Welp, it's over. And I survived. We'll see in about 10 weeks if it was worth it.

Overall, it was an interesting experience.

The test itself was very stringently administered. Imagine going to an airport. You stand in line for a long time. You get through the door. You make sure you have your ticket and your government issued ID out and ready to be checked. "Walk through the door please!", they say.  Hold up your belongings. Are they all in a clear ziplock bag? They'd better be, otherwise they take them away. No cellphones during liftoff. No cellphones at all, you'll get kicked off the plane in a second. Once you're ready to disembark you need to wait for the attendants to finish checking. Everything. Thoroughly.

So what did I really learn? Something quite interesting:

I no longer plan to go to graduate school. (I had talked about possibly going back in a previous post)

That's not really the subject of this post, I'd like to focus on that later, if at all. The short version is that I don't think I am capable of the things that graduate school demands, at least from students who also work full time. Studying on a nightly basis, giving up all hobbies and time with loved ones; all of these things drive me away from the idea of getting an advanced degree. It's not that I believe it wouldn't help my career; I really just am not willing to give up my quality of life in order to get that particular piece of paper at this point in my life. Who knows? Perhaps there will be a time when it is truly required of me to have an advanced degree. However, from a learning perspective I feel that I would be forced to learn just as much--if not more--starting a company; plus that would be much more fulfilling in terms of having a similar time commitment and potential payoff (i.e. if I'm going to spend all that time, why not have a company instead of a piece of paper? Both look good on a resume, right?).

So back to the test. I had been studying for a month or so, perhaps a little bit longer in name only. I borrowed a used review book from a friend:

Everyone uses it, as I'm pretty sure it's the only one out there. Want to know my personal/(possibly)professional (engineer) opinion? It was way overkill. 40 some odd chapters on every section that could possibly covered by the test. It went pretty deep about each and every topic, to the point that you might see the hardest question on the afternoon general section (the same range of topics as in the morning session, just more difficult). I think it's important to note that depending on the year the testing board might throw one curveball after another your way or they might just keep lobbing softballs in your direction. Either way, you probably won't need to learn (or re-learn) all of the material in the depth each chapter goes into with rigor.

Me? Well, I'm not allowed to tell you any details about the test itself. Our flight/test attendants were very sure to remind us over and over again that we were under non-disclosure agreements not to even talk about the test questions amongst our friends. What I believe I can say is that I enjoyed the afternoon section much more than the morning session. If you don't know about the FE, the morning is 120 multiple choice questions spanning all of the knowledge that an engineer is expected to know after four years of engineering school. I would disagree. I would counter that the morning session is 120 questions for the mechanical and civil engineers. Now, it could be they have greater breadth in their respective disciplines, and even some crossover. It could be that being an engineer other than an electrical engineer requires greater cognitive capacity. Hell, it could be that I just didn't study enough. But I'll tell you, an electrical engineer such as myself has never known that much about beams, trusses or adiabatic systems...and never will! To add insult to injury, I think the EE questions were some of the softball-like questions on the exam. Let's just say I probably had a much harder time with the mechanical/static stuff than the mechanical engineers had with electricity. Or maybe I just don't care when a beam is going to start deforming irreversibly.

The afternoon session is 60 questions in your discipline, unless you decide you enjoyed the breadth of topics covered in the morning session or your particular discipline isn't tested (BME for example). The section I decided to take was based upon electrical engineering topics, even expanding away from the typical circuits/power/E&M type questions into the DSP/communication/control disciplines (to all the NCEES people out there, this isn't information that isn't available in your lovely handbook). I definitely had to stretch my mind around some of the questions and even learn some before unseen topics while in the session. But that's what engineering is really all about, right? In the end, if I passed the FE exam, I feel like these questions were much more in the direction I would have to take for the PE exam (to get final certification).

Would I do it again? Well, no, I don't plan to (if I didn't pass). I'm glad I tried it at least once. Does that make me sound like a quitter? Maybe. But I justify it as me not needing to be certified by a board that requires such stringent knowledge of beams. Ugh. Beams. Thank goodness there are people out there that enjoy studying and working with them. And that they're certified to sign off that the beams won't in fact bend.

Much like I'm not going to say that I've been too busy to post anything for the past 2-3 months, I'm not going to say that I'm definitely going back to school to get an advanced degree. However, I've considered saying both.

Really, I've considered going back to school as soon as I started my first job and was dissatisfied. I mean, who hasn't? Aside from the fact that I was previously on a co-op cycle of (work, school, work, school, and so on), I really felt nostalgic for school; I found myself saying things like: "It's so much less work when you're in class for a few hours a day!", "I'll definitely love all those new subjects I'll be studying!", "I'll have lots of free time during the day to get things done and then study at night!" and many others. They're all complete bull of course, none of those things are true for full time grad students. In fact, school can be much harder at times. I often found myself so overloaded between (continued) work and school that I would be sleeping four hours a night; plus I'm guessing I would have been sleeping those same four hours had I not been working, the waking hours would have just been spent more effectively on my classes.

The only problem now is I can't be a full-time student.

Well, I could, but all the kinds of debt I'd get myself into would be really unrealistic for the amount I would gain from an advanced degree. Since buying and fixing up my home last winter, I have taken on some markedly adult-like responsibilities in my life. And so I began investigating options. Going back to school is not something that I take lightly, nor should anyone out there; in the event that I make it back to school in the near future, it will be a long slog through homeworks and tests and unrealistic deadlines and the such. And all for a piece of paper. Luckily I had some great advice about school/work/life balance from my former boss and mentor:

Based on my experience, I would say make sure that all of your house projects are complete before you start and don’t plan on starting any new projects until you get your degrees (both of ‘em!). Also make sure your personal life is well-organized and in good working order. Don’t take in any more dogs, cats, or other mammals. You may also need to (*gasp*) scale back your musical activities.

While he was obviously joking about certain things there (no more music??), I take his advice to heart; I've also seen similar behavior from co-workers who are also in school right now. You really have to throw yourself into studies to get the most out of it. I think my perspective now that I've been out in the working world for a while will really allow me to succeed, both in the things I have already learned and how I approach problems.

The first kind of decision I will need to make is what kind of Master's degree I would want to attain. I was actually quite surprised there was even more than one option available. The first degree I think most people think of in Electrical Engineering is an Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE of MScEE). I already missed the boat on the BS/MS program that my alma mater offered; this was a program that allowed students to automatically segue from their undergraduate studies into an advanced degree, often taking Master's courses early to help push the amount of time spent on the MS down to 1 year. So the next option I could have done was go back to school for a Master's degree (the normal way) and then write a thesis at the completion of my studies. This would likely involve research with a faculty member and the thesis would be based around that research. I doubt this option would be possible for me, because of the aforementioned house, mortgage and "grown-up" responsibilities, up to and including my job (which I wouldn't want to give up either). Yet another option would be a "project-only" MSEE offered at some schools that would involve the same coursework as any other master's degree; however, the thesis would be replaced with a project, possibly in conjunction with day-job projects (but probably segmented in some way or another). At the programs I am looking at, this option is only allowed when working full time and going to school part time; luckily, that is one of my few options. The other interesting option is something that is called a "Master's of Engineering" (in Electrical Engineering in this case). My alma mater offers such a degree (abbreviated as "MEng") and has a streamlined course offering for engineers in my situation. The degree leans more towards mixing business and science, as many engineers do on a daily basis. In that regard, it could be a very helpful degree, in the event it imparts the necessary business acumen to get by in the hard business world. However, I question the degree and how it would be viewed in the working world once I am finished:

• Will employers view it as a lesser degree if I try to stay in the technical field?
• Will a MEng degree limit where I can go in my career?
• Do I ever want to get a PhD or am I OK with a "terminal degree" such as an MEng?
• Will I be able to learn all the technical things in a more balanced program such as the MEng?

I've also been considering which schools I would even be able to attend. Thanks to the digital age, commuting distances have been shortened to only the time it takes for light to travel down a wire. What that means for John Q Public-school-graduate such as myself is that a lot more schools are now accessible to a full time worker. And not just the University of Phoenix here either. We're talking top 50 engineering schools. Who you ask? How about:

1. Stanford
2. Georgia Tech
3. Purdue
4. University of Florida

Even those four provide a pretty heavy hitting list of top research institutions offering the course work entirely online. Sure, this might be a more difficult way to collaborate with others in your class or work on projects or communicate with the teacher; but it also means that geographical barriers are becoming less and less of an issue. If I had an online electronics store that I ran out of a shack in the backwoods of North Carolina, I could now attend the number 2 engineering school in the country just as well as someone living in Palo Alto (assuming I was accepted). So while I do have a wonderful institution and my alma mater in my backyard (CWRU), I also have more options and more specialized coursework for whatever branch of EE I would like to explore more.

So what next? I guess now I have to take the GRE and get applying (and eventually figure out how I would pay for it all...). As much as I've thought about the potential convenience of going to an online version of a school, it's applying just like any other Master's Student. So really the online programs are more like you're enrolled at the school, you just can't ever make it to class because you're sick all the time; plus the professors are nice enough to send home your schoolwork (but not in a folder like back in elementary school days).

In the coming weeks/months/years (who knows?), I'll try not to write about school plans too much. However,  think there are some issues that merit discusion on here and elsewhere (and hey, I like getting help from people responding in the comments). I'll probably write at least once about my potential area of studies (should they be similar to what I'm doing right now? Should they be more towards my interest in DSP?). I'd really love feedback from anyone that happens to read this, especially students who went back to school after being in the working world for a while. Please leave any tips or tricks you might have in the comments.

Clarification: When I write "work a job fair", I mean how to get the most out of it as a student or job seeker. This could be confused with the fact that I sometimes recruit at job fairs, but I thought this should be brought up at the beginning after I re-read the article.

In talking to a fellow engineer about to attend a career fair, I realized I had some advice for him, having gone so many times in the past. I've even been back a few times to recruit for my current company and being on the other side of the handshake is an interesting insight into the do's and don'ts.

1. As soon as you realize they want you to apply online, ditch.
   • First off, this was a pet peeve of mine as an attendee and is to this day. As soon as HR departments at large companies realized they could just use computers to filter the resumes of prospective employees instead of reading them (yeah, I'm looking at you Big Blue), they did it as fast as they could. The result was that you now walk around job fairs talking to people and handing out resumes, only to assume those people will be throwing it away ten minutes later ("Why did I print that on paper that costs 50 cents a sheet?!?"). In the event you're talking to someone from a company and you even overhear a different recruiter asking someone to apply online (assuming you hear it before you're told directly to do so), kindly end the conversation with the person you're talking to and write in your notes to apply later. Job fairs are to make first impressions; if the employers' representatives are not taking notes on the people they are talking to, they really are only wasting your time.
2. Be excited
   • Enthusiasm is contagious. It can make any conversation more exciting and in the case of the recruiters, less routine. They have many of the same conversations over and over throughout the day, often with people that don't show particular enthusiasm for what they are talking about. More importantly, enthusiasm about your chosen field is a precursor to another trait that I feel is particularly important in any field: passion. Without it, you probably won't be able to hold your interest long enough to become an expert in your field. And I mean a real expert, not like those silly people online that start blogs and call themselves experts. Haha.
3. Be excited, but show a little modesty
   • Before you go off the rails and start spouting all of your best characteristics to a potential employer, remember a few things:
     1. Designing something in school is much different than designing something in the real world.
     2. No one wants to hear every single detail of your design project upon first meeting you.
     3. As an engineer, getting a design job just out of school is difficult and unlikely. The majority of engineers use their degree to launch into other types of jobs. I'm not saying you shouldn't shoot for a design job if you want one, I'm just saying the expectation shouldn't be that you will be handed one (and you should keep your mind open to all opportunities).
     4. If you present your past work correctly, the work will speak for itself. In fact, succinctly describing your achievements in an understandable way will help to show your enthusiasm much better than you trying to squeeze 500 words into a 1 minute time period. Show them that you are really proficient in the area you're targeting and you'll get recruiters clamoring to know how much you really know (and eventually what it'll take to get you on their team).
4. Forget the give-aways
   • The pens and t-shirts and yo-yo's and other stuff they give away at these events are fun to get and sometimes quirky, but essentially worthless. If you want to get free stuff with a logo on it, go get the job from the company and worry about the branded crap later. Focus your time and resources on meeting people, not collecting widgets.
5. Figure out what skills they're looking for
   • No amount of preparatory work researching the companies you're targeting will let you know what skills a company is looking for. Hell, it's in the company's interest to be vague when they list what kind of employee they're looking for so the maximum number of people will stop by their booth. This is one of your most important tasks at career fairs; in fact, it's one of the few reasons to stick around and continue talking to a representative from a company once you have found out they only accept applications online. Talk to the engineers that work in groups you would want to work in (wait to talk to them if there is a line) and find out what they look for in potential candidates. In fact, ask them that, "What do you look for in potential candidates who would be hired for YOUR position?". It might sound a little weird, like you want to replace them with yourself, but it's the most direct way to know what skills and techniques you need to have to work there. If you have those skills, awesome. If you don't, work on getting those skills, however you can.
6. Know what you like and don't like and tell them about it
   • This hearkens back to being enthused about the field you're studying. In the event you're not very capable in transmitting your enthusiasm to the person you're talking to, stating what you do and don't like can help to showcase what you're really trying to do with your career. But it's also important because you can narrow down the companies that can actually offer you a job. If you're really interested in embedded systems but you're talking to  a company that only works on designing silicon, stating what you're interested in can be a real time saver. If you're not particularly fond of working on spreadsheets or databases and you say so, you can quickly be informed by the company you're talking to that those things would be the main job function of any potential employees. In stating what you really like and dislike, you basically turn a career fair into a speed-dating service, quickly going through all of the options at a particular event and honing in on those that have real potential.
7. Brush your teeth. Wear a clean shirt. Don't be a robot.
   • I only wish this was more obvious to people than it is. I've already been pointing out that career fairs are only as useful as the impressions you make on potential employers; sometimes it's also about the resume you hand them.  But if the whole ordeal is about impressions, some people don't get it. Look decent, smell decent, smile decent. These are all things that are easy but immediately put you out of the running if you get them wrong. Remember the lollipop first question for $100 on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"? Remember some of the dodos who got it wrong and had to immediately leave the stage? Don't be one of them.

Do I know everything about job fairs? No, I know very little. I personally never really liked them as a potential employee. I'd rather stand out to an employer  by connecting on a personal level with a recruiter and then showcasing what I know. There just isn't time for that at career fairs. But if you or the employers you're interested in working for consider career fairs a necessary evil, I think the tips listed above can have a positive effect on some of your interactions.

What kinds of things do you try to do at job/career fairs? Can those things be done by engineers at career fairs or are they specific to another profession? Please let us know in the comments.

It wasn't just today. It wasn't really the day last week when I registered my new domain name. It was pretty soon after starting this blog that I realized how much more powerful having a website with multiple contributors to keep a consistent flow of information. "Welcome to the party!", right? I realize there are a lot of other sites that take advantage of this idea. I didn't think of it earlier though so here's my chance. And here's your chance too.

I am now on the hunt for the most articulate and technically proficient EEs and quasi-EEs out there. I plan to use this new website as a warehouse for important electrical engineering knowledge I wish I always had. I still wish I have it, because it can be very hard to keep track of (ever searched through that old pile of industry magazines? Yeah, me neither). Sure, there are sites out there like EDN and EETimes that have some spectacular writers and some interesting insight into the industry; however, I have always felt their hands were tied by a business model built upon advertising revenues that also might happen to maybe, possibly, sometimes on the harvest moon, when the winds are blowing right...influence the articles (at least in terms of what is written about). Maybe not, but it feels that way. Moreover, it feels like there is less technical content on those sites than there used to be. It's understandable, the recession is kicking everyone's butt, and it's not taking it easy on the publishing industry. But the point remains, I want a place where I can consistently go to for up to date information about skills and techniques and I want to be able to understand it. I want it to be written by the top engineers and scientists out there and I want it to be in a format that is instantly applicable and useful.

As for ChrisGammell.com, I don't really plan on changing too much. I will still write articles somewhere between technical and non-technical and try to post as often as I can. However, I think for my long term writing, I need to be part of a site that is on neutral ground and with a community built around it. I, like many in my generation, was raised working in teams and I think this will be the best format to help disseminate knowledge to others in the future.

If you are interested in contributing to a site such as this, please feel free to contact me and let me know what you would like to contribute. If you have a suggestion for the new site please leave a note in the comments below. I always appreciate feedback (even negative feedback! heh).

So let's see, I told you my plans, I explained why I think they are important to me and others, I explained what would (or would not) happen to this site and I suggested you contact me if you're interested in joining. Am I forgetting something?

Ah yes. The new site and community I started is called Electricio.us. I hope you like it.

I don't get too personal on my blog.

1. My blog is about my professional life (mostly)
2. It's just the way I am

But on the way home last night I was thinking about how I might define a perfect day and thought it could be a good insight into who I am. You might not care but Chris-ten-years-from-now might, so I'll write it for him. I think the exercise is healthy as long as it's not taken too far (ie. I don't plan on arranging my whole life around constructing this day exactly); but in general believe that this image should be used as a guide towards what I would like to be doing with my life and what I would like to accomplish.

• 7:00 - 7:04 am
  • Wake up to kisses from my girlfriend and two puppies. Lie in bed thinking about what I can accomplish that day. Smell the pot of coffee brewing on a timer downstairs.
• 7:04 - 7:47 am
  • Watch the Daily Show from the previous evening while drinking a cup of dark roasted, aforementioned coffee and noshing on a scone or waffle. Check on the status of my house and see how the renewable energy storage system is holding up after a night of not being able to collect energy.
• 7:50 - 8:00 am
  • Walk to my own business/workshop/office just down the street. The weather in my dream-world would of course be beautiful all year round and would never have rain or snow (except on days I'm free to go sledding). Be greeted by my employees/co-workers/friends at the office.
• 8:00 - 11:32 am
  • Work the whole morning on a new device that will allow people to better harvest energy from the environment in a friendly way (energy scavenging perhaps?). I don't have more details about this part of my perfect day because the device hasn't been invented yet.
• 11:32 am - 12:13 pm
  • Lunch with everyone around the office. Bounce ideas off of people on how to better improve the energy device and how to get it to places people need it the most.
• 12:13 - 2:34 pm
  • More work. At 1:24 pm I get that awesome feeling you get when you realize you just discovered something no one else has ever discovered (I have had that feeling many more times than it has ever been true...in this case it would be). The product still needs some development, but it's at that moment that I know it is a viable solution and something that can be made and sold to people who need it.
• 2:45 - 3:45 pm
  • Celebratory massage (Sometimes you just gotta chill out).
• 4:00 pm - 5:47 pm
  • Soundcheck and a light rehearsal with my band. It goes flawlessly and everyone is very excited about the show. We decide at the last minute to include a cover of a song that we think will be a crowd pleaser (for all ages).
• 6:02 - 7:47 pm
  • Dinner with family and a small group of friends at the local bistro. We have some kind of a duck dish paired with a few Great Lakes brews. It is absolutely delicious. The entire meal is complimented by intellectually stimulating conversation and friends getting to meet family.
• 8:01 - 8:53 pm
  • Relax with bandmates backstage. Visit from tech/nerd/music fan who wanted to meet us and we all hang out.
• 9:00 - 10:45 pm
  • A night of jazz and funk in front of friends, family and fans. The fans are people that are genuinely interested in the type of music I play. The friends are from all over the country and have come back for this show. The pianos and organs and pedals and amps have all been inspected, repaired and sometimes created by me. I also get to debut a new effect that has never been used before in music production. In lab tests the new effect makes people want to get up and dance 46% more than music played without it. I had previously decided to call it a danceofonium.
• 10:47 - 12:30 am
  • Hanging out backstage with all of my friends that were nice enough to come to my show. Friends from different parts of my life get to meet and get along really well. Everyone there enjoys good music, food and beer, all of which are being served up liberally.
• 12:56 am
  • The day ends as wonderfully as it starts: a kiss goodnight from my girlfriend and puppies. I drift off to sleep dreaming of tomorrow.

I know someone out the might ask "But if you feel like music is such an important part of your life, why do you do engineering?" A valid question. First off, I think engineering is an even more important part of my life. I don't think our chosen work should be taken lightly, as it's 1/3 of our lives roughly, and because of that I sought out work that continually challenges me and allows me to try different things every day. I think that engineering allows the part of me that wants to impact the world and leave a legacy behind that has much further implications than music. Engineering (and specifically electrical engineering) is collaborative, creative and can have a very positive impact on millions of people. While I feel that music can do the same, I don't feel like that's the reason I play music and I'm not sure I would want to play music to try to change the world. In the end, I play music for myself and for my friends and if other people enjoy it, that is an added bonus.

I'm curious, what is your perfect day like? Have you ever thought of something like this before? I think it really can give you and those around you great insight into what you aspire to be and do with your life. I would love to see what you have in mind in the comments on this page or a link to a post you write about your perfect day.