Career questions tagged trajectory
Older student career questions
Hi, I'm a 37-year-old undergraduate graduating next spring, and I'm uncertain about my career trajectory. I got into EE for power systems but developed an interest in analog IC design after taking one class last year. I've had two internships in power systems so far, one of which just offered me an excellent job offer with excellent pay for my medium-COL city. I'm very excited, the company is great, my coworkers are friendly, and the work-life balance is pretty good with 2 days WFH but occasional >40hr weeks. The only problem is that it's a little boring, with lots and lots of copy and paste from Excel. So I'm torn - I wanted to get an MS and go into analog ICs, but I feel like I'd be an idiot to renege on this offer. I mention my age because I need to get my life on track ASAP - I've been a waiter my entire life, and I have zero retirement or assets. I want to start saving for retirement and buy a house, so I don't know if spending another 2 years in school even makes sense at this point. So if you were in my shoes, what would you be thinking? I'm leaning towards the tough but realistic decision of giving up the dream of analog and just getting into power for the immediate good job and start catching up to my peers on retirement and home ownership. I don't even know if analog is right for me anyway, since I've only taken one class so far (I'm taking 3-4 more this year). The question is pressing because a friend just reached out to me to try to recruit me as an intern into his company that does analog IC design for defense, and I only have a few days before that window closes.
