Hi orchiles,

I'm also a computer/electrical engineer, but I'm in hardware development, and been doing it for 20 years. I think your qualifications look great. If my company was currently looking for engineers, I'd say your resume is very interesting and we'd want to talk to you. Although, they want people to speak some German.

Last year, I hired two new college graduates, and I think the range that Snoopy gave is a very good guide.

Good luck. I hope you get the job and I'd work on your German in the meantime to improve your chances for future jobs in Switzerland.

Regards,
Dan

I appreciate your advice and I totally agree that this is a good learning experience. I registered on this site for the sake of gaining insight in things I have no experience in, and as you said I did learn some do's and don't and I am thankful for all the members who have contributed in this enlightenment


Thank you very much, I actually speak native Arabic, fluent English, basic French and Polish. And of course I will be learning some German before going to Switzerland if i get a job there. I am focusing now on this job and will try my best to succeed as I find it very interesting and challenging, however if i didn't manage to pull it off, i will definitely contact you with my resume

did someone tell u that u dont names of companies in forum. take care in future.

Orchiles,

You're welcome.

I hope this isn't off topic, but are you considering Switzerland for specific reasons? If I were a new graduate in EE, I would consider going to the Bay Area. Looks like you were already in California for a bit and things seem to be heating up again there:
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-05/t...red?_s=PM:TECH

I spent 8 years there and IMHO, the work experience was the best I've had yet. You can really learn a lot, especially in your field.

Dan

The only reason is that the job fits my qualifications very well, it asks for matlab, c++, and vhdl experience, and I possess academic experience in all three plus things related to control. Also for the US, I have a J1 visa which requires I stay in my home country for 2 years in order to enter the states again; I stayed so far something like 15 month, I may be able to apply for a waiver but I am not sure how hard that would be.

fyi ABB's "official" company language is English and they're located in Oerlikon as well as Baden

apparently, the someone who did was not understood by the OP and got dubbed as mobile-phone-language-user by the another reader...

English maybe the "official" language, but the preferred conversational language is German Nothing implied

no one said you were a fool, if anything i implied i was one... oh jeez, but this thread ain't about me

No worries Daily, it's was just lost in culture and translation
Interestingly the people who particpated in this conversation seemed to share only one thing in common: English (or perhaps some engineering?)
It was a mix of very diverse cultures trying to find that same meaning for the same words/approach.

Sorry changing topic again.. but Great to see you've got this far, However I'm struggling to see how you've got 3 college degrees under your belt at 23!
As I’ve got a EE degree but hell it too 5 yrs! yet a Masters in Engineering would be another 2yrs on top of that! So how did you manage to fit all that in and be only 23 now, This I can image many employer ask as there is a big difference in a Research Master and Thought Masters,

Regarding the Interview with ABB, Best of luck it will be both a learning experience and an interesting challenge.

The bachelor degree is a 4 year program including 2 summer semesters and a summer internship summing up in total to143 American Credits(internship was 0 credits but obligatory), and the double master degrees are a joint 2 year program between the two universities mentioned summing up to 120 ECTS including a thesis.
Thanks for your support

Ok thanks, So in what you have completed is; 1 Bachelor's Thesis Paper and 1 Masters Thesis Paper?

is the Masters Degree a M.Eng or M.S ?

your welcome, yes two papers, the masters thesis is in progress, both degrees are M.S.

After living in Switzerland for a few years you start learning how discrete they are with certain things... to the point that people here would even avoid naming the company they currently work for in linkedin (just an example).

As many others mentioned the best advice I can give you is to omit the details that make you easily identifiable...

Humbleness is also appreciated in Switzerland. At your age and with your qualifications you might feel the sky is the limit but here you soon realize that there are LOTS of people that are at least as good as you (and have much better qualifications)... it is good to show motivation but try to listen when others talk first.

Honestly (without wanting to be mean) I don't think you have too much of a bargaining power. Your degrees come from decent universities but I don't see how someone in Switzerland would prefer them to a degree from the ETHZ or the EPFL. The fact that you seem to be non-european (Lebanese would be my guess) means that they have to get the permit for you (yes, it is easier for big companies but they will still play that on you).

For those in the field, is there a lack of engineers in Switzerland? can't they find enough people in France and Germany? or they just want to keep salaries low? (honest question, really, not trying to be a troll).

If they offer the job, ask for a bit more of what they say and take it. It doesn't really matter how low the salary is, after a year or two you will have experience in the country, you will speak the language and you will know how much you are worth. Then you can look for something else and get what you deserve.

Good luck

Terco, I appreciate your honest evaluation, however I have few comments:

Being discrete is a must for any business to succeed. Though I still can't comprehend the problem with mentioning the name of a company and asking for advice specially tailored to succeed in making it into the company.

I am sure there are lots of people that are at least as good as me and even better, but i still believe the sky is the limit to what you can achieve and there is always a room for improvement.

Very good point, thanks for pointing it out.


Thank you for the sound advice.

Again I appreciate the time you have put into replying in the thread, and I wish you come back with more advices

My understanding is that the poster has already been offered an interview. If that is correct, then I suspect s/he has as much chance of getting the job as anyone else who is being interviewed. Otherwiase, why would a reputable company waste time offering the interview?

wow, how brilliant you are. Master's degree in Science, 3+ foreign language abilities(i don't know what your mother tongue is and whether you can say German since you are already the candidate of ABB, but i guess you speak English,French and Russian), and yet, at this young age. well, i just want to "Hut ab" to you

Have you read upon the history of the company??- their mission statement- what do you know about Alternative Technology?....... what do you know about their competition. What are your short and long term goals? Just fill in any gaps.

First of all, thanks to Snoopy and others for encouraging words.

Secondly, those who have no idea about the topic please at least do yourself the favour and do not discourage the OP who asks some very valid questions. I don't need to remind that we were or the same boat when we first time came to CH and applied for a job. Things were not looking up so bright, were they?

I happen to know the people and exact circumstances so please believe me in the best interest of the OP and the EF you can just be more helpful and supportive - all I'm asking for...

TIA

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