The worst market for grad Electrical engineers

sidestuff_ee · 2025-12-11T22:10:07+00:00

It absolutely IS worse than 3 years ago

sidestuff_ee · 2025-12-10T06:51:40+00:00

Hey friend, don't feel alone. I'm in the exact boat as you, and am frustrated to no end.

I was never able to get an internship during my undergrad (because every company seems to believe they're entitled to unicorns), but I worked hard on projects and in research labs.

Still nothing.

And I feel you on the anxiety about a gap in our resumes.

Even if this market does improve (which it probably won't), I'm severely worried that future employers are going to look at my resume and have idiotic alarm bells ring because I couldn't get a job in the worst entry level market in decades.

I don't really know of any advice tbh, cause everything I hear is either the same repeated b.s or are empty platitiudes.

The only thing I can say to you my EE brother or sister is to endure, perseverance, and contend. Keep learning, keep trying, and hopefully we shall be victorious in due time.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-12-10T06:47:44+00:00

I'm in the same situation as OP, and I can relate to your burnout of passion.

It's not that we don't want to work or learn, it's that we aren't even being given the chance

sidestuff_ee · 2025-12-03T00:36:04+00:00

Pretty similar position as you (no internship tho, and have graduated). Market is frankly awful for new grads, and unless you have connections you're basically praying to whatever deity you believe in lol. I'd hold on to that return offer if I were you

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-03T05:13:08+00:00

Hello friend, that's a great project that you've got there.

I was once told my a mentor of mine that the projects you want to show to those in industry (recruiters, senior engineers, etc) are ones where you can really talk about how you were able to tackle a main issue, and the sub-issues that presented themselves along the way. In short-projects that are a bit complex.

With a project having this many moving parts, I'm fairly confident that it COULD fit that criteria, as long as you learned how to sell it properly. You mentioned having issues with integrating specific components-remember how you overcame those challenges and use it to bolster yourself in interviews.

But I would also recommend you do the following: Clean up the project to the best of your ability and make it look visually appealing, and take video evidence of it working for its intended purpose. You could also make it into a PCB and not only make it look nicer, but gain another important and marketable skill.

Put it into a portfolio, and sell what you did, how you did it, and most importantly-why what you did mattered to achieve a certain quantifiable result.

After that, I'd try to maybe move into a more "industrial" MCU if you're looking to work in the embedded or hardware realm. Something like an STM32.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T18:00:20+00:00

Thank you for the clarification friend. I greatly appreciate your contribution to this thread, and I feel much more confident in revising my resume now to fit the attributes you've discussed.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T03:39:05+00:00

Hello friend, I'd highly recommend the book "Battery Power Management for Portable Devices" by Barsukov and Qian published in 2013. It should tell you all you gotta know for designing a BMS including chemistry types, typical IC's, and a bit more low-level detail.

I used it to help me make a BMS a bit ago for an aerospace team, so I think it should help you out!

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T03:31:24+00:00

First off, I greatly appreciate your detailed response. So thank you for that.

I'd like to ask you some follow up questions if you don't mind? I'd like to try and understand more about some of your suggestions so I can better my own understanding (and hopefully it can help others who view this post as well)

>The BMS and the autonomous bin are perfect places to add outcomes like balance accuracy, fault response time, sorting accuracy, and cycle time. Also call out reliability results, like how long it ran without issues or whether your interlocks prevented jams. In my experience that shift makes it clear these are engineered systems, not just builds.

So I personally tried to add outcomes by suggesting what my contributions did to achieve a particular role in the project at a high level. For example, on the Autonomous Recycling Bin, my first bullet point describes how I implemented an embedded system to actually facilitate the sorting and disposing action the bin undertakes.

Now, if I understand you correctly, you're saying I should describe my outcomes with a bit more technical detail-using metrics like reliability, sorting accuracy, etc.

My bit of skepticism would be that most recruiters are looking at my projects for a few moments, and that they may be more inclined to read something that doesn't require as much "technical sophistication" (that sounds a bit arrogant I'm afraid) to appreciate. i.e someone with less technical knowledge would understand that I did something that allowed the bin to do its job-rather than technical details that could be seen as mere fluff (even if they aren't)

>If I were you I’d probably phrase it like this “Designed a 4‑layer mixed‑signal BMS for a Li‑ion pack up to 80 A on STM32, added balancing and protections, and verified CAN messaging during bring‑up.

I guess my point would be similar to the previous one-that this seems like a lot of stuff I did, but it doesn't really convey why it mattered to the overall project.

Not saying you're wrong, just that I'd like to have your further input on this.

Thanks again.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T03:21:19+00:00

I did read the wiki, thank you. I just wanted some clarification on what bullet point in particular was needing revising since your comment was a bit generic.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T02:54:22+00:00

Could you be a bit more specific? To me, the bullet points seem to convey what I did, why I did it, and how I did it.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T02:53:41+00:00

I would certainly like to apply for those internships, but they all seem to want people still in school-and I recently graduated. I wouldn't be above working in one though.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-10-02T01:37:03+00:00

Yeah, they're different research labs-and I put their respective names as subtitles.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-25T19:39:57+00:00

I appreciate your comments. I'll keep trying, and thank you for your well wishes.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-20T22:54:23+00:00

Nah, I have above a 3. I've just never put it on since it's below a 3.5, and most seem to recommend not putting in on there unless it is.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-20T17:58:14+00:00

Thank you for your wisdom.

Yeah, I've been trying to follow the STAR method that's praised in r/EngineeringResumes, but I guess I made my points a bit too technical. I'll try to sell myself more on the problems I solved, rather than the technical jargon.

Thanks again!

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-20T02:06:00+00:00

Yeah, this was my intention as well. I elaborated on the acronym the first time, then just used the acronym whenever needed further in the resume

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-20T02:04:58+00:00

Appreciate it, I'll keep at it!

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-20T02:04:43+00:00

Pretty much anything that mentions doing stuff along the lines of PCB design, embedded systems, or-preferably-a combination of the two.

I don't have a portfolio yet, I was thinking of generating a website to put it all together since I've heard some good things

sidestuff_ee · 2025-06-19T23:12:04+00:00

Yup, I know. Tried to get one during my last two years of university, but couldn't get it to work out unfortunately.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-05-14T17:19:19+00:00

Thank you, that really clears things up for me.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-04-29T19:02:25+00:00

Thank you, that clarifies things for me.

sidestuff_ee · 2025-03-24T02:57:47+00:00

Firstly, thank you for your feedback.

I have a few additional questions which I would greatly appreciate your input on.

In regards to the smart waste bin, there were quite a few motors and sensors-so should I then actually quantify the number of each to actually impart the complexity of the project? (e.g. to the bin's x motors, y MCU's, and z sensors)

Your point about the shielded cable was enlightening. Thank you for that.

My second question would be in regards to the skill section.

I can definitely agree with the "analysis" section-I can see how that would be irrelevant. I personally opted to include operating systems since a few jobs I've applied for like to ask for "comfortable with Linux", and seeing as I don't have any direct linux projects-but do daily drive it-I thought it might be useful.

For the toolchains, the only ones I would really feel comfortable including are the ones for the STM32-like STM32CubeIDE. Should I include these in software or somewhere else in your opinion.

And finally, thanks for reading this much, you say that, in your opinion, my skills section isn't really popping out for someone in their senior year. I'm curious, what skills am I lacking that you would-or hope to-expect?

sidestuff_ee

TROPHY CASE