufacturing side, not my top interests.</p>
<p>I'm also really interested in Technology and IT very much and knows a lot about it.</p>
<p>I have been offered a job as a "Research & Development Analyst" in Consulting services & Innovation department in an IT company, the job is about working on new projects (Mostly IT related, maybe some sort of service idea/website ideas..etc) & finding best solutions for developing them and making them better.. and handle the project until it is completed and have a possibility to be sold or maybe turned into a separate company.</p>
<p>Nothing to do with programming and development (there's a department for that)</p>
<p>This is from what i asked and searched. So it seems like a project management that needs some thinking and creativity.</p>
<p>I liked it and i know people always say go for what you like, money and everything els doesn't matter.</p>
<p>But i have to ask, by going this career path, did i waste 5 years in college in an irrelevant major?
Is it so far from my major and maybe its better to stick with a job that is related to IE? </p>
<p>I really have been thinking so long of it, and need your advice!</p>
<p>Please if this forum is wrong link me to a website that might help.</p>
<p>I’m currently an IE major at my school and a lot of companies recruit our major for IT business analyst roles.(little different from your job but is in the same general area) It might not matter as much but did u r schools program require a decent amount of cs type classes (database, programming etc just curious because we have a good amount of required classes that deal with IT) I also think that it is worth noting that the company would not have offered you the job if they did not think you were qualified or teachable. Ie is all about process improvement/modelling yeah theres a lot of specific classes like optimization, stochastics, and simulation which work well in fields like manufacturing, supply chain, etc but either way hopefully your program taught you how to think and see solutions to complex problems. That skill set can be applied to anything especially the job ur asking about.(which is why consulting firms recruit a lot of industrial engineering majors) So no I don’t think you wasted the last 5 years and I believe your ie degree will help you more than you think it will.</p>
<p>My wife is an MS IE and has worked IT all her life; mostly manufacturing IT and now supply chain IT.Several of her colleagues are also IE’s. It’s a pretty legit field as you have excellent analytical skills out of the program and lots of off-the-wall knowledge that the typical IT dude may not have (simulation, optimization, process improvement, etc).</p>
<p>I know an engineer who became a patent attorney. He did not ‘waste’ his engineering degree to then go into law. It is his engineering degree that enables him to understand the mechanics of what people are trying to protect. Engineering is a great base for many areas of future work. </p>
I also know an engineer who aspired to become a patent attorney. Upon receiving his degree he realized he could make orders of magnitude more money working on the thriving family divorce law business
Patent law is good money, actually. I’be got a couple patents and you really need the engineering expertise if you’re the in-house counsel to review and prepare for submissions to the USPTO and so on.
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