We actually had a really lengthy and good discussion during this whole interview that went from the details of an engineering career path all the way to how life choices may drive you to have to make career path changes. And we discussed how that's okay. Being flexible to change is one of those core character traits I want both my children to walk into this world with.
Internally processing this conversation later this evening, I thought back on how I wish I had interviewed someone who had an active engineering career to get more details prior to setting off down my randomly selected choice of careers.
So.... In case you have a child looking for some behind-the-scenes insight into an engineering career, here's my written answers to Isaac's questions and some of the advice I gave around the questions:
- What is your specific degree?
- BS in Electrical Engineering from ISU, with an MBA from U of IA
- Please describe your engineering field.
- While my degree is in electrical engineering, my career at RC has been around software development in the avionics industry. I've learned much (99.999%) of what I need to do my day-to-day work on the job. The degree was merely the piece of paper I bought to illustrate to companies that I could learn to do the job while on the job. :o)
- What is your current job title?
- Technical Project Manager ~ I oversee day-to-day operations on the KC390 platform, with cognizance over roughly 70 engineers.
- Please describe your particular job and duties.
- <apologizing to blog audience if we work together...> Isaac, do you want my candid off-the-record answer about what I do every day? Off the record, I am a mom at work... And this program is my kid. I spend almost all my day ensuring people have executable plans and then holding them accountable if they don't stay on track (kind of similar to the internet limits you have imposed upon you and when you fail to do your portion of the plan I revoke internet). Some days its very rewarding and other days is excruciatingly frustrating. I am in a role with no direct authority, so it has required me to grow in my ability to build trusting relationships that I can rely upon when things get tough. And this all starts with how I lead and how I act. I cannot expect others to do things that I'm not willing to do myself, so the bar for excellence starts with my own demonstration and expectation of this within myself. For the on-the-record answer, see previous bullet ;o)
- What is your average work schedule?
- I feel a good plan is built around assuming a standard 40 hour work week (for full time employees). I would even go so far to say that I would embrace a societal shift from the "full time work week = 40 hours" to something less than that.. 30 hours for starters? A well-balanced and satisfied employee is significantly more productive than a harried/stressed-out one. Fingers crossed we as a society come to this conclusion before my kids's kids hit the work force.... But I digress... Often engineering gets to deal with unplanned emergencies, which may drive need to work more than this "40 hr norm" but my basic expectation is this is the exception NOT the rule. When I took this new role, I knew this would be a huge jump as I got through a big learning curve. But I was very clear with my leader when I came onboard that I am a single parent with kids half time and that I wanted a life outside of work. So while I worked an average of 50 hours a week for the first 6 months, once I got my first customer delivery successfully sent, I moved back to 40 hour week. To be successful in this reduction, I've had to lay in processes and management tracking techniques that are automated or offloaded to others where appropriate. One benefit of the engineering path is I've been able to make this average work schedule as flexible as I've needed it to be based on life priorities throughout my career. I would advise you to clearly know your worth. If you know you are a strong performer, you should know you are worth alternative means of compensation. Flexible schedule falls into this category. I have been part time, I've worked a portion of my work week from home, I've been on educational leave of absence. All of these afforded me to keep my preferred balance on work/home as my needs have shifted through my career.
- Starting with high school, describe your educational background chronologically.
- I graduated from a very small high school (1A) to Linn Mar's 4A. For perspective, I graduated with 35 kids, Isaac's anticipated class is roughly 500. There were no relevant AP classes, there was no higher level math classes. I had a few weeks of Basic programming and a pre-trig math background as my entrance into college. I picked my major based off some very minimal school counselor assessment testing (I was good at math, I liked board gaming/puzzles) and the fact that one of my best friends was going to ISU in this major. It looked like it would pay well and I didn't have a strong desire driving me to any other profession. While in college, I took a semester off for a full time internship with Texas Instruments in TX. It paid very well, nearly $17/hour (over a decade ago). It helped me keep my college loans to a minimum and gave me relevant work experience. The work itself was abysmally boring and did nothing to show me what I was truly capable of. I went back to school for a semester and then embarked on another internship, this time with Intel in CA. This was a game changing semester as I ended up getting married and pregnant all within this timeframe. I finished internship after just 4 months and then quickly back to school to tie off degree. I had Isaac the week before finals my 2nd to last semester. Nothing like getting to have your husband bring your infant son to the lab so you can feed him and then get back to working your senior design project.... Flash forward to June and a degree and easy placement at RC as I entered the job market in a boom year for engineering (just a few months short of 9/11). Another education point, know your value on the open market. When I interviewed at RC, I already had 5 other offers on the table and I made RC match my highest offer along with providing an excellent relocation package and a job offer for my husband. All in all, I think this worked out just as good for RC as it did for us. :o) After a few years (of paying off student loans and getting financially solvent), it was time for kid 2. I always knew I wanted to spend more time at home when that came around so after Bella was born, I switched to part-time. After just a few months of this, I recognized I couldn't be happy with the level of parenting I was able to provide versus what I was paying to receive from daycare. After much tears and ad hoc planning, I proposed a solution to "keep my foot in the door" by going on educational leave to get my MBA in the evening while staying home full-time with my kids during the day. Fortuitously, during this year off work, my dear friend Lisa became available to be my substitute mom which made my return to workforce when Bella was 1.5 years old tolerable.
- If you could do it over, related to your career or education, would you do anything differently?
- Wow.... I go back and forth on this question regularly. :o) I think I'm glad I picked engineering as a career field as its afforded me the financial security to pursue so many things (comfortably raising a family being high on that list). I'm still here now because I haven't found a clear calling driving me to something else but I won't be surprised if when my kids leave the house I migrate to a new profession. I'd definitely say one thing I feel very confident about now that I'm older is that I no longer make decisions based on money. Wealthy doesn't equal happy. I recently read an article talking about the salary amount the average person hits before wealth is no longer a primary driver of happiness. I think it was about $85k. And I resonate with that. I explained to Isaac that I started in the field at over $50k out of college (in 2001). Given the roles I've chosen to take which involve leadership/higher expectations/higher risk/higher stress, I got an increase in pay. But I would also note that I have repeatedly wondered if this stress level is worth it over the course of the past year and half. And unfortunately, my opinion and attitude on this is a roller coaster. One week I'll feel like I've got it down and I'm rocking this job. The next week will be like, Oh my god, I'm ready to quit and go work at Starbucks. What I really need from my job is to work with people I respect, doing things I feel are valuable and afford me the opportunity to keep learning and growing, and at the end of the day feeling appreciated for the hard work I put in. And for the most part, those elements all exist in my current job.
- What advice would you give to me as someone interested in pursuing a career path similar to yours?
- There is such a wide range of options within any engineering field and within each specific industry. In my company alone, I'm sure we have probably at least 3+ different types of engineering (electrical/mechanical/computer...) And within those types of career backgrounds, there is a range of job opportunities. You can be very technical or you can be more programmatic (like I am now). To be successful as a company, we need all types. So if you find one area isn't quite your niche, the advice I'd give is to keep moving. If you don't feel excited to get up and go to work at least half your week, you should be looking for another seat on the bus. I'd say this aligns with a try it for a year mentality, but be willing to change if at end of the year you don't feel that 50% drive to stay. I did NOT take this advice early enough in my career. Since taking this stance, I feel I've become very liberated and empowered in my career path and all along the only person blocking me was me.
- Are you happy with your career?
- Yes (please note, today was a good day) ;o)
- Do you consider the pay satisfactory?
- Yes, i'm above the happiness threshold listed above ;o) More importantly, I'm at a point where its not the money that drives me to keep doing what I do. Its those intangible things that I need to want to keep going to work that keep me in my current position.
- How integral are mathematics to your work?
- honestly? not at all. I'd like the time to take a class on excel macros/powerpoint and that would probably replace the usefulness of at least 50% of my formal educational training... For what its worth, in a previous role as a software developer on performance software for helicopters? My answer would be distinctly different. I actually needed to understand some basic math. But more than that, I needed to have really honed my skills for being able to look at something and dig through the details to figure out how I could take a pre-existing block and add in new feature/capability without breaking the existing piece. As far as chem/physics/calculus go, I have used them rarely if at all in my on the job work.
- What personal characteristics would you consider unique to engineering?
- Pros: detail oriented problem solvers. Cons: can get lost in the weeds of the details and will often over-engineer the solution or gold plate it (doing more work than needed to meet the customer intent)
- How stressful is the workload?
- My answer depends on the day. Again, I've noted that at times I've seriously considered quitting engineering altogether. However I've come to realize some of this feeling is very specific to the role I'm in now. Its like if you were in the middle of a tornado and it seems kind of calm, but in reality you are in the middle of complete chaos?!? I feel like when I step out of this role, I will look back and wonder how I was numb to all this insanity while I was in the middle of it... Or... so THIS is what its like to run a regular program? The craziest thing I've come to realize is that I actually operate best under extreme duress. There is a limit to how much of this I can take but I definitely do my best when I feel like I'm under the gun. Maybe this is why I tend to procrastinate? ;o)
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