Switching from Mechanical Engineering to CS Career

Bulbasaurus wrote: ↑ Thanks for responding, appreciate it.

From what I’m doing right now, I do enjoy it, though I’m not sure how close it would compare to actually working in the field.

I’ve always been a self-learner and would say I am fairly disciplined. Everyday for the past month, I’ve spent 1-3 hours learning Web Dev and doing practice assignments after work, and probably 5 hours on weekends.

Do you think if I transition into tech, there would be drawbacks maybe 10 years into my career for not having a degree? I’m asking because I know at one of my previous jobs, there are a bunch of people with 20+ years of experience in the field that are stuck at their position because they don’t have an engineering degree.

I’ve looked into bootcamps as well. My brother recently finished one for around $10K. I feel like I can learn something similar to what he did by doing the uDemy Bootcamps combined with the Odin Project and some other resources.

Thanks again for your input, I think I’m going to focus more on self-learning and see where I go

civ@uw wrote: ↑ Mechanical Engineer here with 10 years of experience and also looking to make the switch. I'm currently in the public sector, and would not recommend it to others. The pay is mediocre, and the work environment is incredibly frustrating for anyone with any hint of ambition.

I had also considered switching 5 years ago, but came to the conclusion that I would be an overall lateral move at best and that the tech space was in a bubble. But there's been tremendous growth in the tech industry since then. And yet it still seems there is a long way for the industry to grow and that jobs will be plentiful for a long time to come.

I'm taking the self-teaching approach although wanting to enter into a data science / ML / backend role. Consulting work is incredibly grindy and the only concern I would have from your end, is whether you'll be able to sustain the energy for learning after work. Be mindful to take breaks / vacations so you don't burn yourself out.

Also be careful about being too focused on passion, which is a fleeting feeling. Work is work at the end of the day, and you're going to be dealing with other headaches in the tech space. A few things that have been on my mind: working remotely indefinitely, compensation, composition/culture of teams.

leeoku wrote: ↑ I too am a Mac grad w/ eng degree. I decided to go self taught route. A degree would help provide structure which is a large part of the initial battle. If you have a plan and the DISCIPLINE, then go for it.

I recommend full stack javascript in toronto area. Make a portfolio. Do two small projects and one full stack project. Something that shows an interest to solve an actual problem, not something you youtube.

Take as many interviews as you can. You're prob not ready but take each one as a learning opportunity. What helped me was relating my previous work experience to the company's product.

It took me 2 attempts , first attempt I gave up. Second attempt took me 15 months to land a job. I ended up doing Python + SOME js.

Bulbasaurus wrote: ↑ Thanks for the response. And thank you on the part about burnout. I actually did have a period of burnout a couple of months ago (my brain was scrambled after work hours and my hair was falling out). I stopped giving 100% at work and I felt much better mentally and have a better indicator when I’m getting overwhelmed. This was when I wasn’t learning programming on the side, which is why I don’t like my job. I’d sometimes work until 2am to meet deadlines and I would see a lot of my coworkers online as well.

I actually used to work in the public sector and wow, what a difference it was. I got paid more and did like 10% of the work I do here (and got praised for being a hardworker there lol). Everything moved so slowly, so I definitely agree there’s no ambition there.

civ@uw wrote: ↑ Sounds like you have a well balanced approach. Letting off the gas with your current employer is the right move to end the cycle of despair. I've seen other posts on here where people feel trapped in their jobs, and they aren't willing to take the obvious (to an outside observer) step of detaching from their jobs a bit. Those 2AM efforts are typically marginal gains, and you can certainly get the 80% done between 9-5 and just learning to manage stakeholders for fallout. No need to feel bad for your coworkers either, at the end of the day everyone is making a choice of how they wish to spend their time.

A tangent about the the consulting engineering world - the people in this space live in a bubble. The pay is terrible and the hours are horrendous. The principals who have a toxic workaholic work ethic, which makes everyone down below feel like the only way to progress is by doing the same. But even then, getting to point of being a principal or what have you is hardly a great outcome to strive towards.

There are far better opportunities out there for anyone that is remotely motivated to learn. To any other engineers reading this: never sell yourself short and always go after what you're worth.

bhrm wrote: ↑ The big engineering firms are unfortunately extremely behind the times, old school management, male-dominated leadership, HR barely funded and you even see HR turnover. If HR can't even stay in engineering firms.....that's a pretty big red flag. The smaller firms tend to be a bit better in culture, more equitable and family-like, however the trend last 10-15 years is the owners get old, retire and sell to bigger firms.

Tech makes it really attractive, especially for mech engineers. You already have the training and behaviour of an engineer, core maths, logic, and you probably are good with managing projects/tasks.

Doesn't mean mech eng is a dying profession, and I predict an upward tick when more companies get into automation, like Clearpath Robotics, self driving vehicles (GM), will demand mech engineers who can code.