Vlad
How does a student interested in engineering find a shadow position?
I'm a dual credit high-school/college student looking to major in electrical engineering. I am not 90% that this would be the best card for me to play, so I'm attempting to figure out if I am suited to go into this field.
All of my academic scores, personality tests, and interests seem to say that it would be a good fit, but I am not certain. My personality is very tactile, so it is much more helpful for me to experience or observe what a job takes, rather than read a list of responsibilities.
Unfortunately, I don't know any practicing electrical engineers! How can I find a professional to shadow?
#engineer #career-choice #electrical-engineer #work-shadowing
3 answers
Wael Al-Rihawi
Wael’s Answer
I would contact university of portland to help me out. I am sure they could reach out to one of their previous student to help you.
http://engineering.up.edu/default.aspx?cid=4359&pid=82
Anh Bao
Anh’s Answer
1. Join a professional club at your high school and college. The club advisors and older students have connections with local companies and professionals who can host students in a job shadowing program.
2. Ask your local Scout Leader, Math/Science teachers, and school Career Advisor. Leaders in your community and school have a wide network, and regularly maintain contact with other professional parents, friends, and colleagues. Use them as your resources to find job shadowing events.
3. Reach out directly to large companies and ask about their ERG (Employee Resource Group) program. An ERG is like a professional club or org in a company. All large companies have groups like Latino Org, Asian Org, Women Leaders, and so on. My ERG sponsors students from local universities for job shadowing events. We give visiting students a campus tour, invitation to join company meetings, and a host to follow around and shadow for a day.
Good luck w/ your career exploration!
Jaime Wong
Jaime’s Answer
There are so many different jobs an electrical engineer could have, and this could range from systems engineer (dealing with circuit boards or larger systems), hardware design engineer, test engineers, field application engineers (helping customers), software engineers etc. If you follow guidelines from Anh's comprehensive list, and do find an opportunity to shadow the professional, bear in mind that other electrical engineers' experiences may be completely different because of the nature of their jobs. So don't make a quick decision that the major is not a good fit simply because that particular job may not appeal to you. Majoring in electrical engineering is just the first step, and it may take some time to find the right job that matches your interests and passion.
Jaime