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Folks, this episode of the podcast is special to me because well… it is me. This episode features an interview of me from my good friend Luke Callahan. I recently changed jobs and since this podcast is about career transitions, we figured it would be perfect for me to step up to the microphone and field an interview about my own career transition. It’s a pretty wide open discussion and we talk about all aspects of my job transition, from when I considered looking, to how I navigated the process, to how I arrived at my final decision. If you haven’t given it a listen, give it a listen on Spotify or your preferred podcast platform:
In this episode, we turn the tables and host, Daniel Dahlinger, is interviewed by frequent guest, Luke Callahan about his career transition. We talk about the factors that Daniel considered when contemplating a career change, the questions he asked during the interview process, and lessons learned from a job change!
Listen to this episode if you: are an early career engineer, are contemplating a career change, or just like engineering career stories.
This episode is sponsored by Magic Mind:
You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code DANIELD20 at checkout
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This is a fun mailbag episode of the podcast where we talk about everything from interview questions, college credit hours, internships, and the transition to starting your career in the industry. See below a list of questions and links to the original questions.
Listen to this episode if you: are an early career engineer, are contemplating a career change, or just like engineering career stories.
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Episode 60 is a major milestone episode for me because it marks my first episode with sponsored content. Thanks Magic Mind for making the Engineering Success Podcast a podcast that receives ad revenue!
This is one of our standard “mailbag” episodes. I hope you enjoy listening to it. Summary, as always below. Listen to the end for a fun bit of personal news.
You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code DANIELD20 at checkout
Don’t miss a blog post or a podcast episode, subscribe to my newsletter on www.ENGRingSuccess.com Support the on podcast on Spotify or on Patreon:
I’m so excited to welcome Elizabeth Hoemeke to the podcast. Elizabeth’s story hits on a handful of major themes that I’m excited to share on the podcast. One important theme that resonates throughout this episode is the important of networking, and actively maintaining relationships with the people in your life that can influence your career trajectory. This podcast is about career transitions, and Elizabeth has had a handful of transitions, all of which we talked through in this episode. Elizabeth talks about the importance of who you work for, and how that’s often one of the leading indicators that it’s time to move into a new role. If you’re an aspiring leader in or outside of engineering, this episode is for you. Please consider listening to this episode on Spotify or on your preferred podcast provider.
Want to join my Discord Community for all things engineering college to career? All 1x donors of the podcast and 5 star reviewers get an invite, just send your proof to daniel@ENGRingSuccess.com
My guest on today’s podcast is the Chief Operating Officer of Meade Engineering, an Engineering Consulting Firm, known for their successful design of electrical engineering infrastructure across the US. When I was introduced to Johnathan as a potential guest of the podcast, I was really excited about his unique perspective that he could offer to the podcast.
Like many of my guests, Johnathan has multiple degrees, but neither of them are in engineering. Jonathan shares my passion for economics, as he graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Sciences in Economics, and has his MBA in Finance from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. He started his career working for the family business, Meade Engineering, working his way through the organization as a project manager. After an eight year hiatus (or maybe a little bit more than just a hiatus) in finance, working for Charles Schwab, he returned to Meade Engineering where he is now their Chief Operating Officer.
I’m so grateful today that Johnathan has lent some of his time to share his career journey on the podcast today,
Don’t miss a blog post or a podcast episode, subscribe to my newsletter on www.ENGRingSuccess.com Support the on podcast on Spotify or on Patreon:
I had a great time meeting Steve Check for episode 54 of the podcast. Steve holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State and a Masters in Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. Mr. Check founded Check Capital Management (CCM) in 1987. As CCM’s Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for overall investment policy and portfolio management. While formally educated as an engineer (plus coursework in accounting), Steve found his passion in investing and helping others with financial issues. He thoroughly studied great investors—Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, etc.—learning not only their techniques but the underlying mindset that ensured their success. A member of CFA Institute, he is past President of the CFA Society of Orange County.
Together, we talked about Steve’s journey from engineering school, to working as an engineering intern, getting his masters in engineering, working as an engineer, then pivoting to start his wealth management company. I’m inspired by Steve’s story of bravery to step out and start his own business, and he shared some great insights from his personal journey as it relates to engineering. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode, or watching it in video format.
My guest on today’s podcast is someone who I have admired for a long time, as while I was young engineering student struggling in weeder courses, this guest of mine was taking courses courses about concepts I couldn’t imagine myself comprehending, and talking about her internship experience with a cool company whose products were impacting my everyday life.
Mikaela McDonald is a Cisco Infrastructure Solutions Executive at SHI International Corporation, a leader in the IT solutions and services industry and interestingly also is classified as the largest Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise in the United States. She has had a wonderful career journey that we are going to talk about today that… you guessed it… started at Cisco, but before that, she was a student at Trinity University, of which she, like me, is a graduate of their Bachelors of Science in Engineering Science program. Go Tigers!
Mikaela’s career journey has spanned across multiple companies, states and time zones, and I’m so glad that she is here today to share her story. Her passion is to encourage other engineers that it is okay to pivot and try new things as that process of learning and changing the way you think allows you to make better decisions, as long as each time you pivot you maintain goals and adjust accordingly. To her, relationships are everything and should be treated with intentionality, and in that vein I’m so grateful for our relationship, and that she has blessed me with her time to share more on these topics in today’s interview.
Subscribe on YouTube to watch short excerpts of podcast episodes addressing specific topics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj86alc3a7_A_PibgYpkWFg Daniel is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Trinity University’s B.S. in Engineering Science and currently works in Commercial Management in the Engineering and Construction Consulting Industry. All views expressed on this podcast are his own and do not reflect the opinions or views of his employer. Music by Maxgotthetracks: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Pclog68AY1
Hey guys I’m still in high school and few months from now I’ll graduating but I’m still not still sure of which course should I study for college. I’m into cars btw that’s why those two are my choices.
Edit: I need some hint and clues about those two. I want to know which of that courses fits me. Thanks for anyone who will give me tips I need.
I’m in an awkward position where I’ll graduate May 2025, but only have a couple classes my last semester. It makes more sense to me to add a minor than go to school part-time my last semester (part-time is expensive as hell and I don’t get grants or scholarships on it).
My main contenders are currently
Data Science (15 credits needed)
Journalism (15 credits needed)
Physics (10 credits needed)
Pure Math (12 credits needed)
Applied Math (9 credits needed)
Economics (9 credits needed)
Biology (7 credits needed)
What minor makes the most sense for a Mechanical Engineering student? Math and Physics seem kind of redundant with an Engineering degree, even though there’s quite a few different classes).
A company that I am in the final stages of employment with sent me over a background screening form which they want me to list not just my prior employment history of dates (which they can see from my resume) but also the salary I was paid.
Is this a red flag? I’ve never had an organization ask for this before in writing.
Do companies really care or look into any clubs or organizations that you joined? I understand if it helps and even benefits, but is it really necessary?
I joined a few clubs and they are good, but they’re not what I am interested in and unfortunately they’re pretty much the only interesting ones that I could find. I don’t want to be that guy that just do the work when needed because I understand there’s more passionate people than me and I don’t want to hold them down or anything like that.
Also, finding time for them and studying has been a huge challenge, especially since I’m commuting.
If I could focus on internships/co-ops and my gpa, would that be enough?
Not talking about internships, but rather odd part time jobs.
I am wondering how does it look on a cv not working during school time ??
I am blessed that where i am tuituon is covered and gov grants are ok.
I feel guilty saying this, but I’d rather spend extra time on fun and as stupid as it sounds going into raves on the weekends rather than working. And of course besides keeping a good GPA.
So I’m not sure if having odd job experience will boost your cv, or are internships enough ?
Feeling the feels today after I received a rejection call for a position that would truly be a “dream job” for me. I put probably 60+ hours into learning about the company, going through their training program, and even producing a real world project for them that took roughly 15-20 hours. (Over one weekend because they said they just needed it in a rush and then they could move forward with me.)
Today I was told that they just don’t know what they want and they are starting again from ground zero to redesign the position. Also they couldn’t hire me because I would require too much “mentorship” and the CEO is too busy (I have 12+ years experience).
Here’s the real rub. I actually pulled out of the interview process a week ago due to a few red flags I was seeing with the company. The CEO then called me 4x (I missed the first 3 calls and he kept trying) and begged me to reconsider, and told me if I could just do this project to demonstrate my skills that they were really ready to move forward.
So I did the project, sent it to them and then 2 weeks later I got a call today saying basically the opposite of everything he told me when he called. But good news! I made it as far as any candidate for this particular position has ever made it. Swell.
I’m sad that I won’t get to do the actual job which would have been fun but I know I dodged a bullet working with these people. I still feel sad and used. It feels like they just wanted my ideas and sample work and I wouldn’t be shocked to find they go with an internal candidate.
I have 7 years of experience in my field, and have not had an issue like this before. Had another offer I liked but the benefits were better with this one. Used the other offer to negotiate a higher salary.
So after all of that, they notice I didn’t get a bachelor. They then proceed to let me know they have to offer me a lower salary, 10k lower. This already felt like a lowball salary to start. I ended up declining the low-low ball offer because it just tainted any joy I had with the idea of working with them.
I just had a near panic attack Monday because I am positive the other company wouldn’t have done this and haven’t ever had this happen before. I did reach out to the other offer but I’m not optimistic (I don’t blame them) but it really took the steam out of my job search and it’s just been a low point in a already struggle bus year.
Just needed to vent. This felt insane and my friends and family are like shocked as well. My anxiety is now through the roof. I have a reliable part time gig keeping me afloat but this just really lowered my optimism.
This is my first full time job after graduating a few months ago. I was offered 60k when the range was 60-70k. The position is entry level and they stated they wanted someone fresh out of college. (Idk if this is relevant they also reached out to me first)
I have 3 years of relevant business internship experience (and years of retail experience which may not be relevant but hey it gave me some transferable skills.)
My sibling is telling me it’s not worth negotiating because 5k doesn’t add much to your pay check. I understand but I am commuting an hour so that’s at least gas money lol.… I received an offer in June which I declined (because it wasn’t a good fit for me) and they offered me 65k + bonus so I feel like 65k isn’t crazy to ask for.
Anyone have advice or tips on first if it is worth asking for and what I should say in my negotiation email? I never negotiated before.
EDIT: thanks for the advice everyone. Besides my sibling I have no one to ask to get advice regarding this kind of stuff. I’m sorry if my post is pointless but I literally just wanted a second opinion. ** I am obviously grateful for the offer*
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Subscribe on YouTube to watch short excerpts of podcast episodes addressing specific topics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj86alc3a7_A_PibgYpkWFg Daniel is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Trinity University’s B.S. in Engineering Science and currently works in Commercial Management in the Engineering and Construction Consulting Industry. All views expressed on this podcast are his own and do not reflect the opinions or views of his employer. Music by Maxgotthetracks: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Pclog68AY1
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