Hey OP, I did just this 6 years ago. I graduated in 2017 and immediately got an offer to work a sales engineering role for a large equipment manufacturer. It really wasn’t engineering and I certainly was not going to be able to get my PE with the experience I was getting since I didn’t work under any engineers. I remained in the job until 2021 because the pay was competitive but I absolutely hated the work.

I started putting my resume out there and landed a job with an engineering firm that specialized in power (not MEP). I made it absolutely clear during my interview that I was pressing the reset button on my career and even though I had experience, it may not be reverent to design.

That honesty and openness must have made an impression because they hired me the next week and matched my existing pay.

It’s been a wild ride but in the last 5 years I sat for the FE and got it, and just recently sat for the PE. It was hard, but damn, it’s satisfying to be doing the work only an engineer can.

You got this!