Life career turns.. Looking for some advice's from older folks

[Vancata]

Hello all folks.

I have one kinda dumb question but really I don't have anyone else to ask for advice. I hope some older person had my problems in the beginning of his professional career path so  he can give me some basic tips.

I'm last year student telecommunication. Before like 8months I had a job interview and had been chosen for really nice position as assistant Test engineer in big company in the automation sector. I was really happy until i met labview there. Anyway I had no professional experience with labview and data acquisition software back there. For like 1 month I made my first small project, but then I started thinking that I dont like Labview and mostly the idea that national instrument software is expensive for a lot of company's and I was afraid that i was taking too dedicated career path as "programmer" in Labview, because this is what they wanted from me to do 80% of the time.
Anyway the people there were great, just amazing team and folks, just loved that crew there! But my fears of getting too dedicated to some specific software or manufacture made me quit my job there. No matter the company tried to keep me and looked for some other job for me, they even gave me C++ job and then agein.. object orientated language was just not for me.. I was working 3/7 days there and had 2 days for my university, just great deal because they enforced my education.

Anyway I quited and took a path in System Administration from 2months now I'm in the mail administration business in one of the world biggest company in that area supporting => microsoft exchange servers worldwide. The amazing thing is that the salary is greater then most engineering positions in my country, but the job is just dumb and boring. The colleges are just not my type... and I nearly don't have anything to talk with them. Not even close topics, there lifestyle is far far away from mine. I'm curious, reading everything that is close with modern technology, no matter is it in the chemestry, mechanical or electronic area. The money for me don't mean so much like for them... And now i feel kinda depressed... 
Anyway other thing is that now I'm on 5/7 working days shift and I don't have time for my university, and the area is far away from most of my courses in the university which are more hardware/electronic's then supporting software and microsoft products......

I'm really confused now.... I kinda have offer from my ex employee because I was really responsible person there and the folks from the management can make this great offer to take me back no matter I quited to try my self in other area. But I dont know what to do.. kinda regret that I didn't enforced my self learning labview..

Anyway I think I should force my self to stay, because I think quitting great jobs opportunity's one after other is not an option.. It looks really unserious and pathetic from my point of view, more like kid story rather adult person. I even hate my self for being such a long term thinker for the far future and my opportunities there when I'm not even in the beginning of anything.

Feel free too laugh on my drama and post your negative comments on it. I'm just fed up and confused.
Anyway I'm still running my small projects and my small home electronic lab, tinkering with stuffs, making small basic embedded projects and so on...

Would be great if someone can give me some life experience advice to kinda young person.. or not sure.. I'm 24 so seems I'm not even young anymore..

[IanB]

I could give you a long answer based on my career history, but I don't have time to write it until a bit later.

But in short, I think you may have made a mistake in giving up that first job.

When considering your career, I would always advise you to think about what you want to *be*, not what you *do*. For instance, if it is your intent to *be* an electrical/electronic engineer, then identify yourself with that profession and consider how to make all your daily tasks, whatever they may be, support that identity. If someone asks you, say "I am an electronic engineer", don't say "I am a Labview programmer".

You can be an EE and be an expert in Labview (it could be a valuable skill in your armory). You can be an EE and be an expert in programming (many are). But when you use Labview don't think you are learning to be a Labview programmer, think that you are learning how to use a powerful engineering tool in your toolbox. Also look up and look around you, and consider what you can learn about engineering from that application of such a tool.

As your career progresses, you should find yourself collecting many tools in your toolbox. One of your roles as an engineer is to understand how the deeper theory works, and which tools are the right tools to be used in the practical applications of that theory.

[tggzzz]

Life is about making choices, and every choice closes off some future options. So make choices based on what options you want to remain open in the future.

Not only should you make the "right" decision, you should make it at the right time; it can be too early to make a decision. After my first job I couldn't be sure that I wanted to remain technical - so I found a job in a medium-sized contract R&D company that allowed me to try out business and project management roles in a technical environment. After a few years I was more certain of the right choice for me. Maybe you will be able to find such a job.

Two career trajectories, with different advantages and disadvantages: jack of all trades and master of none, vs world expert in a narrow field. Either route is valid, but which will you prefer.

[nixfu]

In IT, Systems Administration is one of the best jobs there is.  It can involve hardware, networking, debugging, programming, designing, project planning, and pretty much everything you can think of all in one IT career. 

[EEVblog]

I'm really confused now.... I kinda have offer from my ex employee because I was really responsible person there and the folks from the management can make this great offer to take me back no matter I quited to try my self in other area. But I dont know what to do.. kinda regret that I didn't enforced my self learning labview..

Changing jobs frequently is quite common in the industry, especially for skilled and motivated people (the ones you generally want to hire!). A 2-3 year churn rate is not uncommon and would not look bad on your resume.
If you are changing jobs every year, that can be a problem on your resume.

With the labview, try to look at it as an opportunity to get highly skilled and well trained in this package (get them to send you to all the courses you can, preferably in other cities ). Spend a few years at it and then if they aren't giving you other more exiting work to go along with it, perhaps you might want to branch out on your own an a specialist labview and system design and integration consultant or something like that where you can get to work on a whole range of different systems.

Forget IT, it's over saturated, everyone does that, at least Labview is more specialised. Having specialist skills can be very handy.

BTW, the biggest mistake I ever made was staying too long at some jobs (10+ years) and getting too cozy.

[kxenos]

IT and electronics are 2 different fields. I think you have to ask yourself what do you love to do. Where does your heart resonate and what would you like to have as a hobby. Because you have to realize that you have something like 40 years ahead of you. Can you imagine yourself doing something you don't love for this long? Sure people do this out of necessity but since you have an option I think you should think about it. Also, something else is, you have to see that right now your main job is to be a student. Anything that makes this difficult for you is a drawback. Plan for long term goal but focus on current issue.
Also, 2 or 3 or 5 years focusing on a technology relevant to the field is not going to take any engineering ability away. It will just make you an expert in 1 small segment but it's really not that big time. A day that is not wasted is a day you learn something new. (2nd proverb already) Also, a company that uses labview is more likely to use you in an engineering position when you get your (I assume EE) degree than a big IT company.
Good luck

[nctnico]

Changing jobs too often doesn't have to work out well either. Usually you have to expect a setback in salary unless you are highly skilled at something (like Labview  ).

[Gribo]

I can tell from personal experience, that in certain markets LabView skills are in great demand. There is a catch though, if the future employer requires an NI certification, you will have to maintain it and do a test every two years. For an employed person, its not a big deal, as the employer pays for it, but for a job seeking engineer, paying the NI fee is quite rough.

[TerraHertz]

All the above are good advice, but no one mentioned something from your story that is really important.

Being surrounded by people with whom you have nothing in common, and who don't excite and inspire you, or show you new things, or appreciate your creativity, is very deadening to the soul. You'll lose interest in everything, not just your career.
Good working friends are worth more than a significant salary difference.

[Vancata]

Thanks for all the advice's and the support folks!
Well for now will just gather my head in the upcoming winter holidays and see what are my options.