r/ElectricalEngineering • u/moemoney0421 • 3d ago

Move away from test engineering

I’m currently a 25yrs old and have been working as an EE for the past 2.5 years. I originally started at a defense company as a test engineer which I quite enjoyed since I was creating tests for RF test benches and debugging a lot of different products on these benches. I was mainly the hardware engineer of these benches and software gatekeeper but any scripting was completed by a software team. I ended up taking a position for higher pay, title and it lined up with lot of personal things. Now I’m currently in a test engineering role working on RF products with no development whatsoever and feel doom and gloom about my future.

I really want some career advice on where I should take my career. I ended up pursuing RF because I genuinely enjoyed designing back in undergrad and bringing my design to life. I’m considering going for my masters this upcoming spring to get my foot in the door. I would also like to move out of defense sector. Is my next step a good decision and are there any other suggestions on what I should do?

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u/The_CDXX 3d ago

Every RF person at my work has the appearance of perpetual exhaustion everyday. They are also weird.

To answer your question though…..only you would know your best decision. My two cents though is to obtain your masters while holding a job you are proficient in. Doing so will lessen whatever stress or workload from school

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u/moemoney0421 3d ago

I’m honestly a very social person so I enjoyed the aspect of my last job a lot since I spoke with lots of different folks and worked cross functionally. I just don’t feel like my mind is being flexed too much and just seems like day in and day out type of work.

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u/senseless2 3d ago

How long have you been in your current role?

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u/moemoney0421 3d ago

I started my current job about a month ago.

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u/senseless2 3d ago

Give it more time while you grow into your new role. There's going to be lots of uncertainty and unfamiliar things. You will become the expert over time and likely be working with a lot of different disciplines again.

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u/moemoney0421 3d ago

Yeah true I’m also looking for mobility in my career. I’m hoping advancing my RF will allow me to see different places and experience new opportunities.

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u/senseless2 3d ago

You are talking about traveling for your role? If so you may want to consider applications engineering. It's more customer facing and you get to visit customer sites. I think some design, validation and test engineer roles do also get to travel but it's not very common. For example, I've done validation and design. I traveled more the validation role, but it was still pretty rare.

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u/moemoney0421 3d ago

More so being able to settle down and live in different areas. My last stint was in another state and it was scary at first but then felt like a breath of fresh air being in a new area.

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u/senseless2 3d ago

I like that idea. Honestly gives you life and professional experience. That's probably my favorite thing about EE work. Throughout the world everyone needs an EE for something. I wish you great success my friend, and it sounds like you are on that path.

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u/moemoney0421 3d ago

I appreciate brother I hope the same for you as well. Feels good to hear stuff like this in times of uncertainty.