This week I appreciated that the material in this course encouraged us to stop and reflect. Life can be very busy and it is easy to continue on without stopping to think where you are going or why you are going that direction. So, I appreciate that this blog post asked us to stop and reflect some.

What am I good at? – I feel that I am good at connecting with others within the workplace and driving projects to completion. I really enjoy completing a project. Especially when that project helps someone out. I also enjoy being able to take a little time out of the day to have a simple conversation with a coworker. I think it is important for us to build some kind of relationship with those people we work with.

What do I value? – I value honesty, integrity, and kindness. Life is full of enough hardships and challenges. We don’t need to add to each others challenges by not being honest and not being kind to one another. That is why I value honesty, integrity, and kindness. I look for those traits in people that I wish to connect with and think those three things go a long way in improving the lives of those around us.

How did I get here? – When I stop and reflect about where I am currently in my career, sometimes it feel like it was by accident. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I happened to be good at math and science in schools so my parents and teachers encouraged me to pursue engineering. I didn’t know what else to do so I pursued engineering. During my sophomore year of college I considered quitting engineering school. I wasn’t enjoying it and didn’t think I wanted to do it for a living. I wanted to do something where I got to work with people more. I considered switching to becoming a teacher or physical therapist. After some research I realized I would add a year to my undergraduate if I switched. I was on a 4 year scholarship and couldn’t afford to fund a 5th year on my own. So, I made a switch within engineering from mechanical engineering to manufacturing engineering. Manufacturing engineers get to work with people more often and I thought it might be a good fit. Looking back I think it was the right decision. I have very much enjoyed my career and glad I stuck it out. The change I made sophomore year was a good change overall for me.

Where am I going? – Part of the reason for me to be enrolled in a Master’s program is to give me an option to become an instructor one day. I still have a desire to teach at some point. Teaching often requires at least a Master’s degree. So, I thought this program would make me a better engineer and give me an option to make a career change in the future. I am enjoying what I am doing now. However, I think there will come a time where I will want a change. I hope that I can teach at the community college or university level at some point. Education has made a big impact in my life. I would like to be part of that impact in someone else’s life.