Hey Team! (and everybody else)
First off, here’s some of my skills that might be helpful:
Soldering, making Solidworks (3D!) models, some welding (just basics), Coding (mostly in matlab…not so aesthetically pleasing perhaps), Laser-cutting, and sewing (I’m a pretty decent seamstress, except for impatience)
I’m a BS/MS student in Mechanical Engineering, and I’m graduating in May. Then I’m going to go to Vietnam by myself for about three weeks, to stretch my comfort zone and see some of the world. After that I’m going to get a job.
This seems daunting, to say the least. All through childhood, the focus is to get through college, but there’s not really a lot of discussion about what happens for the fifty years (or more!) after that. So, I will do the logical thing which is to try to get a job in a position I’ve trained for: Mechanical engineer in renewable and sustainable energy. The classes and jobs I’ve had so far prepare me for the wind industry the most, and that’s where I will start. Sometimes I read job descriptions for things for which I am not qualified (ex: hydrology, geology, water resource science) and think that they sound fun. Sometimes I imagine being an entrepreneur who hosts workshops to teach women useful things (let’s change tires together!).
Is it more important to live where you love or work at what you love? What if I have to move away from everyone I know? What if I have to nearly abandon my education and do something entirely different that pays crap to maintain my sanity? So many questions.
Someday, it is a dream of mine to buy some land somewhere out-of-the-way, and build my own house on it. Good luck kid. I’ll just get one of those build-it-yourself manuals from popular mechanics (which doesn’t cater to women, by the way, shame) and get it done.
So now you know some things about me, and I learned some things by writing them down for the first time (truth is funny like that). This was probably too personal, but life is personal. I hope your projects go well, let me know how I can help!
2 Comments. Leave new
Kira, I liked how honest you are in your post about your plans, aspirations, and concerns. For your first job, I would focus on whoever can give you the most opportunities for technical and professional growth. This will set you up with the basic skillset to transition into whatever industry you want. Job descriptions tend to overspecify what “qualifies” you, so I wouldn’t hesitate to apply to interesting jobs. In job interviews, in addition to technical questions, I would come prepared to find out about the company culture. In my experience, having a good company culture trumps interesting work when it comes to career satisfaction and quality of life.
Also, I love the idea of traveling before you start working in the real world. I’ve been to Vietnam a couple of times, and I’ve loved it!
Great post, I actually expressed my desire to live somewhere interesting as well. I was planning on doing a post-graduation trip to southeast Asia as well but have since switched to Europe. The dilemma of working and living is a tough one and I’ve taken a few Entrepreneurship classes to get see if its something that might interest me as well. However the insecurity that comes with it is worrisome for someone just about to graduate.