Hello mense, I am a graduate in Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pretoria. Graduated 2025, managed to get an interview for a Data Analysis job in Joburg, when the contract came, it told me I'd be an Operations Assistant and the pay was quite bad.
Nevertheless I took it cause I was desperate and I think they knew. Well HR convinced me that I'd be doing Data Analysis still, I learnt how to write SQL scripts for data extraction, use Power Query to clean, manage, and transform large data sets, learnt how to use PowerBI and Excel dashboards for visual presentations, and of course PowerPoint for presentation. All began changing when I was increasingly expected to do tasks in maintainance, because "I am from an engineering background, and had to learn the business from ground up".
I felt that everything was underhanded, how I was being pushed into doing handyman duties, stuck with it for a while but I was continuously getting depressed and very disappointed. No shade to other mense's hustle but maintainance isn't really the engineering I was ever taught. I'd have been with real engineering projects, all the better if anything to be a hybrid worker... but unscrewing pipes and pumps isn't what I'd be very proud to put into my CV. Would it be life going forward? I was exhausted with life and was getting close to a breakdown... my girlfriend said I actually did breakdown.
Fast forward I quit because it just wasn't working. Now I am jobless and constantly looking. I am on LinkedIn and recruiting sites, talking to as many people as possible about any opportunities. I really am trying. I was wondering if you guys don't have any advice or know places I could try. Any Engineering and Quantitative Analysis(finance, supply chain etc) roles will do. I am not asking for a lot, just a place to do cool stuff and grow within. Please, any constructive advice would be appreciated. Thank you.