Hello everyone So, I am in my last semester of engineering school and I am worried sick about what will come next. I haven't yet landed a job in any of the career/job fairs. The thing is, this is not how I expected my life to be at the end of four years of college. All through school, I was an excellent student, always in the top three of my class. And, then college happened. I got into one of the best colleges in my country and I couldn't keep up. I scraped by with average grades. In the beginning, I tried hard , and managed to keep up a good enough GPA. But soon, I started to slacken. And, this is not because of my lack of interest in my major. I genuinely love my major, maybe not all parts of it, but most. In fact, I enjoyed both of my summer internships related to my field immensely. Now, it is the final semester and I am just an average student with an average GPA, and no job. Looking back at my high school self and college years, I feel increasingly disappointed in myself. I feel guilty of not trying harder in the earlier days when i could have still improved. I am tired of job applications. I fail to get excited in things my friends are excited about, the things I used to be excited about. I feel useless and question the purpose of everything I do. Last week was my birthday. Every year, on my birthday, I used to feel a sense of accomplishment, of having done and experienced things. This year, I lacked any sort of feeling on my birthday, just worried about turning 21 and not knowing what to do next. I don't even like the person I am becoming. For instance, today was the start of my college's annual cultural festival and I didn't go. I think my friends are annoyed at me not going in spite of their urging. I don't want to feel like this and I don't want to spend the last year of college like this. I feel all my problems will be solved if I get a job that I love. I don't know if this rant will help me in any way. I hope you read this and tell me what you think. I just want to talk to someone about how bad I feel.
A good day to you all :)
You are not alone. And that is okay. Embrace "no plan." Embrace "not sure." Embrace "going with the flow" and "we'll just see how it'll turn out." It will turn out, some way, some how. But you don't need to the "how" today.. Now, it is the final semester and I am just an average student with an average GPA, and no job.
I think that "go with the flow" could be bad advice for some people. Only because some people confuse going with the flow with not taking action. To me, going with the flow means accepting that which you have no control over. However, we have a lot of control over many aspects of our lives. Determine what you want and go after it. If you're not sure what it is you want, keep yourself busy with activities, hobbies etc. be social, meet people, network. Is there someone in your field of study you admire? Ask them to lunch once a month and formally ask if they would mentor you. This is powerful stuff! Good luck!!
So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, [irrelevant detail redacted] and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Within a week I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air. As the plate went up in the air I saw it wobble, and I noticed the red medallion of Cornell on the plate going around. It was pretty obvious to me that the medallion went around faster than the wobbling. I had nothing to do, so I start to figure out the motion of the rotating plate. I discover that when the angle is very slight, the medallion rotates twice as fast as the wobble rate — two to one. It came out of a complicated equation! Then I thought, “Is there some way I can see in a more fundamental way, by looking at the forces or the dynamics, why it's two to one?” I don't remember how I did it, but I ultimately worked out what the motion of the mass particles is, and how all the accelerations balance to make it come out two to one. I still remember going to Hans Bethe and saying, “Hey, Hans! I noticed something interesting. Here the plate goes around so, and the reason it's two to one is ...” and I showed him the accelerations. He says, “Feynman, that's pretty interesting, but what's the importance of it? Why are you doing it?” “Hah!” I say. “There's no importance whatsoever. I'm just doing it for the fun of it.” His reaction didn't discourage me; I had made up my mind I was going to enjoy physics and do whatever I liked. I went on to work out equations of wobbles. Then I thought about how electron orbits start to move in relativity. Then there's the Dirac Equation in electrodynamics. And then quantum electrodynamics. And before I knew it (it was a very short time) I was “playing” — working, really — with the same old problem that I loved so much, that I had stopped working on when I went to Los Alamos: my thesis-type problems; all those old-fashioned, wonderful things. It was effortless. It was easy to play with these things. It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate. —Surely You're Joking, Mr. FeynmanThen I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing — it didn't have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I'd see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I didn't have to do it; it wasn't important for the future of science; somebody else had already done it. That didn't make any difference. I'd invent things and play with things for my own entertainment.
I spent most of the summer after I graduated smoking too much and reading comic books in my bedroom. I'd decided after doing some work for one of my professors and seeing what his days were like that working as an academic wasn't what I thought it would be and I didn't want to do it after all, and yet businesspeople disgust me so I couldn't bring myself to apply for jobs in industry. Leaving college is hard, you loose the things that have mattered to you for most of your life, and you have to work to find things worth getting out of bed for because whatever is handed to you won't be. In particular, don't expect to love your job. You'll do more interacting with management and clients than engineering, and they'll grind you down if you let them. Don't despair, but do find or make things that matter to you. Start a hobby project. Start teaching yourself something new. Get a cat. Whatever. Having to find the right whatevers is one of those challenges of being a grownup no one warns you about.
I can definitely relate. I think that networking and career development need to start earlier in college these days, and I wish they were encouraged more for freshman. But past a certain point it's just about developing relationships with people. After reading the other comments, I'm glad to hear you have some kind of plan. I'm about to graduate as well, and if you want to PM me we can talk in more detail.
Hey sally! Which country are you from? And which stream of engineering have you been into? Just to say, getting to love engineering to get a job in the end is really hard. I'm able to say that being an engineering student myself. I'm afraid I'll also get to the same dilemma. As others advice, let's just relax and do the best we can. Cheers!
Sally, I felt the exact same way graduating from my university 2 years ago in Environmental Science and Entomology. What I felt was that I was caught in this depressing limbo of not being a student anymore, yet not having a career lined up for me yet. I had researched with professors, worked with companies that sent me abroad to work, attended conventions to show my research, yet I couldn't land a job. It seemed that no one had an open position. All the "dreams" or "careers" I had in mind were slipping through my fingers as I kept on receiving rejection email after rejection email. I was either not qualified enough (with a bachelor's degree), or I had very little experience. I ended up working at a pizza joint as a driver. As time went by, I questioned my efforts in college and wondered if I could've done more, been more determined, etc. Around that time, a friend shared an article with me that talked about "quarter-life" crises. Essentially, it is very similar to a "mid-life" crisis in that you feel stuck in this stage of life after college and before career. I totally recommend you read up on this because it really helped me realizing that I was not alone, and that it was common for college students to experience this depressing limbo. I can't find the article, but I did find a TED talk and those always inspire me. Here's the link: https://www.ted.com/playlists/225/talks_to_get_you_through_your The important thing to remember is that as long as you are determined, IT WILL GET BETTER. Don't be afraid to take risks and apply to as many jobs as possible or go to different networking events. The more people you meet, the more likely you are to meet someone who is in need of an engineer. Also, don't forget that you are not only an engineer, but also have other talents that you could find jobs in (for now). Don't be prideful. Find a job that can sustain you while you search for a career or even think about grad school. Just because you are working in a "simple" job, doesn't mean you will stay there the rest of your life (I eventually became a substitute teacher and now have a full time position as a teacher's assistant and am enrolled in a program to become a teacher). Also, find a community of friends you can have fun with; go to dinner, or go to the movies. It's important to stay connected to people every once in awhile. Let these friends also be your support group.
I hope this helps you figure out things you can do for now at least. I am certain though that you will be amazing at whatever you decide to do.
Job applications can be draining, and it is unlikely that you will get your dream job without working to get there. --- You might not even know what your dream job is until you work for 10 years to become an expert at something no one else is. If you really want a job quick, I suggest you start applying at small companies who won't filter your application based on your GPA if your GPA is less than 2.7. ?? Also, what about grad school? You didn't mention that at all.
Heyy...I actually want to go to grad school and am working towards it. But, mostly I would need to take a gap because of some things back home. I need a job now for some reasons and want to do something related to what I am about to do at grad school. Thans for writing :)
Amen! Don't despair. I know I have moments like this. Don't give up. You can do this. Something that cheers me up when I'm feeling this kind of thing is to do some service for some one. I don't know if it will work for you, but I find when I serve/help/do something nice for others, I can't help but feel better.You are not alone.
Hi sally. Welcome to hubski. When your education doesn't seem to take you where you hoped to go, you need to find a new path. Engineering is a huge topic and you likely have skills in math, design, and thinking. It's now time to ramp it up a notch and find out more. Life after college is often hard, because the constraints of how to spend your time and what to do are no longer imposed on you. You need to make your own life. I try to put what you're going through into a context here. Read the post, check the discussion and continue the conversation.
Hey sally, first off welcome to Hubski! (Same for btcprox, who gave some good advice!). I'm on the same boat as you in terms of graduating this semester. But there's one thing that I haven't seen touched upon and it's this bit of your post: I would advise you to try and not feel that way. I doubt many people here or around the world have a job that they truly love, and tying that to solving a lot of your problems is not a great idea. A job is what you make of it, to a certain extent, and can be made better or worse depending on how well you interact with your coworkers and network. Exploring hobbies and interests and all of that can solve a lot of problems too. That said, I would definitely seek out people that you can network with that can help you get a job and build a professional circle of acquaintances and friends. There are many, many, many people that don't have a job yet so try not be so down about it. Feel free to PM me, went through the whole job search thing during the last 1/4 of last year. Oh and definitely think about what _refugee_ said.I feel all my problems will be solved if I get a job that I love.
This is the kind of internal conflict that I'd think you'd best share with the school counselor, and I believe your college should have one. The counselor would probably give you a nice extra perspective on your dilemma, backed by experience from dealing with loads of students in the past. I suggest you pay the counselor a visit. Will probably give a much more informed opinion - especially in a much tighter personal context for you - than what you'll find here. That said, what I think is that you're expecting too much out of yourself, trying to land the exact perfect set of circumstances in terms of grades and jobs. Why wait to land that perfect job before you decide to feel good about yourself? You still have time to interact with classmates, like eat lunch together, or chat/rant during breaks, or even study together and help boost each others' grades (which will meanwhile give you more confidence in scoring well and - who knows - improve your career opportunities).
Thanks for replying :) My school, believe it or not, does not have a counsellor. It is not very common in my country. I want to believe what you said, about the perfect circumstances, and I am certainly trying. And, I will try doing some of the things you said. I did not expect such a fast reply from anyone. Thank you for what you said.
Hmm, a shame then. Schools are one of the critical places to have counselors, when students are still developing mentally and sorting their minds out. Hey, at least you have some sort of plan now. Despair sucks and gets one absolutely nowhere. Unloading some of your mental burdens in the presence of close friends can help too.My school, believe it or not, does not have a counsellor. It is not very common in my country.
I want to believe what you said, about the perfect circumstances, and I am certainly trying. And, I will try doing some of the things you said.