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Ask HN: As an EE graduate, should I rush into becoming a Software Engineer?

5 points by HLRoku ↗ HN
I am a recent Electrical Engineering graduate, and graduated in May 2014. I chose Electrical Engineering as my major because I was interested in hardware development, but upon graduating, I personally found hardware development jobs very difficult to come across in America, at least without 5+ years experience, and settled in a related industry.

My current job pays well and isn't too bad, but I find myself lamenting it as I wanted to develop, and the current career path I'm on gets more and more managerial the higher you rise [you don't make parts, you just know where to put them]. This depressed me, and I decided two months ago to advance my programming skills to become a software engineer,as I always was interested just not committed.

I've asked multiple friends at startups what their job entails in detail, as well as what the culture is like, and it sounds like everything I wanted out of a possible hardware development job. As I've begun to study furiously, I also have found an intense passion in programming.

I study 2-3 hours after work every day and roughly 7+ hours weekends to be able to make the switch into a software engineering opportunity, and have networked to find a job in San Francisco. If all goes well with the interview preparation and process, will have an opportunity for a well paying internship this fall.

But honestly, I'm quite scared. While I have done research and don't like my career path, my worries are that if I leave my industry now and end up not liking the software engineering industry [not likely, but I've only done side projects], I feel that I would be "behind" in going back for my EE career path.

I don't have student loans or any other financial obligations. Should I just take the risk without hesitation? I've been advised the best thing for me right now would be to land a software engineering job immediately to learn faster and test the waters. What do you all think?

15 comments

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calcsam
Having an outside area of expertise -- in your case, electrical engineering -- is great for your development career.

You can target companies in the overlap & pitch them that your experience makes you a unique candidate.

Examples that come to mind -- Autodesk (builds CAD software), wearables, drones, Internet of Things (eg Nest), sensors....

HLRoku
This coincides with what my friend told me as well -- he said most CS graduates don't really get low level hardware processes, and my knowledge in that can be quite desirable, especially since Electrical Engineering is a related field to Software Engineering, but I guess I've been under-rating my qualifications.
calcsam
Most people do :)

Take a look at Scott Adams' post on dual areas of expertise. It's one of the best primers on how to think about a career:

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/care...

HLRoku
Thanks for the read, just finished. The most interesting thing about this post for me is that what he's saying seems like it should just be common sense -- of course that's the way things are, it makes a lot of sense and is a very logical way of thinking about it.

That's kind of what bothers me about it. It IS obvious and logical... so why hadn't I considered it as clearly before? Why is everyone so narrow in our focuses after graduating college? I don't know, and quite honestly it bothers me. It's a good read, but I can't shake this slight feeling of anger and frustration; I almost want to blame the school environment and society, but I feel that's naive` and not where to place the blame?

Feeling pretty mixed right now, haha.

ddv
I graduated with a traditional engineering degree too and the start of my career sounds similar to yours.

Here's my advice: Pursue what you are interested in. If you don't you will always have a nagging what-if feeling in the back of your mind. Nothing is set in stone and if you decide later that the EE path is more appealing you can get back into it later.

It might be a little harder to switch back but IMO the reward is worth the risk. Since you're a recent graduate, right now is a good time to try stuff out.

Good luck.

HLRoku
Yeah, it's what's been keeping me up at night. I'm a fairly safe person, so I don't like risks, but one day I had a realization: "What am I doing with my life? Is this /really/ what I want to do with it? Aren't I regretting this right now? How much will I regret this later?"

I've come to the decision that making the switch and then coming back with maybe 2 years "wasted" is far better than sitting in my industry wondering what could have been. Not having student loans is something I'm extremely grateful to my parents for, because with loans this sort of thing would be impossible.

Thanks for your advice, I'll try it and see what happens!

papaf
I actually did this switch 25 years ago for the same reasons. I studied Microelectronics in the UK and I was the first in my graduation year to get a job - 6 months later, by switching to software development (CPU and graphics card benchmarking).

It sort of worked out OK but I have regrets. I grew up wanting to be a hardware engineer but I'm not one.

If you switch to software development, I would recommend that you stay as low level as possible. I recently got back into embedded development and I became a lot happier because of it.

Good luck.

batou
That's kind of scary as it's exactly what I did. Same course, same country, same time :)

I'd agree with the embedded side though. The business side is a shit sandwich I really wish I hadn't got into.

HLRoku
I'm honestly comforted to see this being a common thing among posters here. And I agree, as I look into my company's chain it just gets more business focused the higher you go, and that's not what I became an engineer to be.

When I make the switch, I'll be sure to not let my RF/EE background fade to the background, as I believe it can be a strong asset.

batou
It will be an asset. The most successful team in my company is built out of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and mathematicians.
HLRoku
Thank you, I appreciate it. I was thinking that if I stay relatively low level or do arduino and FPGA work on the side, my EE fundamentals can transfer and mix with my software skills at any many jobs, such as embedded engineering or even wireless, as my current focus in EE is RF.

It just kind of sucks that in America it doesn't seem like there are any "true" hardware jobs, and the ones that are around pay extremely little or are VLSI software based. If I knew this in detail when I started EE I'd probably have hesitated upon entry.

davismwfl
I have a client in Florida looking for a EE that will also develop software to work on the devices they create and have manufactured. Pay is good, and they are willing to have someone that needs to learn some parts, but it is on the opposite side of the country from where you are at. The owners successfully sold two businesses for large sums and have financial resources most of us can only dream of having so they are not afraid to pay for quality. They are struggling because our area has some large employers that keep their EE's with Software experience very close and guarded so it is hard to pull them away.

If there is any interest you can send me an email and I will connect you. I have no decision making authority here nor do I get anything out of it monetarily, but we run their software development right now and have agreed to help them find someone that can bridge the hardware and software side like my team does for them now.

edit: clarity

HLRoku
Thanks, I truly appreciate the offer, however right now I'm more committed to pursuing more of a pure software position as I feel there's so much to learn in that field. Had I known about embedded engineering in detail I'd probably have tried to get those jobs first immediately upon graduating.

I know I couldn't clarify because of HN's text limit, but I'm actually in the NYC tristate area, and the position in SF is for an internship at a very promising startup. I'd like to stay in NYC if possible because of family and friends, but I'll see how it goes.

Thanks again, and maybe sometime in the future after I've dabbled in the software industry I might consider embedded systems engineering and the like -- these posts have helped me realize that my EE background does not have to fade into the background at all.

HLRoku
My process to learning programming and the people I've talked to, as well as the experience in my current industry all might be intersting reads -- just wondering, but is there any interest in a blog? I was afraid my employer might find it, thus my new alias, but honestly I think I'll be happy documenting something like that for future records both for myself and other engineers in my position.
atroyn
Your story sounds a lot like mine, I'm just a little further down the road.

I graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering (i.e. as a hardware guy) five years ago.

I spent my very early career trying stuff out. I did an internship as a software engineer, then I started out as a graduate consultant doing no engineering at all, then I started my own company where I helped hack together the prototype, and most recently I've been working as a data engineer and web developer.

I learned a lot about the industry from many different point of view, but more importantly I learned a lot about myself. I figured out software in general and the web in particular isn't for me - I need to get my hands dirty and I need to build physical products to feel satisfied.

So I'm going back to get my master's from a hardware-focused CS program with a major research and interdisciplinary component where I can really get back to my undergrad 'roots' with VHDL, SPICE and soldering iron, as well as learning a bunch of new stuff about embedded systems, robotics and machine vision. I haven't been this excited about technology in a long time.

The upshot of all of this is that you don't have to have it all figured out right now, and taking the time to really learn about something that interests you is extremely valuable. So is having depth in two very valuable technical skillsets. Time spent learning is never 'wasted' and if you decide to come back to EE/ECE or go deep on embedded systems, you totally can - and you'll probably kick ass at it because you'll have experience and maturity others might not have.

Finally, from a market point of view, there's a weird convergence going on, of which the proliferation of embedded systems is just the vanguard. Batteries are getting cheaper lighter and smaller, SDR is becoming more and more common, automation is becoming increasingly necessary, and machine-machine communication is going to need whole new infrastructures. It's a good time to know what's going on at the low level while knowing what software could/should do.