End of a Bad Year.

[Evilhalfling]

rereading my posting- it looks like the intro to a reallt bad comedy.....

On the plus side you may be winning the worst year off....

 

[megamania]

and the final prize winnings is.... a fabulous trip for four to the armpit of the universe......




I figure sooner or later I will hit rock bottom and then it will get better each and every year after that. (trying to be positive but it feels wrong to me)

 

[LightPhoenix]

Also had a sucky 2009. Laid off in January, April, AND December. Of course, they were all low wage temp jobs, so it wasn't unexpected. I really didn't expect that was the best I could do with a freaking Engineering degree, though. Was unemployed Feb, March, May-first week of October, and last half of December to present. I think that's over half the god-forsaken year.

I feel your pain. I got my MS in Bioengineering in August; I still haven't found a job in the field yet. I'm working a temp job at a retail store that I'm about to get let go from. The worst part is I'm making small talk with customers, and almost every single one of them that does engineering has the same story about how long they spent unemployed. I suppose I should be happy I have any job (though not for long), but it still makes me feel like crap. It won't really matter if I get let go from my retail job, since I'm barely getting enough hours to pay rent, let alone bills. I just don't want to have to go back to the esteem-crushing world of job hunting. Blah.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Not to digress, but...

Some job listings you might be interested in where I work:

Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs
Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs
Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs

One of the most common thing to do here at Fermilab is for fresh-out-of-college scientists and engineers to get a job as an Accelerator Operator (second link) in the Main Control Room. You learn a little bit about everything in the lab working that job, and for most Operators it's a spring-board position that you later can use to transfer to a job a little more appropriate to your skills in a another Department. Plus, Operations is always hiring and if you're as qualified as you say you are, you shouldn't have trouble getting hired.

Thanks, I'll check it out. Nothing I'm qualified for in the first link, other 2 I'll apply for.

I feel your pain. I got my MS in Bioengineering in August; I still haven't found a job in the field yet. I'm working a temp job at a retail store that I'm about to get let go from. The worst part is I'm making small talk with customers, and almost every single one of them that does engineering has the same story about how long they spent unemployed. I suppose I should be happy I have any job (though not for long), but it still makes me feel like crap. It won't really matter if I get let go from my retail job, since I'm barely getting enough hours to pay rent, let alone bills. I just don't want to have to go back to the esteem-crushing world of job hunting. Blah.

Yeah, it sucks. Even though it sucked getting laid off again so that now I'm just sitting around the house most days, that's about the only thing that is bad about not having the low wage temp jobs vs. unemployed. If it's not a living wage, or enough to support yourself and dependents, the amount you're getting each week is rather trivial. My friend is trying to start a law firm and offered to hire me 3-5 hours a week to clean up his office and organize his email, and asked me what salary I'd want. I told him it didn't really matter, with such little work it's not like I'd be able ot support myself with it anyway, may as well be minimum wage. I was only going to bother with it because hanging out with him would be cool. (I actually ended up passing up on it so that another one of our mutual friends who desperately needed money could do it, which is just amazingly depressing)

 

[Infiniti2000]

What branch of engineering? What degree and from where?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Electrical Engineering, from URI.

I'd like to do directed energy weapons, and optics/lasers in particular, but I'd be happy doing other things if that doesn't pan out. Heck, my degree's going to be obsolete soon, I'd just be happy to be an engineer!

 

[Infiniti2000]

We have no particular need for electrical engineers, but for your specific interest, I suggest you look at the USAF Directed Energy Directorate. In particular, do some quick research on which companies have contracts with them and then apply at those companies. I'm not sure if the USAF itself is hiring in this regard. There's a crap-load of optics/lasers stuff here in Orlando, but I'm guessing you probably exhausted that. Now, if you were an Optical Engineer I'm sure you could find a job more easily...maybe not. I just know that they're rare. Another option, not sure if you tried it, is to look at employment at universities, perhaps within a subsidized research company within a university. One of (I'm sure) many examples, is IST. Best of luck. I don't know of any hiring, but then I'm not looking at job postings.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

We have no particular need for electrical engineers, but for your specific interest, I suggest you look at the USAF Directed Energy Directorate. In particular, do some quick research on which companies have contracts with them and then apply at those companies. I'm not sure if the USAF itself is hiring in this regard. There's a crap-load of optics/lasers stuff here in Orlando, but I'm guessing you probably exhausted that. Now, if you were an Optical Engineer I'm sure you could find a job more easily...maybe not. I just know that they're rare. Another option, not sure if you tried it, is to look at employment at universities, perhaps within a subsidized research company within a university. One of (I'm sure) many examples, is IST. Best of luck. I don't know of any hiring, but then I'm not looking at job postings.

Thanks, I know of the Directed Energy Directorate, I'd really like to do that. But I think going into the military is the only realistic way that will even happen. Either to do one term of service and then move on or full 20 years and then jump over. I just did a casual usajobs search first for "AFRL" and then "Engineer" in general. Every entry requires some sort of "1 year specialized experience," a PE license, or both.... Add onto that the whole, thing where no submission with USAJOBS has ever led to a response, even to say I was declined, and...this is why I stopped bothering with federal job searches aside from the few that let you apply directly (like the CIA) on their own website.