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I've had the same feeling in the past and I still have it to some extent. However, for me it is within areas of engineering. Personally, I switched fields within my major and started over again.

I was a Mechanical Engineering PhD student studying experimental fluid mechanics and at some point I realized I'm more interested in instrumentation, sensors, signal processing, etc. I also realized that I enjoy coding. I eventually got a master's degree and left the program. My plan was to work for a year or two and take my time to make up my mind about whether or not I want to go back to graduate school.

Getting a job was so difficult that it really did make me envy computer science graduates (since there were many more opportunities for them and as an undergrad I was very close to choosing CS). Once I got a job, I really didn't like the work that much anyway so I was really encouraged to go back to grad school. My biggest problem was that I was afraid of changing major since I felt like I didn't have the necessary background to study EE or CS. I also didn't think I would be admitted to any CS or EE program and I didn't have the extra cash to apply to too many grad programs. I ended up applying to ME programs again and once I joined a graduate program I tried to join research groups which were multidisciplinary. I eventually ended up in a group which does robotics work which combines all the areas I'm interested in. Personally, I'm extremely glad I made the change. I like the field much better and my research is much more interesting; however, I am also always aware that I'm a bit older than my peers and I'm also aware that I left a well paying job and a decent career for this and I'm silently afraid that I'll end up having trouble finding a job I like again (because I feel CS and EE majors get most the robotics jobs) and I'll end up settling for something similar to what I had in the first place....And that leads back to the envy thing you were talking about...I still envy CS and EE majors. Although not nearly as much as I used to.

I've had the same feeling in the past and I still have it to some extent. However, for me it is within areas of engineering. Personally, I switched fields within my major and started over again.

I was a Mechanical Engineering PhD student studying experimental fluid mechanics and at some point I realized I'm more interested in instrumentation, sensors, signal processing, etc. I also realized that I enjoy coding. I eventually got a master's degree and left the program. My plan was to work for a year or two and take my time to make up my mind about whether or not I want to go back to graduate school.

Getting a job was so difficult that it really did make me envy computer science graduates (since there were many more opportunities for them and as an undergrad I was very close to choosing CS). Once I got a job, I really didn't like the work that much anyway so I was really encouraged to go back to grad school. My biggest problem was that I was afraid of changing major since I felt like I didn't have the necessary background to study EE or CS. I also didn't think I would be admitted to any CS or EE program and I didn't have the extra cash to apply to too many grad programs. I ended up applying to ME programs again and once I joined a graduate program I tried to join research groups which were multidisciplinary. I eventually ended up in a group which does robotics work which combines all the areas I'm interested in. Personally, I'm extremely glad I made the change. I like the field much better and my research is much more interesting; however, I am also always aware that I'm a bit older than my peers and I'm also aware that I left a well paying job and a decent career for this and I'm silently afraid that I'll end up having trouble finding a job I like again (because I feel CS and EE majors get most the robotics jobs) and I'll end up settling for something similar to what I had in the first place....And that leads back to the envy thing you were talking about...I still envy CS and EE majors. Although not nearly as much as used to.

I've had the same feeling in the past and I still have it to some extent. However, for me it is within areas of engineering. Personally, I switched fields within my major and started over again.

I was a Mechanical Engineering PhD student studying experimental fluid mechanics and at some point I realized I'm more interested in instrumentation, sensors, signal processing, etc. I also realized that I enjoy coding. I eventually got a master's degree and left the program. My plan was to work for a year or two and take my time to make up my mind about whether or not I want to go back to graduate school.

Getting a job was so difficult that it really did make me envy computer science graduates (since there were many more opportunities for them and as an undergrad I was very close to choosing CS). Once I got a job, I really didn't like the work that much anyway so I was really encouraged to go back to grad school. My biggest problem was that I was afraid of changing major since I felt like I didn't have the necessary background to study EE or CS. I also didn't think I would be admitted to any CS or EE program and I didn't have the extra cash to apply to too many grad programs. I ended up applying to ME programs again and once I joined a graduate program I tried to join research groups which were multidisciplinary. I eventually ended up in a group which does robotics work which combines all the areas I'm interested in. Personally, I'm extremely glad I made the change. I like the field much better and my research is much more interesting; however, I am also always aware that I'm a bit older than my peers and I'm also aware that I left a well paying job and a decent career for this and I'm silently afraid that I'll end up having trouble finding a job I like again (because I feel CS and EE majors get most the robotics jobs) and I'll end up settling for something similar to what I had in the first place....And that leads back to the envy thing you were talking about...I still envy CS and EE majors. Although not nearly as much as I used to.

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I've had the same feeling in the past and I still have it to some extent. However, for me it is within areas of engineering. Personally, I switched fields within my major and started over again.

I was a Mechanical Engineering PhD student studying experimental fluid mechanics and at some point I realized I'm more interested in instrumentation, sensors, signal processing, etc. I also realized that I enjoy coding. I eventually got a master's degree and left the program. My plan was to work for a year or two and take my time to make up my mind about whether or not I want to go back to graduate school.

Getting a job was so difficult that it really did make me envy computer science graduates (since there were many more opportunities for them and as an undergrad I was very close to choosing CS). Once I got a job, I really didn't like the work that much anyway so I was really encouraged to go back to grad school. My biggest problem was that I was afraid of changing major since I felt like I didn't have the necessary background to study EE or CS. I also didn't think I would be admitted to any CS or EE program and I didn't have the extra cash to apply to too many grad programs. I ended up applying to ME programs again and once I joined a graduate program I tried to join research groups which were multidisciplinary. I eventually ended up in a group which does robotics work which combines all the areas I'm interested in. Personally, I'm extremely glad I made the change. I like the field much better and my research is much more interesting; however, I am also always aware that I'm a bit older than my peers and I'm also aware that I left a well paying job and a decent career for this and I'm silently afraid that I'll end up having trouble finding a job I like again (because I feel CS and EE majors get most the robotics jobs) and I'll end up settling for something similar to what I had in the first place....And that leads back to the envy thing you were talking about...I still envy CS and EE majors. Although not nearly as much as used to.