They assemble the axles that are used on Mack’s trucks. Although I just really wanted to get hired as a software engineer right after graduating, I knew that I didn’t possess the skills needed for that to be realistic.īy the way, Westport is a partner company of Mack. I graduated in December 2019 (side brag: I graduated with a 3.52 so I definitely redeemed myself from my undergrad years □ ) and after job searching a bit I took a job as an industrial engineer at Westport Axle in March 2020. Now I just needed to figure out how I was going to do it. I was determined to become a software engineer. Then by listening to the CodeNewbie podcast, I was able to learn that it was very possible to get a role as a software engineer without having a Computer Science degree. From reading Barron’s I was able to learn that there were a lot of opportunities in the technology industry, especially for software engineers. I took a Python Data Mining course, a Business Analytics course using R, and a linear algebra course that used AMPL (which is sort of a programming language).ĭuring this semester, I had also been reading Barron’s magazine and listening to different tech podcasts (favorite being CodeNewbie). I was willing and determined to overcome my fear of programming languages. The following semester, I took courses that would allow me to learn more about the data sciences. I decided that I should email my friend from the library help desk and ask him more about Big Data. While working at Mack, I started to realize just how much data gets passed around for a company of that size. That next semester I did an internship at Mack Trucks. He was convincing, but I wasn’t yet completely convinced. He said that I should seriously consider taking ISE courses that could lead to me getting a career as a data scientist. He was talking about Big Data and he was selling it pretty well. I remember one day when I was working a shift at the library help desk, I was having a conversation with a fellow co-worker who just so happened to also be in my program. I had also taken a C++ course in my undergrad and didn’t do so well, so I opted to study industrial engineering instead. At the time though, I wasn’t very computer-savvy. Now to be completely honest, I did consider studying Computer Science. I enrolled in the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) graduate program at Lehigh University. After doing some research I decided that I could see myself working as an industrial engineer. While searching for work I had seen quite a few postings for industrial engineering roles. After two years of unsuccessful searching, I made the hard choice to go back to school. Then I went on to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam. Additionally, in an attempt to improve my resume I took two courses at a local community college. I also worked a few different part-time jobs to pay off some of my student loans during this time. While not ideal, I am certainly glad that it was an option. Also it was kind of tough in general to get interviews for non-petroleum engineering roles because I had such a specialized degree (although some of my friends were able to do it, so maybe it was just mostly my interviewing skills to blame).ĭuring this time I was fortunate enough to have parents that allowed me to live at home. these books helped: Presence by Amy Cuddy and How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie). I also wasn’t very good at interviewing (but I did get better. I decided that after I finished the program, I would try to get a job in another engineering field instead. Mainly because I realized that while it was true that I would have the opportunity to travel a lot, I would likely be travelling to remote areas and working long hours. Petroleum engineers also have pretty decent salaries, so that was certainly a factor too.īy my senior year though, I wasn’t as enthusiastic about working as a petroleum engineer anymore. I think what initially appealed to me the most about the program was the high job placement rate and the potential to travel to different parts of the world. Undergradįor my undergrad I attended Penn State University and earned a BS in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. Just a reminder, these are just my opinions. My hope is to offer some insight that I gained from my own coding journey to make your journey a bit easier. There are a lot of great resources available on the internet to become a job-ready software engineer, but it can be a challenge to separate the signal from the noise. If you are thinking of switching careers to become a software engineer, then this post is for you.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |