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Job in New York City?

Is it possible to get a business, finance or technical type job with a Mechanical Engineering degree in New York City?

  • I got a question for anyone who's been in my situation before. I'm a Mechanical Engineer working in the Biomedical device industry as an intern at the moment in Southern California. After working here for about 7 months, I realize as much as much I like the work, its incredibly isolating and solitary job. Since I'm more of a social guy, the isolation is draining my energy. I'm not especially keen on spending my 20s in the suburbs either. I been entertaining the idea of just moving to New York City (with about 6k~ in savings) to try and "make it" as people say. My question is if its possible to get a good job in the city with my background? My resume is pretty good for an engineer out of undergrad (triple major, alright GPA, a publication, led 2 senior design engineer projects, 2 internships) but I"m afraid it might not be enough for the level of competition that exists within the city since I didn't go to a target school which seems like everyone wants. I was thinking of just moving and applying en masse. I'd imagine I have to be actually in the city in order to make it happen. Does anyone have a story similar to mine?

  • Answer:

    This may not be helpful as I'm leaving out the details, but... I came to NYC about ten years ago for a two week vacation. I was an illegal immigrant for 3 or so years, working bars and waiting tables. I do not have a degree of any kind, some college (programming, though I consider myself self-taught). I am now legal (paid back taxes on my below-minimum-wage jobs etc) and earn $140K a year for a reputable software company. I say take a chance. You have no family to support and if it doesn't work out then at least you know you tried. NYC is a fun, exciting, and vibrant city. I'd skip the finance part though (since that provides zero social value) and go with something else. Best of luck.

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Hi, I don't have the same background as you, but I might be able to offer a bit of insight. I went to MIT but I studied economics and I worked in investment banking as an intern in college and as my first job out of college. Right now (Dec 2011) is a pretty crappy time in the financial industry. I work for a hedge fund but I used to work for a bank. Very often these days, I hear about various banks doing rounds of layoffs. Read http://dealbreaker.com for details. It's definitely not impossible for an engineer to get a job in finance. A few years ago it was commonplace, especially if you went to a very good engineering school. Banks value quantitative skills. I am sure that banks that are doing undergraduate recruiting still put engineers in their sights. However, right now, there's just not a lot of jobs out there. The industry is still suffering from the influx of people from the last several years. It's sort of like the housing correction...still too much supply. IMO, there's still too many people in the finance industry. So in a way, by moving to NYC to look for a job in finance, you're sort of pissing in the wind at the moment. I don't imagine there's many openings, especially for someone without financial experience. That is not to say that you shouldn't follow your dreams. However, perhaps there is a middle ground, like trying to land interviews before doing a full move to NYC. NYC is very expensive. Alternatively, you could try to get an engineering job near/around NYC and see if you can network your way into Wall Street from there. Some things you can work on regardless of where you are: -Get really proficient at financial accounting. Take classes, read books, do whatever you can. It's important. This is assuming you're interested in doing either investment banking (e.g. M&A) or some kind of investment analysis (equity research for a bank, analyst for a hedge fund). It's just a very useful skill in business -Read the WSJ every day -Try to contact people from your college's alumni network in Wall Street (if there are people there) -Read a lot of books on the industry and on investing If you have further questions, let me know your name and I can directly contact you via message.

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