<p>Hi everyone. I have a few questions. I've been thinking about going to graduate school to study power systems or power electronics. Right now I am in my second term co-op with Kimberly-Clark but have realized that I would rather stay away from manufacturing and head more towards electronics (working for a company similar to Siemens or Lockheed Martin).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is getting a masters in EE worth the 2 years (if I can get tuition waived)? </p></li>
<li><p>What are my chances of getting an Assistantship that will pay for schooling?</p></li>
<li><p>Does it really matter where I go?
-Looking at University of Alabama, Clemson, University of Florida, Georgia Tech</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here is my resume:</p>
<p>Entering my senior year at Valparaiso University
Major is Electrical Engineering
GPA: 3.5
Graduating in May 2012
Two co-op terms with Kimberly-Clark
Served as a TA for two semesters.
Served as a Lab Assistant for two semesters.
Comming out with $20k in loans. </p>
<p>Thanks guys.</p>
<p>First, what is your ethnicity? If you are from an underrepresented group (AA, Asian, Latino) try the GEM fellowship. They pay full tuition, provide a stipend ($30K), and insurance. </p>
<p>Now for the job. If you want to work for Lockheed, you need to go to Valpo’s (in the fall/1st semister) career fair, and be active. You could work for any company and get the desired experience you want. I work for P&G and if you would come and work for us, you would go directly into manufacturing, as with any consumer goods company. You just need to look around at the career fair, and most likely, the recruiter from the company will be an alumnus of your university. You just need to be honest with him/her and say what you want to do. I do recruiting for P&G from my undergrad university, and people who are in your situation are very common. Then you could go and get the job, the experience, and get a MS on the company’s dime.</p>
<p>Thanks scaleupchem. I appreciate the response. Well unfortunately I am a white male, so that eliminates the GEM fellowship. I’ll definitely go to Valpo’s career fair this fall and I will probably go down to Purdue’s as well. I’ll be applying to P&G as well as GP for jobs in the fall because I have Mill and staff experience in the paper industry, and that’s where I see myself having the most knowledge. I guess I didn’t realize that some paper companies will pay for their employees to go to grad school because KC does not. KC will give a stipend for MBA but not for a masters in EE. In the future (a lot farther down the road) I would like to become an engineering manager and I’ve been told a masters is a good tool to climb up to that level. I guess I am afraid that if I take a job with KC (or another manufacturing company) I won’t have as much as an opportunity to obtain a masters degree. At KC I’ve done power systems, which is why I commented on that, and enjoy power engineering. </p>
<p>In your opinion, do you think I should take a job or go straight into school? (Assuming it’s paid for) I guess I am stressing over putting off my loans for 2 years.</p>
<p>The unfortunate thing about working in a company such as P&G or KC, is that you don’t necessarly need to get a MS to become a manager. Becoming a manager is not about how smart you are, it is how well you can network. My mentor has a BS in EE, and he is one level under VP (making about $500K+). The CTO was a BS chemical engineer, and she wasn’t from MIT, GT, or Berkley; I think she went to Purdue or Ohio State. </p>
<p>If you would like to go and become a manager, you need to get in a company and just do the work, and most importantly, network. Think about this, in P&G you are hired as a Band I Engineer, making ~$60K-$70K. Then if you do well, you can get promoted to Band II (Senior Engineer). From here, you will have to choose if you go the technical track, or the manager track. The only way you get promoted to the next track (either manager, Section Head or technical, Band III Principal Engineer) is if you have a group of people making it easy for you to get there. You literally have to have a manager and a Associate Director who both want you to get to the next level. If that is not the case you won’t make it. </p>
<p>In fact, if you have networked enough, someone could create a position for you to go into. What you have picked to do is not necessarly easy, but it is doable. It took one of my mentors 10 years to become a manager, and that is after he got 5 patents issued, and was project manager on three very difficult and highly profitable projects.</p>
<p>Thanks again for reposting. That’s interesting. I guess I had always assumed that if you wanted to move up in a company you had to have the credentials. You’re right though. This morning I looked up my manager’s academic background and he has a BS in ME and his MBA both from small universities. Thank you for the advice. I will definitely start networking better during these last two week. Yeah I realize it’s not easy to climb up to a managerial position but hopefully I can find my way. I had no idea you could make that much money sitting under VP, that’s nuts!</p>