Studying Engineering, Working in IT—How Did That Happen?

Sometime in August 2023, I officially completed my Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics Engineering at IIUM. After years of struggle, sacrifice, and hard work, my academic journey finally came to an end. For most of us graduates, this marks the beginning of a new chapter—job hunting. Many of my friends had already sent out dozens of applications before graduating, some were just starting the process, while others had already secured positions in the industry.

As for me? I think I was a little late. Between wrapping up my Final Year Project and juggling other course assignments, job hunting took a backseat. I only managed to submit a handful of applications.

Weirdly, I didn't feel the peer pressure to apply for jobs. I had planned to take a short cooldown period before diving into the workforce, especially since I was still occupied with freelance work at the time. The plan didn't stay for long because my parents started questioning me about getting a job. Fine, I figured it was time to get serious, so I finally kicked off the job hunting process.

The (serious) job hunting begins...

So, that same month, I started reaching out to companies across multiple platforms i.e. LinkedIn, Indeed, Maukerja etc. I also asked some of my friends for job recommendations. Quite a few times I updated and improved my resume and cover letter to fit the job descriptions. But after a week, most of my applications were ghosted, one company got back to me for an interview, and the rest sent rejection replies. Interestingly, two companies I had been freelancing for offered me a position but I turned it down because I wasn't interested in the job scope (and the pay was quite on the low side).

One day, I came across a job opening on Telegram (Malaysia IT Jobs channel), I applied for it and on the same day, I received a call from the company to schedule an interview. The next day, we had a quick interview session and I was given a task to complete to test my technical skills. The following day, HR called me with the exciting news—I got the offer. I accepted it. In the next week, I went to the office to sign the offer letter and other documents. I started the job the next day. "Wow that was quick", I thought.

Below is a Sankey diagram of my job hunting process. I guess we have to adapt to the ghosting and rejection. It's part of the process. (The 'others' are the offers from the companies I've freelanced for)

Wheww.. feels like everything happened so fast. By the way, below is the 'welcome kit' I received upon registration.

'Welcome kit' items:

• MacBook Air (This is the super exciting part as I never owned any Apple devices before.) 😆
• T-shirt
• Lanyard
• Stickers
• Notebook

Sorry for the messy background. It's hard to keep my table clean

Adult life.. Here we go!

So here I am today, working as a Software Engineer at RocketWeb Sdn. Bhd. I'm nearing the end of my probation period and feeling grateful to be part of this company. There's still a lot to learn, but I'm adapting to the new environment.

Why IT?

This is a question I've been asked countless times since my student days. Because here's the thing, I took Engineering, but people often see me as someone who's skilled in programming. And they wonder, "Why wouldn't you choose KICT (IT faculty in IIUM) in the first place, Fareez?"

I think my first exposure to programming was back in secondary school, but my interest at the time leaned more towards engineering. I loved taking apart electronic toys (or as we say in Malay, pomen), tinkering with circuits, and watching shows like Big, Bigger, Biggest and How It's Made. In simple words, I like to see how things work, I guess.

At one point, I even took a personality assessment for career guidance, and unsurprisingly, it suggested that I was best suited for engineering roles. (I know, I can't 100% trust the result)

At the end of my foundation studies, we were given an option to pursue Engineering or Computer Science. I chose to stay in Engineering. Looking back, my reasoning was a bit odd, but my mindset at the time was that programming could be learned online, whereas Engineering required hands-on experience that wasn't as easily accessible. So, I figured if I was going to invest money in my education, it should be in something I couldn't just pick up from the internet. When people ask, I usually avoid giving the actual reason because I might offend them.

I sometimes (or most of the time) help people in their projects related to programming a microcontroller, troubleshooting circuits etc. I became 'the programmer guy' in several course projects e.g. Industrial Automation, Integrated Design Project etc. I have a story, in Software Engineering course, in the end, the lecturer asked me to do it solo because he knew I was familiar with software - I'm glad because I can work fast, and assist other groups if they need help.

Wrapping up

Looking back, I've come to realize that Engineering and IT aren't all that different. In fact, they often go hand in hand. Many engineering fields rely heavily on programming—whether it's for automation, simulations, embedded systems, or data analysis. My background in Engineering gave me a structured way of thinking, while my passion for programming allowed me to build and innovate beyond just hardware.

At the end of the day, what truly matters isn't the title of your degree, but the skills you develop and how you apply them. Whether it's Engineering, IT, or something in between, the key is to keep learning, adapting, and embracing new challenges.

For Engineering students out there. Programming is a good skill to have. Even if we are not developing apps, websites whatsoever, we will utilize the skill while programming a microcontroller, writing MatLab scripts etc. These days with AI rising, don't be shocked if you need to make a deep learning (or similar) program in your projects.

Here's to building, learning, and innovating! 🚀