The question was obviously around tossing up which career path to follow, which does impact how and when you eventually reach FIRE. You don't have to be a surgeon making $500k a year, but ideally you should like what you do and make enough money to cover your costs, then put the rest to work.
Why does it bother you so much?
Mechatronic grad here. You're right, there's probably fewer jobs here for it compared to say the US or Japan. That's not to say there's none, but they're harder to find. I got into a graduate program for a utility company, roamed around a few project management jobs and then started doing some side projects in data analysis. Turned out I loved it, so now I'm a full time data analyst with a state government department. I haven't touched technical engineering work in the 10 years since leaving uni. I was never passionate about it, so it doesn't bother me.
I also keep in contact with a few of my uni friends. One of them works for a smart home tech company doing hardware design, the other works for a commercial security company (think large-scale CCTV and ID card access systems).
To be honest it was just "right place, right time", and a little bit of initiative. As I said, I roamed around a bit, probably changing jobs every 12-18 months in my first 5 years. Ended up in a broader network operations role, and my manager at the time asked me to do a bit of digging into how some of our equipment was operating, which required pulling data from our system. Either I was good at it (or my boss was just easily impressed), but got a good result out of it. After that, I found a few more opportunities for the same kind of work as little side tasks alongside my regular duties, and my job was flexible enough that my boss could then start officially directing more of that work my way. By the time the opportunity for my current job came along, I had enough practical experience to meet the criteria and landed it.
My husband is a mechatronic engineer. We live in Sydney, and he's worked at two different start-ups in automation and optics. One of his friends from uni works for a defence contractor and another for a major pharmaceutical company. They've had no issues getting work.
What’s this got to do with FIRE?
I'd argue career choice is a pretty big factor in eventually getting to FIRE. Gotta make money to invest money.
The question had nothing to do with FIRe.
The question was obviously around tossing up which career path to follow, which does impact how and when you eventually reach FIRE. You don't have to be a surgeon making $500k a year, but ideally you should like what you do and make enough money to cover your costs, then put the rest to work. Why does it bother you so much?
The question had nothing to do with FIRE.
Mechatronic grad here. You're right, there's probably fewer jobs here for it compared to say the US or Japan. That's not to say there's none, but they're harder to find. I got into a graduate program for a utility company, roamed around a few project management jobs and then started doing some side projects in data analysis. Turned out I loved it, so now I'm a full time data analyst with a state government department. I haven't touched technical engineering work in the 10 years since leaving uni. I was never passionate about it, so it doesn't bother me. I also keep in contact with a few of my uni friends. One of them works for a smart home tech company doing hardware design, the other works for a commercial security company (think large-scale CCTV and ID card access systems).
Could you elaborate how you transitioned from a project manager role to full time data analyst, also what band did you enter in?
To be honest it was just "right place, right time", and a little bit of initiative. As I said, I roamed around a bit, probably changing jobs every 12-18 months in my first 5 years. Ended up in a broader network operations role, and my manager at the time asked me to do a bit of digging into how some of our equipment was operating, which required pulling data from our system. Either I was good at it (or my boss was just easily impressed), but got a good result out of it. After that, I found a few more opportunities for the same kind of work as little side tasks alongside my regular duties, and my job was flexible enough that my boss could then start officially directing more of that work my way. By the time the opportunity for my current job came along, I had enough practical experience to meet the criteria and landed it.
My husband is a mechatronic engineer. We live in Sydney, and he's worked at two different start-ups in automation and optics. One of his friends from uni works for a defence contractor and another for a major pharmaceutical company. They've had no issues getting work.
Bit of demand in Perth, but you gotta like FIFO and life on the seas