for those that I didn't tell personally, I'm on the market! My resume is Finished and ready to go!

July 16th, the company I worked for made the decision to buy one of our competitors in order to get into the market now, rather than wait the 1.5-2 years for our product to complete FDA Trials.... They have eliminated the need for our Orlando Facility, and Downsized the workforce at that facility by 42%.

This was my first job out of College. I graduated from UCF in 2005 with a BSEE and I was working as an Optical Manufacturing Engineer at my previous company. I was an intern for them while in school, contracted with them after graduation and received a full time position in May 2006. I've been working in the manufacturing facility since then and have really enjoyed it.

So now I'm on the market and beginning my search. However, since I got this job right out of college, I didn't really get much experience with the Job Searching that many have to endure. So here I am, ready to learn.

Anyone know an opening for that? =)

Jessica and I would like to stay in Orlando, but we really have to go where the Jobs are...I'm not finding much available here in Orlando with my Experience level (2-3 years) in the field I was working in (monster, careerbuilder, etc).

I really feel as though I'm in an experience "limbo" since I graduated with a BSEE (but I haven't really used much EE in my current job functions), I was working as an Optical Engineer (no degree in optics), and I was only a Manufacturing Engineer for a little over a year...

I enjoyed the work I was doing in Manufacturing and working with Optics. My "5 year plan", if I were still at my company, was the following:
1) By the end of 2007 pass the CQE exam
2) By the end of 2008 receive my Six Sigma Black Belt
3) During 2008 begin Rollins MBA program and graduate by 2010.

By then I would like to move into more of a Management Role from a Systems level aspect. I've always been a "Puzzle Person". I don't like working on one piece of the puzzle, but rather working to get the whole thing together and learning about it all...

Any suggestions?

</rant>

because most big companies have their own methodology for selecting who moves to the blackbelt level. You need to have substantial experience before most companies will consider you a valid blackbelt candidate and to be effective you really need many years of real world process experience from the trenches. Send me your resume if you're amiable to moving we usually have positions in south Florida and the Chicago area. I'll give you a strong recommendation because I know how anal you are and that is important for many of these positions in NPI (New Product Introduction).

It's a combo of LEAN and Six Sigma.

DRST is a big optics company down here, and one of my past employers has some small scale NVG contracts in Titusville (really cool stuff).

I'll look on our postings site and see if anything fits the bill on my contract.

DRS actually was a Subcontractor/Supplier for my company...

I used to work for a subsidiary when I was in college. They are a small company, so the pay won't be the best- but having a firing range at work has to be worth something ;-)

They used to dabble in racing a bit (Grand America) but I think that was strictly after hours/voluntary.

SAW Tech (or SAWTEK) and Northrupp Grumman in Apopka, as well as RAYDON in Daytona were hiring a while back.

I just looked on our site and the only non-director posting was for a QA engineer. If you're interested I can send you the info.

Skip the Six Sigma stuff... it has its value but experience and diverse knowledge will get you higher up quicker. At a place like GE, Motorola, or Toyota a structured methodology like that might be cool for a few years, then taper off as they take the good/beneficial from it and make their own ways (as Jody said).

Next advice - get out of Orlando. Orlando is end-customer-service-based, not product or professional. I lived there for 5 years and loved it - but it was the people that made it great. Jobs are lower paying and more scarce there. There are too many experienced & skilled workers that retire from up north, move to FL and will work for less (because their getting a pension from Lockheed or Goldman, etc, already) just to get out of the cold.

Good luck. We don't hire real smart folks, so I can't help you. We like ones with artsy-fartsy degrees with people skills. Microscopes or engineer skills scare us management types.

I hear things are not going so well there.

When I started here, the parking lot was full by 8am. Now it doesnt fill up until 9.

My safety net is that I'm the ONLY person on the program that does what I do.

The upside is that there seems to be a lot more opportunities now. I'm just gonna ride it as long as I can and pick up as many certifications as they will give me along the way. CEV is the ship everyone's looking to jump to, but they're not doing any design work out of FL.

Did you move back into your beach house?

Might also want to consider healthcare. There used to be a big pace maker company in Palm Coast. Pay may not be as good, but the stability would be nice.

Downtown condo just went on the rental market

He is not motivated until he starts hitting his savings account, then he will start looking.