A large part of me going to grad school was me attempting to duck the permanence of employment. One year later, though, and I’m right back where I was, with nowhere to hide and the working world on the horizon. I’m much more excited about it now than I was last year, though. I have had a lot more exposure in a larger variety of industries and am looking forward to seeing where I end up.

I’ve been very interested (even before this class) in the melding of art and engineering, which usually manifests itself in an industrial designer. I don’t think I’ll pursue any formal training towards that end, but I would still love to end up in a position in which both aesthetic and functional considerations are important, and I get to think about both of them. There is a lot of this in product design, so that could be an interesting field for me.

I also have been doing a project in the medical device field this past year, and that has been a hugely fulfilling quest. I love thinking about what I do making an impact on the tangible world, in a positive way. There is a lot of that in Colorado, so I am looking towards those possibilities as well.

As far as the long term future goes, your guess is as good as mine. I know I need to stay stimulated, which means my role will have to change as time goes on. As to what it turns into, however, I have no idea. Part of me would love to end up being a large systems manager for giant projects, being able to oversee really incredible feats of engineering, but I also wonder if I’d be able to stay focused on something for that long (multiple years potentially). The other part of me thinks maybe I’d be happier working in a position that changes colors every few months. Time will tell…