Let's start with career fairs....
The worst thing about job hunting when you have your master's in physics is going to job fairs. You meet recruiters who take one glance at your resume see you are a physicist and say "I'm sorry we're really only looking for engineers." This is a bullshit response. As a physicist I have studied much of the same material as engineers. I can explain why engineers do the things that they do. I understand the mechanics behind the things they do. I just don't know the exact tests and protocols that they do. Give me a chance and I will gladly spend time on my own learning what I need to know for a job. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to learn everything on my own. I can't pay for the 10 major engineering computer programs. I can't spend all my time learning tests and protocols when I'm spending all of my time applying to jobs (and getting no where) and working parttime jobs to pay my bills.
I can't tell you how many recruiters I've talked to who see physics and just turn you away. GIVE ME A CHANCE. Let me explain how I can benefit your company. Physics has taught me how to approach problems from different angles to get the answer. Physics also taught me how to research a problem on my own. It's given me some top notch logic skills. Physicists statistically score well on the LSATs because of this reasoning ability. Physics teaches you how to research and understand problems on your own. If I don't know the answer I can do the research to figure it out.
Is my lack of engineering experience really enough to refuse to look at my resume? I feel like I can do the job of an engineer. I am a hard worker. I am willing to learn on my own time.
