Real-Time Employment

[Michael_Burgess]

Hi guys,

I'm due to graduate early summer with a BSc (Hons) Computing Science degree.

In my final year i've specialised in Real-Time with 2 modules and a Real-Time final year project programming solution for a Bytronic production line simulation.

I was wondering if you guys have any tips for companies to look at or apply to? I'm basically wishing to get a career rolling in Real-Time and would love to use Labview as part of my Job.

I've applied to National Instrument's Graduate Engineering Scheme, but not heard anything back yet, although it's only been a week or so.

One thing I do regret is not doing an Engineering Degree - it seems I may have found more applicable jobs easier with an Engineering degree under my belt - but alas, I am nearly complete with this course and I love what I do.

I'm UK based, but I'm basically seeking work in the UK, US or Australia - the latter 2 will probably prove near on impossible to get into, but it's always worth a look I suppose!

My CV is raring and ready to go, just got to start putting it out there now!

Cheers guys

[Louis Manfredi]

Congratulations Michael! :thumbup:

...and good luck with the job hunting. I'm certain something will come along.

Many companies here in the US will go to the trouble of pushing through a H1B work visa for someone young, bright & ambitious. (Sad for an old fart like myself to admit, but they can get a lot of brain for the buck from you, even if you lack the old timers' experience.)

Also, don't be shy about getting the engineering degree if you really want it. I don't know about U.K., but here in the U.S., it is very common to change fields between undergrad & graduate school. My undergraduate degree is in achitecture (in my alma-mater considered a branch of fine art, like painting & sculpture.) I never did anything with that, went straight to graduate school for Ocean Engineering (ship and submarine design.) I had to take the prerequisites for the graduate courses, but other than that there was no requirement for me to take any undergraduate engineering courses. After 28 years I have yet to do much ocean engineering, my career so far has been mostly designing & testing windmills as well as doing test engineering and test programming for other types of hardware.

A close friend started as a mechanical engineer, took a break to do sailing and commercial baking, then became a P.E. (equivalent to a "chartered engineer" in the U.K?) then spent some time doing test engineering & LabView programming & ended up working on an pearl farm in Australia. A while back, he decided he'd rather work with people than machines, (or oysters) and he's now about to graduate as a medical doctor from the same university where fifteen years earlier he earned his BSc in engineering. (That wasn't an easy switch, but he did it.) So, the point is don't let yourself be trapped into a life as a programmer if you are really interested in something else. The logic, maths & basic science courses you took for the computer science degree would be transferrable to any engineering discipline, & your programming experience would be a great benefit for a career in many branches of engineering.

Good luck, we'll let you know if we hear of any job leads.

[Michael_Burgess]

Congratulations Michael! :thumbup: 

...and good luck with the job hunting.  I'm certain something will come along. 

Many companies here in the US will go to the trouble of pushing through a H1B work visa for someone young, bright & ambitious.  (Sad for an old fart like myself to admit, but they can get a lot of brain for the buck from you, even if you lack the old timers' experience.)

Also, don't be shy about getting the engineering degree if you really want it.  I don't know about U.K., but here in the U.S., it is very common to change fields between undergrad & graduate school.  My undergraduate degree is in achitecture (in my alma-mater considered a branch of fine art, like painting & sculpture.)  I never did anything with that, went straight to graduate school for Ocean Engineering (ship and submarine design.)  I had to take the prerequisites for the graduate courses, but other than that there was no requirement for me to take any undergraduate engineering courses.  After 28 years I have yet to do much ocean engineering, my career so far has been mostly designing & testing windmills as well as doing test engineering and test programming for other types of hardware.

A close friend started as a mechanical engineer, took a break to do sailing and commercial baking, then became a P.E. (equivalent to a "chartered engineer" in the U.K?) then spent some time doing test engineering & LabView programming & ended up working on an pearl farm in Australia.  A while back, he decided he'd rather work with people than machines, (or oysters) and he's now about to graduate as a medical doctor from the same university where fifteen years earlier he earned his BSc in engineering.  (That wasn't an easy switch, but he did it.)  So, the point is don't let yourself be trapped into a life as a programmer if you are really interested in something else.  The logic, maths & basic science courses you took for the computer science degree would be transferrable to any engineering discipline, & your programming experience would be a great benefit for a career in many branches of engineering.

Good luck, we'll let you know if we hear of any job leads.

3955[/snapback]

Hi Louis.

Thanks for your reply.

What I sort of meant was that a loy of schemes i'm looking at now require or demand an engineering degree, even though I often fit the job 'desirables', let alone the pre-reqs.

Was just a grumble on my part, as i'm looking forward to finishing education now. It's been 20 years pretty much (joined at 3, i'm now 23) and I really can't wait to get into my chosen career.

Liking the idea of the states (without entering a whole argument/debate on politics, there's nothing keeping me here whatsoever other than immediate family) and am keen to see what's available.

Cheers for replying Louis - just hoping there's a graduate scheme out there to satisfy my real-time interests!

Cheers,

Michael