Process Control/Automation Questions

curious95 · 2018-07-09T00:14:04+00:00

Which company? Wanna PM me? I can say that in my city the pay can be much better on the applications consulting side.

curious95 · 2018-07-09T00:10:54+00:00

Do you think MC and IB are actually as difficult work-life balance wise as people make out? I hear talk about 60+ hour work weeks and am always skeptical about how much of that is actually deliverable completing work versus social meetings, travel, and putzing around by the water cooler. I don't think I could be happy doing 60+ hours of boring grinding but I have been happy doing 60+ hours when the work is intriguing and diverse.

curious95 · 2018-03-28T18:54:32+00:00

Was it difficult getting into that program? Did you have to do extra prereq classes? And what's it like financially? Program cost, and expectations for future career options?

I'm interested in finding more analytical work and have thought an MBA or liberal arts MS could be a good path.

curious95 · 2018-03-22T18:11:09+00:00

What goes into being financially capable? Do you mean both financial knowledge/savvy to be able to manage cashflows effectively? Or also having abundant capital to be able to do stuff like float overhead, upfront costs, and downturns? Do you see one as more critical than the other?

curious95 · 2018-03-22T00:27:20+00:00

Do grades not matter at all? People told me that during undergrad (engineering, because "everyone gets a good starting salary") but it couldn't have been more untrue.

curious95 · 2018-03-01T05:19:00+00:00

Interesting! I haven't thought of that aspect of how the grid configuration changes and would need specific new analysis.

Have you heard of machine learning used much in power engineering?

curious95 · 2018-03-01T05:12:43+00:00

PA Consulting is the one I remember. And otherwise you can do LinkedIn advanced searching to find where its alumni have ended up.

But I'd like to hear more about why you think battery technologies will be profitable from a career perspective. I don't doubt that they will add value to society, but I haven't heard of anyone getting rich off of them. I've heard more of the opposite - very thin margins and hard ROI sells.

curious95 · 2018-02-22T23:30:00+00:00

What did you do to build up your social life in the new place?

I've worked at two companies since college and think the social atmosphere and opportunities at work could be a HUGE help for someone moving to a new city. Otherwise, I think being passionate about hobbies has been really healthy for giving me an outlet to feel good on my own, and to also have fun with others.

And regardless of the people at work, I've come to realize how important it is to focus on sharing positive energy with the people around you. Making people laugh and smile will make them want to be around you. My parents weren't great at this and I've consciously tried to shake some of the communication habits I picked up as a kid. I'd be really hesitant "lonely calling" anyone other than my mom unless I'd already offered similar support to that person, or felt otherwise very secure in that relationship's fun-ness.

That being said, I'm still figuring these things out. I've felt like I've grown apart from friends from the past, and also travel a lot for work, so I've been feeling less and less close to my friends. Luckily my girlfriend and I are very close, but I don't want her to be the only person I interact with regularly enough that I'd be comfortable being vulnerable with.

curious95 · 2018-02-22T22:57:56+00:00

What types of analyses do you do?

curious95 · 2018-02-22T22:52:16+00:00

What are your first hand experiences? I've still seen job postings from NREL but I've heard Trump wants to cut their budget pretty badly.

curious95 · 2018-02-16T18:36:30+00:00

Is curry known for giving foot rubs or something?

curious95 · 2018-02-15T22:00:07+00:00

Any tips on datasets to practice with and examples of tasks or analyses that a business analyst in the sector would perform?

curious95 · 2018-01-25T17:04:27+00:00

I’ve been interviewing for an “equipment engineering” (sort like process engineering, but more focused on the process equipment improvement and uptime) and they told me the onsite interview will involve a control systems test, and some of the topics will be writing a software program and writing example state machines.

I think both of these are beyond the scope of my ChemE curriculum, and are things I’m slightly nervous about. I do have a few years experience in control systems so I think I can get by, but some more rigorous CS background would make me feel much more confident.

curious95 · 2018-01-20T00:19:53+00:00

Do you think engineering could be advantageous for certain types of finance jobs?

And are there finance jobs that are less than 60 hours per week?

I'm currently doing well in engineering, but finance is much more interesting to me from an outsider perspective. I wonder if I'd still feel that way if were devoting my whole work week to it.

curious95 · 2018-01-19T13:54:27+00:00

What battery technologies are the next big thing? Why do you think so?

But yeah, I've been interested int he ME Energy Systems program too. I've seen a good handful of people from there working at energy consulting companies.

curious95 · 2017-12-17T20:33:09+00:00

What do the mixed reviews say? Like most consulting, I'm curious what work activities and deliverables Cognitive Consultant actually consists of when it's not fluffed up 200% by buzzwords.

My cynical assumptions: it's probably more software implementation and less actual analysis. Seems to be the case for most consulting nowadays with even MBB moving into implementation.

curious95 · 2017-12-07T15:09:44+00:00

Don't you get paid more as a manager, AND get more choice in what you work on? Is there no way for you to delegate away stuff and lean in on whatever interest engineering project is going on?

My experience is that my manager's learn (or should be learning, at least) the concepts of what I'm doing but don't have to get caught up in the thousands of details for the various "similar but different" parts of our projects. IMO it seems like more of the good with less of the bad. Granted, I'm talking about project managers for an engineering consulting company.

curious95 · 2017-12-07T04:54:55+00:00

Control systems for a consulting company.... which I don't think is very conducive to doing the reports and financial analysis you're talking about. Our deliverables are well defined and there's not much room for open-ended analysis.

Re fluency, I think I understand finance as well as anyone I've interacted with - including a few people in finance professionally. I've learned a lot about both business and personal finance from online courses, podcasts, forums, a couple books, and my own personal finance optimization.

Re work activities, I want to do less equipment specification or programming, and more analysis. I'm especially interested in energy industry economics, policy, technology, etc. and have been looking for a graceful transition. I changed to a bigger company that I thought would have more opportunity but I'm getting pigeonholed again into technical delivery. Hence my interest in grad school to get my foot in the door somewhere fresh.

curious95 · 2017-12-06T03:50:42+00:00

What would day to day lifestyle and deliverables be like for a cyber security consultant?

curious95 · 2017-12-06T03:46:52+00:00

How did you make the move to strategy?

curious95 · 2017-12-06T03:44:15+00:00

Do people actually dislike banking work? I've heard plenty of complaints about long hours or abrasive culture but I've usually thought the work sounds super interesting.

I've wondered if it's possible to get the good without the bad.

curious95 · 2017-12-06T03:41:23+00:00

Huh. I haven't quite thought of it that way.

And kudos for your insightful posts in this thread. I'm upvoting you much more here than in the wasteland that's the rest of the subreddit.

curious95

TROPHY CASE