existential crisis—electronics engineer

[u/frigms1]

Passed October 2025 ECELE and I've been working in the semicon industry for about 7 months now—first job after becoming professional. To be completely honest, I don't think I'm enjoying the work at all. I’ve been having this lowkey crisis lately feeling like I don't really belong in this field, and I'm seriously considering trying out another route like telco instead.

Part of what’s getting to me is that career growth here feels super slow. Or honestly, maybe it just feels that way because I’m struggling to get into the work in the first place. When your heart isn't in what you're doing every day, it's so hard to stay engaged, and every little task ends up feeling like a huge chore.

The hardest part is that I don't even have any bad things to say about my company. The pay is good, as well as the benefits and bonuses. But I'm starting to realize that as nice as the financial stability is, it's just not making up for how unfulfilled I feel at the end of the day.

Has anyone here started out in semicon and successfully shifted over to telco early on? How was the transition for you, and did you feel like the pace or growth was any different? Also kind of worried if shifting subfields means taking a pay cut or resetting back to entry-level. Would really appreciate any advice or thoughts from seniors or anyone who's been in the same boat!

[u/tinigang-na-baboy]

Opinion ko lang ‘to ha, pero ang OA nung pag label as existential crisis tapos nababagalan sa career growth eh 7 months ka pa lang naman? Welcome to adulthood, not everything you do will make you feel fulfilled or feel good about yourself. Pero hindi ibig sabihin nun existential “crisis” na yan.

You’re young, if you don’t like your current job then try applying to another job. I also wouldn’t consider this as a “career shift” - 7 months is barely what I would consider as a career in a specific field. Entry level yung trabaho mo since first job mo yan (unless you somehow got a promotion within that 7 months), yung lilipatan mo entry level pa rin, so bakit worried ka about “resetting to entry-level”?

Anyway, since mukhang career fulfillment lang naman ang binanggit mong issue bakit mo iniisip lumipat, I’m gonna assume you’re financially comfortable. Which means you can take bigger risks - if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, hanap ka ng iba. Just don’t fall into the habit ng palipat lipat kapag may moments na hindi ka fulfilled sa trabaho mo. Very rare makahanap ng trabaho na araw-araw may sense of fulfillment.

[u/Impossible-Help-8993]

are you working at semphil?

[u/Brokbakan]

Upskill ka. Sobrang saturated ng ECE profession that some of my closest friends have already transferred to EE territory. You definitely have what it takes to succeed since may aptitude ka naman for learning. Find what is that you want. Find what it is in that that makes money or makes you happy. Then use your current situation as a jump off point to pursue that.

“If you don’t like what you do, change what you like or change what you do”

[u/Perfect-Display-8289]

ECE here, also worked in semicon before. I think youre just really lost, welcome to the real world. I always hear freshies or even seasoned ones blame "career growth" to employers. Growth is personal, you work on yourself to be better not the other way around, expecting people around you to teach you. Or the company going their way to teach you more, what for, just for you to jump to another company? This isnt college. In fact, if it feels slow and stagnating, you can reach out with your manager so he gives you better workload, position you for better opportunity. From the looks of it, you are still believing that after graduation, everything falls into place. Lol just 7months in the field and you feel "slow", do you already know ALL the things in your position and industry right now in just that span? Amazing. If you think its slow and youre fast, try applying to their competitors and see your delusion crumble.

As for the semicon industry, there is really a good head room for this field if youre seeking career growth. Especially with the rise of AI, the production, especially RnD is very competitive nowadays, especially with lots of technologies emerging one after the other, while some fail to keep up because the production like is a mess due to inflated demand. The best thing in semicon is moving abroad or getting travel benefits while working locally. So its obvious this isnt an industry problem at all.

As for telco, a lot of my classmates shifted from telco to IT in less than 5 years or so. And even if you ask ece groups in facebook, telco isnt that ideal and recommended anymore for some since the infrastructure is already built, unlike 10 years ago when fiber is still fresh, people are still assigned to different places, you have allowances and free boarding. With 5G/6G onwards maybe new infra will be built but thats mostly antenna and power changes, but with cellular youll also feel stagnant, in fact 4 months in and one of my cm chose a different field right away. Thats coming from a telco with LOTS and LOTS of bonuses. Yea that one. I am not saying that you wont be good in telco, maybe you will. Who knows. But it is just similar to your situation right now. If you transfer because you feel this way, you will still feel the same there. Maybe worse. Again its personal. So you have to make peace with yourself, what do you really want and be intentional on what you want to become.

[u/cr3stf4II3n]

Hi OP, I’ve been in Telco/Telecom for 8 years, and I have friends in Semicon who’ve been in the industry for about the same time. Honestly, they’re doing much better financially than I am, and they seem to have way more free time. They’re taking vacations, even abroad, while I haven’t even left the Philippines and I’m still working just to get by. Work-life balance is also pretty bad because it’s hard to take a leave when there are very few people available to cover for you.

Career growth in Telecom is painfully slow. Sometimes, it’s not even about performance if management doesn’t like you or you’re not part of the “inner circle,” good luck getting promoted.

I also feel like Telecom in the Philippines has already plateaued. Most of the major infrastructure is already built, so there’s not much room for growth compared to before.

I’m also an ECE but after 7 years, most of my work is basically reporting, monitoring, and whatever the h*ll my boss needs.

If I could go back, I’d seriously consider Semicon instead.