Obviously everyone weighs their career decisions based on both doing what they want/enjoy more, and finances. I graduated about a year ago with my MSME with a concentration in thermofluids and plastics design. I’m 6 months into my job in natural gas distribution.
Pros:
1) I make slightly more money than I would have in most fields coming out of college, and the growth opportunity in this field is pretty significant (I could reasonably expect a 6 figure income after ~3 years of work experience without switching companies).
2) I find it to be low stress, but I also have no problem leaving work at work, and am generally a low stress person. My coworkers do not find this job to be low stress at all, so I feel like this may not be a problem for me in most places.
3) I like my coworkers and boss.
4) the location is near my family, and my commute is less than 30 minutes each way. I still live at home, so finding a new job would just need to be close enough so that I can live a reasonable commute to work while being somewhat close to family. I’m near Boston, so that shouldn’t be a huge issue.
Cons:
1) this is a fossil fuel and the industry will start to slow down throughout my life considering I’ll probably be working for 40 more years.
2) I don’t find my work particularly interesting, maybe because I’m not innovating at all, or even designing something that feels like it was truly designed by me. I just piece together a simple puzzle out of pieces that already exist, and explain how to put it together without causing an emergency. Innovating/designing/analyzing was something I always hoped to do when pursuing an engineering degree, but I feel like I hardly check the designing box. I feel like you just barely need to be an engineer to do my job.
How easy do you think it is to change fields? I probably wouldn’t leave until >1 year of working here, so I’m in no rush.
What fields should I avoid if I do leave this industry, so I can avoid a similar issue?
Are there any fields that might have a comparable financial outlook?
What fields might I the hard skills developed in natural gas distribution be useful? All I can think of is general construction.
Any insight that I didn’t exactly ask for in these questions is 100% welcome.
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