Emerson Exchange 365

I write this blog while drinking my coffee from a Benjamin Franklin mug. This is my favorite mug because it reminds me that Benjamin Franklin, who was an author, printer, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, activist, statesman, AND diplomat, was able to combine his two greatest strengths – his technical acumen and sense of inquiry with his communication and people skills – to carve out not only a career which fulfilled him, but a place in history.

I knew I wanted to be an engineer because I’ve enjoyed math and science all my life. I excelled in physics classes and using simple machines to make something complex was a fascinating concept to me. I thought for sure that Mechanical Engineering was the path for me. However, I was influenced by my friends and family to study Electrical Engineering (EE) instead. They advised that a broader field would provide me with more career opportunities.

I entered EE at The University of Texas at Austin with zero programming experience. I was quickly intimidated by the laptops of my classmates that were covered with hackathon stickers and logos. In the first days, students were often talking about high school AP computer programming courses and their preferred coding languages. Meanwhile, I was sitting at my tiny desk contemplating whether I made the right decision.

Over the course of my first two years, I started losing motivation. UT hosts an engineering career fair “expo” every semester to bring company recruiters and ambitious students under the same roof. I spent a lot of time preparing for the expo. I researched each company’s newest product releases, prepared my elevator pitch and practiced technical concepts. Yet, despite all my preparation, one of three things would happen:

1. After a brief conversation, I was told to apply online.
2. After a long and promising conversation, I was told that you had to be a junior or senior to intern.
3. I was asked a technical question right off the bat that I had trouble solving because I hadn’t completely learned the concept yet.

Six semesters, two summers and ten job fairs later, I still hadn’t landed an internship. At this point, I was completely disheartened. I felt like I was stuck in a hole and couldn’t get out. I was putting a lot of time and effort into classes leading to a career I wasn’t sure I wanted to pursue.

This February, I realized the study of EE itself wasn’t the source of my anxiety; it was the inability to see myself in a career where (I thought) I would be sitting in front of a computer all day or wiring circuits and debugging code - rather than collaborating with others. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to find an interesting and inspiring career path within EE.

I decided to do a personal audit of the skills and interests that most define me. My family has been in the food service business for quite some time now. We used to own an Indian restaurant named, Spice India, but now we take federal contracts for food service. I  have helped in our family business for as long as I can remember. Doing so taught me the importance of using good communication practices to achieve customer satisfaction. I realized that my communication skills were too valuable to not be used in my career. I also really enjoy creating presentations on and presenting technical projects- even to a non-technical audience. After some research, I found that the fields of software project management or software consulting would be great matches for my skill-set and interests.

On advice from professors, career assistants at UT and my family, I chose to focus my studies on project management. Once I did so, everything seemed to start going my way. In May, I began my first internship as a Software Development Intern in the iOps department of Emerson Automation solutions. Here, I work on exciting technical projects that are very customer-focused. I am exactly where I want to be. Who knew it would take three years for me to figure it out?

Whether you’re a student or already in the professional world and uncertain about your future, I encourage you to spend time doing an audit of your own skills and interests. Are you pursuing a career where you will get to use your strongest skills? If you're currently employed and you could change your role - what would you want your role to be? Perhaps your skills are more valuable in another role within the same field - one that you haven’t discovered yet. I believe that everyone is capable of success if you are patient, persistent, confident. When you are able to use the skills and interests that you are truly passionate about, you will be more than successful - you will be fulfilled.