Week Seven

            Once again, this week has been another slow one. With the heavy homework load in other classes, I have fallen behind with my interview assessments. However next week I plan to fully catch up. Also, I have been searching for other people to interview, and no one has responded back to my emails yet. I was able to get a few more names of people from Emerson, but I am wondering if I should interview people from other companies other than Emerson. In the future, I am just going to keep sending out emails until someone responds. So, my plan for next week is to send out my thank you letters and do my two interview assessments.

            The one eventful thing that I have done this week however is my research assessment. This week I did it over obtaining security clearance. I learned a lot about it, but I now worry how I am going to get my foot in the door in the future since the process is extensive. Also, on the topic of research assessments, I need to think of a topic I can research for next week: next week being the last research assessment before we make our research presentation.

Week Six

            This week was a rather slow week compared to the past week. I spent a lot of time in class bread boarding in digital electronics. However, it wasn’t a total loss, on Wednesday I sent an email to the two people I have interviewed with, and asked for there mailing addresses. Only one of them responded with the mailing address of the company. So, since they work at the same company, I am going to send both of the thank you letters to address given.

            On a different note, in my last blog I mentioned my shock when Aaron Dowdell stated that engineers maybe make $100,000 at the end of their career. So to check the validity of this statement, I did a research assessment on this idea last week. I read an article that stated how much an average Mechanical engineer made, and what I found proved what Aaron said was true. Lastly, I emailed Justin today and asked if he knew any other engineers in the field that I could interview in the future, and I am still waiting on a response. Once he does respond however, I will set up my third interview this week if all goes well.

Week Five

            This past week was a week full of suits and professionals. First off, on Thursday I had my second interview with another engineer at Emerson named Aaron Dowdell. The interview consisted of an hour-long tour of Emerson and a 30 minutes interview segment. I was shown the unsexy but very necessary side of engineering, which are regulators. Also, I was shown a test run in their high-pressure line and the data that was outputted from the test. Afterwards the interview caused another reality check where I was told that engineers make maybe $100,000 a year at the height of their career, instead of the $150,000+ I thought they made. Overall, I learned a lot in the interview that made me happy that I interviewed Aaron Dowdell.

            After the interview, on Friday we had the business symposium. The day started awkward with small talk and the nerves of what we knew was to come. However, when the interviews started I felt more comfortable being there and talking to the professionals. I found it interesting the diversity in interviews that I had. I went into each interview thinking that it would be like we practiced; however, it was not. For example, in one interview, I had a couple that asked very situational questions, and in the next, I had a man who would only analyze my responses and suggest better options. Overall, the business symposium was a fun experience that will help me with interviews to come.

Week Four

            This week has probably been the most interesting week so far. On Monday, I reached out to two of my contacts to set up interviews, and Justin replied that same day. We set up an interview, and I had it yesterday! On Wednesday night, I had to go and get another suit for the interview. I did this because the one I have is black, and I needed a less formal one since I already know Justin. I decided to get a blue suit and accent it with brown. After the interview, Justin gave me a name of a person to reach out to for another interview, and he told his co-worker Jake to respond to me to set up another interview.

            During the interview with Justin, I learned a lot about my field and about how he got where he is today. He gave me an important piece of advice pertaining to school, which is “Homework really is the best way to help you learn.” I am happy he told me this because until then I hated doing homework. Lastly, he told me the classes you take as a mechanical engineer during college. Overall, I hope my next four interviews are as successful as this one.

Week Three

            To start off, this week I updated my résumé for college and for ISM. In continuation, on Monday and Tuesday, I had to rewrite/alter it in Microsoft Word to make the ISM specific one. Then on Tuesday, I also had two classmates peer review it so I could print a final copy. Next, on Wednesday, I updated my interview question sheet and printed a final copy for a grade, and I fixed errors on my research assessment. Today I ran out of things to do, so I decided to get a jump-start on my long weekend of homework again to relieve some stress. Lastly, tomorrow I plan to do my research assessment outline and to find the article I want to read about. The article will probably be about professional speaking again because I did not get much information out of last weeks research assessment over the same thing.

            In the near future, I need to redo my voicemail to sound professional. I am thinking something along the lines of “This is William Slater, sorry I missed your call, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.” Along with this, I need to start calling possible mentors and to start to set up interviews.

Week Two

            This week was a rather relaxed week, but I am preparing for another weekend full of homework. On Monday, we met with Mrs. Southerland to talk about last weeks blog and first research paper. While reading the article for the first research paper, I learned a whole lot about the rail gun that I have never heard before. This new information blew me away with how capable the gun really is. On Tuesday, I asked both of the engineering teachers at MHS if they had any contacts in the engineering field, and I managed to get 11 names from them. Then today, I went onto the Allen and Plano staff directory and found another 14 names of engineers in the area to expand my list to 25 names! Tomorrow I plan on writing my interview questions in class so I can get a head start on my homework for the weekend.

            During my engineering class today however, we also happened to have a Civil Engineer come and talk to us about what he does in his day to day life. I learned a lot from his hour and a half long speech and it made me excited to get into the work force in a couple of years.