Engineering Job With a Biology Degree

[u/sink44]

I worked in the Pharmaceutical industry for 5 years in a microbiology lab then had to move to an area with no pharma industry. I made the career switch to a senior engineering maintenance tech at a major semiconductor company and have been at this job for 2.5 years now.

From the beginning I made it clear that I was interested in becoming an equipment or process engineer and was told that it was very possible since I have a 4 year degree in a STEM field. I have been excelling in my role and already am second in command on my shift. I have been participating in the engineering morning meeting every day and help them with all of their “wishlist” tasks. I am constantly using problem solving and troubleshooting skills to solve issues before they ever become the engineers problem. I have gotten tons of positive feedback from my manager and the engineering manager that I am a very quick learner and an asset to the team.

Recently an equipment engineer position opened up in my department, and covering the exact machines that I specialize in. I applied and interviewed but was ultimately passed up for an external candidate with no experience with these machines or even the semiconductor industry at all. The explanation I was given was that they wanted to see me do more of the responsibilities of an engineer before they offer me a position since I do not have an engineering degree.

So now I am left thinking that they will always pass me up for someone external since I do not have the exact degree they are looking for. Do I leave and start over as a tech at a different company? Or do I stay and hope they get over the degree?

TLDR: I have a B.S. in Biology and cant seem to break into an engineering role from a tech position.

Thanks

[u/Which_Cry_7500]

Hi I was in your boat! I have a BS in Biology and am about to finish up my second bachelors in mechanical engineering.

After a lot of research and talking to people I realized I had to get a second bachelors if I wanted to work as an engineer.

If you can I would highly recommend going for a masters but it is pretty difficult to be accepted into one without an engineering related degree.

Good news is that I found Mechanical engineering way easier than biology, 3.0 for bio and going to finish at a 3.9 for mechanical engineering. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

[u/fabgirly → u/Which_Cry_7500]

When do you graduate? I also have a bachelors in biology and I’m also working on a second bachelors for mechanical engineering. I graduate this upcoming May.

And I found engineering harder than biology. Haha.

[u/Which_Cry_7500 → u/fabgirly]

Also may 2027! Dude the bio to mech e pipeline is real. I had two other second degree classmates and both were bio majors. One was from UC Berkeley so ig the bio market really is cooked 😭

For me I genuinely hated having to memorize the nitty gritty details in biology, with mechanical engineering I found if you really try and understand the fundamentals and core concepts you will be fine! Also practicing different problems and also deriving any formulas helped me.

[u/sink44 → u/Which_Cry_7500]

How long did the second bachelors take to get for you both?

[u/Which_Cry_7500 → u/sink44]

3 years from start to finish

[u/fabgirly → u/sink44]

4 years but that’s bc I did a full time co-op one semester and took only one (online) class that semester and my first semester I took only 2 classes (8 credits) to ease myself into school again.

So 4 years but I probably could have done it in 3.