Week 11

            This past week was rather eventful right before Thanksgiving break. I had my final interview with Tung Nguyen over the phone. At first, he was skeptical of me and by the end of the interview; I had a deeper understanding of how Emerson worked as a cohesive unit. At the end of the interview, Mr. Nguyen also was so interested in the interview that he even asked for the questions I asked him.

            With the end of my interviews meant the construction of my five interview assessment, which I also finished this week. To prepare for the research showcase, over Thanksgiving break; I need to make my presentation for the ten-minute speech I have to give. I have the layout of the Prezi in my mind, and now I just need to create it.

            Lastly, this week I have contacted Justin Masias, and asked if he would like to be my mentor second semester. He replied and said that he could, so now he has to go through our school background check and complete the legal paperwork. Hopefully, all of the legal paperwork gets finished in time so he can present with me at the research showcase on December tenth.

Week 10

            With the research assessments over with, the class work for ISM has decreased. However, with this decrease, I was able to have my fourth interview with Curtis Bagby. Mr. Bagby is the VP of sale of North America at Emerson, and although his is not an engineer, he still works for an engineering company. With this, he was able to show me a different side of engineering that I have never seen before. He also provided insight to what happens after the engineers make a new product. Lastly Mr. Bagby was able to provide many names of people I could potentially contacts for my next interview. Thus, with this information, the interview proved to be very informative.

            As my interviews with professionals come near to the end, I have also decided to contact Mr. Nguyen at Emerson, a contact that was given to me my Mr. Bagby. I hope he is able to have an interview with me before Thanksgiving break hits.

            Lastly, this week I have planned my display board and written invitations for the research showcase in December. Now I just need to deliver the invitations to the eleven people on my invite list. This thus proves this week to be a rather productive one.

Week Nine

            Last Wednesdays interview was a very interesting one, and probably the most useful information wise. Mr. Lehocky was super philosophical in his responses, and really spent the time to answer my questions thoroughly. He kept hitting on the same few concepts being school, and not being an average engineer. With school, he said to “never stop learning, and to ask questions.” He also said “in school you are taught to also answer the questions correctly, when in reality the smartest people are the ones that ask the great questions.” I found myself pondering what this statement meant for quite a while after the interview. Secondly, he said, “do not become a catalog engineer.” Meaning that many engineers do one thing most their life, and they do not see different sides of the business. He recommends that I go into manufacturing or something along those lines for a few years just to see what it is like. Lastly, he tided school back into not being a catalog engineer by saying “study majors besides Mechanical Engineering to see the world in a different way to help with my engineering career.” Overall, this might have been my favorite interview so far because it was not like the cookie cutter answers I have gotten in the past.

Week Eight

             After a dry spell of work in ISM, the tides have finally turned. I branched out from Emerson and contacted an engineer that I know through engineering club. In engineering club I am apart of a group that is building a massive rocket that we will launch at Washington D.C. and possibly in England. The lead engineer of this group was an engineer at Boeing, so I reached out to him, and set up an interview after next Wednesday’s meeting. I am hoping that after the interview that he will have more names to contact since Emerson is now a dead end.

            This past week I also wrote my last research assessment, and I did it over weapons engineers. I have never heard of a weapons engineer, and while I was looking up articles, I happened stumbled upon it. The exciting thing however is the fact that a weapons engineer is exactly what I want to do when I get out of college. However, since no colleges offer it as a major, I would still have to major in mechanical engineering. This is not bad thing actually because mechanical engineer is such a broad major I have more options with it. Overall, it was good to read the article because I was able to double check that I am on track for success.

             

             

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.