Rewiring My Profession: How I Transitioned from Electrical Engineering to Information Engineering | by Loizos Loizou | Nov, 2024

It’s value mentioning that this text comes from an Electrical and Digital Engineer graduate who went all the best way and spent virtually 8 years in academia studying concerning the Vitality sector (and once I say all the best way, I imply from a bachelor diploma to a PhD and postdoc). Though that’s additionally a excessive demand profession within the job market, I made a decision to modify to an information engineer path as a substitute.

I consistently come throughout posts in boards and blogs the place folks from totally different disciplines ask about the way to swap to a profession in knowledge. So this text will take you thru my journey, and the way an engineering graduate has nothing to fret concerning the transition to this new subject. I’ll undergo the marketplace for knowledge jobs, my story, and the talents that engineers have (whether or not it’s electrical, mechanical, digital and many others.) that equip them nicely for this fast paced subject.

As know-how continues to advance exponentially (IoT gadgets, AI, internet providers and many others.) so does the quantity of information generated daily. The end result from this? The necessity for AI and Information professionals is presently at an all time excessive and I believe it is just going to get greater. It’s presently at a stage that the demand for these professionals severely outgrows provide and new job listings are coming out daily.

In line with Cube Tech Job Report, positions like Information Engineers and Information Scientists are amongst the quickest rising tech occupations. The reason is that firms have lastly come to the belief that, with knowledge, you’ll be able to unlock limitless enterprise insights which might reveal their product’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s, if analyzed the right method.

So what does this imply for the long run knowledge professionals on the lookout for a job? The next ought to be true, no less than for the following few years:

1. Limitless job listings: In line with a current report by LinkedIn, job postings for AI roles have surged by 119% over the previous two years. Equally, knowledge engineering positions have seen a 98% enhance. This highlights the urgency of firms to rent these type of professionals.
2. Excessive wage potential: When demand exceeds provide, it instantly results in greater salaries. These are basic legal guidelines of economics. Information professionals are actually in an period the place they’ve a number of choices for a job since firms acknowledge the worth they convey to their firm.
3. A number of business alternatives: Take my case for instance. I labored in knowledge for vitality, retail and finance sectors. I contemplate myself knowledge agnostic, since I’m now ready to select from alternatives throughout a comparatively big selection of industries.
4. Future job development: As talked about earlier than, the necessity for these professionals is barely going to get greater since knowledge is available in all styles and sizes and there’s a want for those that know the way to deal with it.

So right here comes the million greenback query: How can an Engineer, whether or not that’s mechanical, digital, electrical, civil and many others. swap to a profession in knowledge? Nice query.

Is it straightforward? No. Is it value it? Undoubtedly. There’s no right reply for this query. Nevertheless, I can let you know my experiences and you may choose by yourself. I may let you know the similarities I discovered between my engineering diploma and what I’m doing now. So let’s begin.

A short story of how I switched to knowledge engineering:

Years 2020–2022

The 12 months is 2020 and I’m about to complete my PhD. Confused about my choices and what I can do after a protracted 4-year PhD (and with a extreme imposter syndrome too), I selected the protected path of academia and a postdoc place at a Analysis and Improvement heart.

While working there, I spotted that I must get out of academia. I now not had the power to learn extra papers, proposals or, much more so, write journal and convention papers to showcase my work. I did all these — I had sufficient. I had like 7–8 journal/convention papers that obtained revealed from my PhD and I didn’t actually like the truth that that is the one technique to showcase my work. So, I began on the lookout for a job within the business.

In 2021, I managed to get a job in vitality consulting. And guess what? Extra experiences, extra papers and even higher, PowerPoint slides! I felt like my engineering days had been behind me and that I might actually do nothing helpful. After a brief stint at that place, I began on the lookout for jobs once more. One thing with technical challenges and that means that obtained my mind working. That is once I began on the lookout for knowledge professions the place I might use the talents that I acquired all through my profession. Additionally, this was the time that I obtained probably the most rejections in my life!

Coming from very profitable bachelor and PhD levels, I couldn’t perceive why my expertise weren’t fitted to a knowledge place. I used to be making use of to knowledge engineer, analyst and scientist positions however all I obtained was an automatic reply like “Sadly we will’t transfer ahead along with your utility”

That’s once I began making use of to actually all over the place. So if you’re studying this as a result of you’ll be able to’t make the swap, imagine me. I get you.

Years 2022–2023

So, I began making use of all over the place to something that even pertains to knowledge. Even to positions that I didn’t have any of the job description expertise. That’s the place the magic occurred.

I obtained an interview from an organization within the retail sector for the place of “Business Intelligence Government”. Are you aware what this place is about? No? That’s proper, I didn’t both. All I noticed within the job description was that it required 3–5 years of expertise in Information Science. So I assumed, this has one thing to do with knowledge, so why not. I obtained the job and began working there. Seems that “Business Intelligence” was a job description that was principally enterprise intelligence for the industrial division. Fortunate me, it was spot on. It gave me the chance to begin experimenting with enterprise intelligence.

In that place, I used Energy BI at first, because the function was about constructing experiences and dashboards. Then, I used to be hungry for extra. I used to be lucky that my supervisor was superb so he/she trusted me to do no matter I needed with knowledge. And so I did.

Earlier than I knew it, my engineering expertise had been again. All the issue fixing expertise that I obtained all through the years, the bug for fixing challenges and the publicity to totally different programming languages began connecting with one another. I began constructing automations in Energy BI, then prolonged this to writing SQL to automate extra issues after which constructing knowledge pipelines utilizing Python. In 1 12 months’s time, I had all my processes just about automated and I knew that I had the technical functionality to tackle tougher and technically intensive issues. I constructed unimaginable dashboards that introduced helpful insights to the enterprise homeowners and that felt unimaginable.

This was the lightbulb second. That this profession, it doesn’t matter what the info is about, was what I used to be on the lookout for.

Years 2023-present

After one and a half years on the firm, I knew it was time to go for one thing extra technically difficult than simply enterprise intelligence. That’s when a chance turned out for me for a knowledge engineer place and I took it.

For the previous one and a half years I’ve been working within the finance sector as a knowledge engineer. I expanded my data to extra issues akin to AI, real-time streaming knowledge pipelines, APIs, automations and a lot extra. Job alternatives are developing on a regular basis and I really feel lucky that I’ve made this swap, and I couldn’t suggest it sufficient. Was it difficult? I’ll say that the one difficult half in each BI and knowledge engineering positions was the primary 3 months till I obtained to know the instruments we use and the environments. My engineering experience geared up me nicely to take care of totally different issues with pleasure and do superb issues. I wouldn’t change my diploma for anything. Not even for a Laptop Science diploma. How did my engineering diploma assist all through this transition? That is mentioned within the subsequent part.

How Engineering equips you with expertise that assist in a knowledge profession

So if you happen to’ve learn this far, you have to be questioning: How is my engineering diploma getting ready me for a profession in knowledge? This man has advised me nothing about this. You might be proper, let’s get into it.

Engineering levels are essential, not due to the self-discipline however the best way that they construction the brains of these they examine it. That is my private opinion, however going via my engineering levels they’ve uncovered me to so many issues and have ready me to resolve issues in each single bit that I really feel far more assured now. However let’s get to the specifics. These are some key engineering expertise that I see similarities and I get to make use of at my knowledge function each single day:

1. Programming: As {an electrical} and electronics engineer, I obtained publicity to a number of programming languages all through my levels. I used meeting language, Java, VHDL, C and Matlab. Likewise, I believe different engineering disciplines do the identical factor since programming is a technique to carry out simulations in engineering. Though I haven’t used Python or SQL throughout my levels, it was a seamless transition to those two, after getting uncovered to so many issues. I might even say fulfilling, since I used to hate coding throughout my bachelor diploma, however now I like it. It most likely was a matter of tight deadlines and stress from so many issues on the identical time.
2. Downside Fixing: I get to resolve issues daily however as my first college lecturer stated to us on the very first day on the college, “Google is your pal”. You probably have a knack for fixing issues, and you’ve got been uncovered to the best way engineering tasks are handed out at universities (the place they principally provide you with a one paragraph description for the undertaking and anticipate a product by the top of the week), imagine me you’ll be able to resolve knowledge issues. You will have been via sufficient preparation.
3. Math and Statistics: Engineering college students get via intense arithmetic akin to linear algebra, calculus, statistics and others that may make you perceive machine studying in a easy transition. It’s a bit tough to know at first as a result of it’s a brand new territory however you’ll get the hold of it.
4. Black Field Issues: I don’t even know if this can be a formal definition however I contemplate “Black Field” issues to be those which might be extraordinarily tough to resolve, we’ve been utilizing them, they work, however not lots of people truly know what’s taking place within the background. In knowledge, the “Black Field Downside” is AI. It’s sizzling, it really works and it’s superb however nobody actually is aware of what’s taking place within the background. Equally, engineering disciplines have their very own “Black Field” issues. Positive, AI is tough however have you ever tried understanding the ability community downside? That’s no stroll within the park.
5. Modelling and Simulations: Each engineer scholar has been doing modelling and simulations and that’s nothing totally different from ML fashions and knowledge fashions.
6. Information Processing and Analytics: As an engineer scholar in my bachelor and PhD levels I did loads of knowledge processing, transformation and analytics from oscilloscope information, sensor information and good gadgets that had tens of millions of rows of information. These are examples of information pipelines as we name them within the knowledge business. I didn’t actually know on the time although that this was the identify for it. After I obtained to do it in a company atmosphere, these expertise had been transferrable and helped a lot.
7. Automations: Engineers hate repeated procedures. If there’s a technique to automate one thing, they may do it. That is the mindset {that a} knowledge engineer wants. I carried this mindset to my knowledge engineer place and it helps so much since I spend loads of time automating stuff in my day after day.
8. Presenting and explaining to non-technical folks: One quite common factor I used to be doing in my PhD was explaining my undertaking to non-technical folks in order that they will perceive what I’m doing. This occurs so much in knowledge. You put together loads of evaluation for enterprise folks so you might have to have the ability to clarify it too.

All of the above assist me each single day in my knowledge engineer place. Are you able to see the transferrable expertise now?

While I don’t need to encourage all of the engineering disciplines to leap into a knowledge place, I nonetheless assume that every one engineers are helpful, I needed to write down this text to encourage the folks that need to do the swap. There’s a lot rejection these days however on the identical time alternatives. All you want is the proper alternative after which magic will observe since it is possible for you to to take advantage of your expertise. The essential factor is to maintain attempting.

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