Seeking advice on career development for recent graduates
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Hello everyone, I am a recent graduate this year. My university is quite good – it’s one of the 985 institutions – and I majored in Process Equipment and Control Engineering at the undergraduate level. Now I am working at a nuclear power company, in the experimental department of one of its research institutes, where I am responsible for operation and maintenance tasks. I have been working for over 3 months now. In the eyes of others, my job is good and my salary is fairly decent, but there are endless miscellaneous tasks to deal with at the workplace every day. It seems difficult to learn what I want to learn; it seems that my manager wants to train me to become an equipment operation engineer. But damn it, this place is entirely a large-scale experimental facility, not a chemical production plant. Actually, I have always wanted to work in pressure vessel design. Although I’ve heard that working in a design firm is tough, with low initial salaries, I think one can learn a lot there. More importantly, I have an endless interest in design; whenever I finish designing something, I remain excited for a long time. But now that dream has completely shattered – I have to do tasks that have nothing to do with my field of expertise every day. The site doesn’t require our team’s intervention either, as there are workers there already; it feels like I’m wasting my time on things like floor preparation or reinforcing steel structures, which aren’t technical tasks at all, since we’re the client side. May I ask, esteemed seniors, how should I develop myself? I’m so confused; I hope those who are more experienced can give me some advice.
By doing one’s job diligently, one can learn a lot, which will also be helpful in pursuing a career in design in the future
First, do your current job well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It’s just a matter of being trapped in a situation; one just needs to do their job well. It’s not necessarily necessary to be an expert in chemical engineering, at least if one is working in China.
Thank you for your reply. I definitely will do my job well; it’s just that I’m very confused about the future at the moment and don’t know what path to take to make progress.
It’s very likely, as you, a senior, said, that it’s just like being trapped in a city. So how can I broaden my horizons?
Actually, after working in design for so long, it becomes boring and uninteresting; I really want to go to the project site now. People have different opinions; you imagine working as a designer every day because you’ve never done it before, but once you do it, your mindset becomes more calm. Moreover, with the current poor economic conditions in the industry, there may not be any work available for you. Being the client side in nuclear power is quite good.
I like design; I can learn it on my own. Look at the standards and start drawing. However, working in a design firm can be quite boring; most of the time is spent making changes to designs for clients, and working overtime is common, with one spending the whole day in front of the computer.
Personally, I think this of yours will be much better than what I have now at the design firm
The future direction seems to be becoming a equipment supervisor, focusing on effective equipment fault diagnosis; the prospects in this role are better than those in design work