Changing Careers and Resume Question - RF Cafe Forums

RF Cafe Forums closed its virtual doors in late 2012 mainly due to other social media platforms dominating public commenting venues. RF Cafe Forums began sometime around August of 2003 and was quite well-attended for many years. By 2012, Facebook and Twitter were overwhelmingly dominating online personal interaction, and RF Cafe Forums activity dropped off precipitously. Regardless, there are still lots of great posts in the archive that ware worth looking at. Below are the old forum threads, including responses to the original posts. Here is the full original RF Cafe Forums on Archive.org

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jnike
 Post subject: Changing Careers and Resume Question
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:46 pm 
 
Lieutenant

Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:32 pm

Posts: 3

Hi guys

I need some tips regarding making a career change within the electrical engineering area. I'm planning to go from RF Engineering to Control Engineering/Systems Engineering or similar field. RF is more cutting edge but I think in the long run it will be better for me not to be in this field. I've got three years of experience in the RF/Microwave field...my question is what should I do with my resume. Put everything that I've done or tone down the resume a bit and make it look less technical? I'll be applying to entry level positions as well so I don't want to scare off managers by looking over qualified. I've modeling/design experience in RF/Microwave circuits.

My second question is about a couple of my projects which I worked on but they were abandoned and did not go into production or fabrication. I did complete the simulations and the main chunk of both projects but both time the management changed its mind! Should I mention these two projects on my resume? Or just talk about them if and when I go to an interview? The projects did contribute to my experience but they weren't completed. Therefore I'm not sure what's the best thing to do.

Thank you all

Jason
 
   
 
Paul Chriss
 Post subject: Re: Changing Careers and Resume Question
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:46 pm 
 
Captain

Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:12 am

Posts: 8

Hi Jason.

A lot of people are doing and have done what you're doing so you're in good company. I think it's probably a lot easier to move from circuit design to system design than vice versa. Your simulation experience will carry over to systems from the standpoint of inputting parameters and then optimizing while being able to judge whether an output makes sense (too many people don't have enough gut feel for whether a sim output is reasonable).

My only advice, since you asked for it, is to document all your best experience, including any leadership roles, and then emphasize anything that can apply to systems / controls.

Good luck to you. Let us all know how you made out.
 
   
 
jnike
 Post subject: Re: Changing Careers and Resume Question
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 2:55 pm 
 
Lieutenant

Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:32 pm

Posts: 3

Thanks Paul and sorry for the late reply. I will let you guys know how it goes.

Jason

Posted  11/12/2012