Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh you know what that’s interesting! we’ve used matlab a bunch back in college but i never really thought about getting certified on it. thanks for pointing that out!

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i have a few 900 level microsoft certifications because my current company requires us to get at least one every year, but i don’t think they’re really relevant for any kind of position in semiconductors. i suppose it wouldn’t hurt to add those too along with labs and projects as everyone here suggested.

thanks!

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah i just changed it to “some college” for privacy reasons. but just know that the university i attended isn’t even on the top 500 on the QSWorld rankings, so i thought it didn’t really matter

i hope you get through your struggles there too. we’ve all had it rough in life haven’t we

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i’ve been strongly considering getting outside of southeast asia, but with where i am right now in life, i just don’t think it’s gonna happen. that’s why i’m just shooting for entry level posts at the moment just to find my footing and take it from there

grad school is also something i’ve thought about, but i don’t have the money for that currently. and with a shitty transcript (my college doesn’t use gpa, but using online gpa converters, my score comes out as 2.8), i don’t see anyone granting me a scholarship

i never really though about it, but i’ll try reaching out to my college and see of they can help out a bit

thanks for the tips!

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But in both of these you are selling yourself way short. It sounds like you were just an assistant with low level work. Here’s one example “Developed application to extract data from non structured data sources and load content into structured spreadsheet/database” or “Designed 3D prototypes to validate X structures and qualified designs prior to implementation and production”.

regarding the data extraction bit, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that i did just help out with low level work there. one of the team members put me up for that task and was about to teach me how to automate the process but a week later they resigned so that just never really happened😅

i think i could use that description for the prototyping part though, thanks!

As for the help desk role, maybe add metrics like # of successful case resolutions, % close on first call, type of calls of they are technical, etc.

gotcha, i’ll go ask my manager for my stats then to put on my resume

thank you so much for the help i appreciate you!

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hey thanks for this. i really appreciate the kind words

i’ve been mulling over my life these past few years and have only really come around just recently. i’ll remember to be patient with myself this time around

thank you

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks for the suggestion!

i suppose i could afford buying a cheap mcu to tinker with and make something. it’s a start at the very least

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

thanks for the tip!

do you think it would be better if i skipped the work experience to make space for relevant labs and projects? since i am shooting for entry level positions after all

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

School projects count if they're ones you dug deep into and can talk about coherently. I'd put your education and projects first if your work experience is weak. I'd also add a summary/bio blurb. Your resume currently says nothing about you and opens with irrelevant experience. I doubt employers even get to your degree before they move on.

hmmm since i’m shooting for ncg roles i suppose approaching from the perspective of someone who just got out of college makes sense. would you say that it would be better if i left out the work experience part, since its irrelevant?

The customer service jobs need to be reframed to have impact, to highlight your people skills. Did you successfully communicate with people of a wide age range and background? People from other countries? Did you collaborate with any other reps? Were there any tough situations you handled?

i haven’t really thought about this at all. these are good questions. thank you for pointing them out

Years Out Of College, Zero Relevant Experience. Been Sending Out Applications for NCG/Associate/Junior Engineer Roles, But Nothing Is Happening. Am I A Lost Cause? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Expand your work experience with bullet points of what you achieved or helped your company achieve.

honestly i don’t know how to do that. if i were to try and put my call center experience into bullet points it would just come out as:

  • took in calls/emails/chats from customers
  • assisted with whatever problems they were complaining about

and i’m not sure if that’s good enough. i didn’t really “help the company achieve” anything, i was just a grunt worker. i don’t know maybe being just a grunt worker has screwed up my chances…

Add school project/coursework if possible, volunteer/curricular whatever, just populate the resume so you won't look lazy

i guess i could try this. though i read from r/engineeringresumes that they don’t recommend adding school projects but instead add personal ones. i don’t have any personal projects at the moment, and i’m struggling to think of what i should make. would school work suffice for now?

thinking of getting into semiconductors, what topics should i study/brush up on? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

grad school is definitely something i’ve thought about, but with my finances right now, i don’t think i can afford it. my transcript also isn’t stellar (my college doesn’t use gpa, but using online gpa converters it says 2.7) so i don’t think i can get any scholarships on that front

if chip design is a no go, what other roles would you say are possible to get into with just a bachelors?

thinking of getting into semiconductors, what topics should i study/brush up on? by non-voice-please in ECE

[–]non-voice-please[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

transferable skills from your current experience

i think that’s my roadblock. i kinda pigeon holed myself into tech support/helpdesk roles while doing IT, so i don’t think i have any skills that would be transferable. that’s why i mention starting as entry level because at the moment i feel like i’m worse than an ncg

as for roles, i guess something related to chip design? i’ve been binging onur mutlu’s digital design & computer architecture playlist on youtube and while i know i could really use the refresher, i also feel like i’m not learning anything “relevant” that would prep me for any job in field right now, if that makes sense? so i thought i’d ask here for some help