Help with career move (or not)
Discussion
Hello and thank you for sparing your precious time to help/offer some advice.
So I’m 26 graduated a little over 18 months ago and prior to graduating I managed to secure a job at a software company in the engineering industry. I couldn’t believe my luck as there were so many people who were struggling to find jobs on my course. I did BEng Mechanical Engineering by the way.
The job sounded good and pays very well, being my first degree based job I went in very excited and have been doing well. I even received a small promotion at the end of my first year.
As it turns out, I don’t really feel like I am doing much more than final level technical software support – with customer visits to train them on using the software suite(s) every month or so.
I really feel like this is not somewhere I can progress, everyone in higher level roles are software developers/specialists in one way or another. There is no scope for me to work towards chartered status. Also, I don’t feel like I am really being challenged nor doing something I enjoy. To put it simply, this really isn’t why I picked the degree I did.
Based on university work and what I enjoyed, I would like to build a career as either a design or project engineer but I feel like if I move onto another job I will be taking a big cut in pay to do so.
It seems sensible that if I am going to change, it should be sooner rather than later as I will most likely have to start from the very bottom in a new field either way.
My current situation – I got married 6 months ago. We don’t have a mortgage. And that is about it really.
I apologise if I am waffling, I would like to know what people would do/have done in this position and how they would go about it. I am very grateful to have this job but do I stay here because the pay is decent or look elsewhere for the challenge/scope to progress?
I really appreciate any positive/constructive thoughts and comments on this. Or even any ideas I may not have thought of yet.
So I’m 26 graduated a little over 18 months ago and prior to graduating I managed to secure a job at a software company in the engineering industry. I couldn’t believe my luck as there were so many people who were struggling to find jobs on my course. I did BEng Mechanical Engineering by the way.
The job sounded good and pays very well, being my first degree based job I went in very excited and have been doing well. I even received a small promotion at the end of my first year.
As it turns out, I don’t really feel like I am doing much more than final level technical software support – with customer visits to train them on using the software suite(s) every month or so.
I really feel like this is not somewhere I can progress, everyone in higher level roles are software developers/specialists in one way or another. There is no scope for me to work towards chartered status. Also, I don’t feel like I am really being challenged nor doing something I enjoy. To put it simply, this really isn’t why I picked the degree I did.
Based on university work and what I enjoyed, I would like to build a career as either a design or project engineer but I feel like if I move onto another job I will be taking a big cut in pay to do so.
It seems sensible that if I am going to change, it should be sooner rather than later as I will most likely have to start from the very bottom in a new field either way.
My current situation – I got married 6 months ago. We don’t have a mortgage. And that is about it really.
I apologise if I am waffling, I would like to know what people would do/have done in this position and how they would go about it. I am very grateful to have this job but do I stay here because the pay is decent or look elsewhere for the challenge/scope to progress?
I really appreciate any positive/constructive thoughts and comments on this. Or even any ideas I may not have thought of yet.
Edited by Ver.4 on Tuesday 9th December 21:32
Hi
Not sure whether I will be able to help or not? The first firm I worked for after graduation was an investment foundry. I stuck with them for four and a half years (until I was 26). I think I got enough out the firm to enable me to move elsewhere with experience.
But it sounds like you are not learning and gaining experience to support your career later on. I would first ask at your current firm what opportunities exist for you to gain more experience of different roles. They may not know. Are there any other internal roles being advertised? - even applying for other roles in the company can send a strong signal of your intent. What has been said in your PDR?
If the pay is good at a 'junior' level it might be worth exploring further.....
Mike
Not sure whether I will be able to help or not? The first firm I worked for after graduation was an investment foundry. I stuck with them for four and a half years (until I was 26). I think I got enough out the firm to enable me to move elsewhere with experience.
But it sounds like you are not learning and gaining experience to support your career later on. I would first ask at your current firm what opportunities exist for you to gain more experience of different roles. They may not know. Are there any other internal roles being advertised? - even applying for other roles in the company can send a strong signal of your intent. What has been said in your PDR?
If the pay is good at a 'junior' level it might be worth exploring further.....
Mike
Thanks for taking the time to respond Mike.
I have had this conversation with both my line manager and the managing director, both were quite adamant that the only other option in this company is for a software developer/programmer (which I am not).
There wasn't any real response when I asked what progression is available and the fact that achieving chartered status isn't something they support is also a negative. Therefore, my PDR outcome was along the lines of learn to help customers in ways in which I haven't yet, to solve issues for them that I haven't come across so far.
The pay is good, and from speaking with ex colleagues, they have had packages around the sum of £40k salary + £6k bonus after around 12 years of service.
I am not learning anything that will help me in my career unless my career is only where I am now.
I have had this conversation with both my line manager and the managing director, both were quite adamant that the only other option in this company is for a software developer/programmer (which I am not).
There wasn't any real response when I asked what progression is available and the fact that achieving chartered status isn't something they support is also a negative. Therefore, my PDR outcome was along the lines of learn to help customers in ways in which I haven't yet, to solve issues for them that I haven't come across so far.
The pay is good, and from speaking with ex colleagues, they have had packages around the sum of £40k salary + £6k bonus after around 12 years of service.
I am not learning anything that will help me in my career unless my career is only where I am now.
Move now.
I sense you know what you're going to do, and from the attitude to your dilemma from your managers, I guess that sealed it for you. If you're good, things should always work out in the end. Start looking for that new opportunity; you may not find it exactly the next time around either, but that's part of any career, the experiences you gain along the way until you eventually find your rightful place. Good luck!
I sense you know what you're going to do, and from the attitude to your dilemma from your managers, I guess that sealed it for you. If you're good, things should always work out in the end. Start looking for that new opportunity; you may not find it exactly the next time around either, but that's part of any career, the experiences you gain along the way until you eventually find your rightful place. Good luck!
Ver.4 said:
The pay is good, and from speaking with ex colleagues, they have had packages around the sum of £40k salary + £6k bonus after around 12 years of service.
That isn't very good. If you put 12 years in post degree in an IT centric/software centric business you can make a lot, lot more than that.Thank you very much, it has given me comfort to know that the way I am feeling is not just me being silly and naïve.
The question is what to do next? The job I have now was through a recruitment agency calling me and offering me the job...How do you go about getting your foot in the door in a new field and hopefully not taking too much (if any) of a pay cut? Where to look?
I will be updating my CV on the usual sites like CV-library, Total Jobs, Prospects, Reed recruitment etc...anything else? Is this the totally wrong way to go about this as I haven't yet heard from any job I ever applied for on these sites?
Any advice is sincerely appreciated and any guidance/tips would really be helpful.
The question is what to do next? The job I have now was through a recruitment agency calling me and offering me the job...How do you go about getting your foot in the door in a new field and hopefully not taking too much (if any) of a pay cut? Where to look?
I will be updating my CV on the usual sites like CV-library, Total Jobs, Prospects, Reed recruitment etc...anything else? Is this the totally wrong way to go about this as I haven't yet heard from any job I ever applied for on these sites?
Any advice is sincerely appreciated and any guidance/tips would really be helpful.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff