Our HR group was asked recently to support a local high school program and talk to a class about what it is like to be in the workforce and what skills they will need to be successful. I couldn’t help myself I had to sign up. If it wasn’t for a program like this one, I likely wouldn’t have the skills that I do today.
In my mind, my experience has been an exceptional one. The speakers came from a locally owned oil and gas company and after a few sessions with my class I got up the courage to ask if the company could donate money to my bid to attend Close Up – a program for high school students to visit Washington DC. The response was not to offer me money, but the opportunity to work 20 hours for a $100 donation. The cost of the trip was $1,100 so this was a drop in the bucket, but I went with it. The deal was to see what I could do and I knew it, it was clear to me that if I could prove myself in the first 20 hours I could maybe get a more permanent job out of it. I filed, I learned to download data into spreadsheets. This was my first experience with a PC since all we had in the schools were Mac’s. It was a great lesson in learning to work with people and do a variety of jobs. I became a part time employee and worked over holiday breaks and when I would return from college in the summer. This computer experience gave me an advantage when I began college and all throughout. I had the practical experience and real world examples as a result to apply in my courses. I ended up working for the company seasonally for 5 years doing everything from filing, computer work, answering phones, sorting mail, you name it.
When I was in my senior year of college I began tutoring for the athletic department, on many topics but primarily math. This was ironic to those around me since I always struggled with math, but I went with it and began to get better and better at the concepts as I myself was the one explaining them. It was this position in addition to my college degree that gave me the opportunity to begin teaching computers at a small adult school while working on my master’s degree. I started out teaching Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access and began prepping my students for the Microsoft Certification Exams. Unsure why they were coming back without good scores when I knew they had the concepts I began taking the exams myself and I began to learn how to take the exams and in turn teach to them. There is strategy involved after all in outsmarting a computer program regardless whether it is in the format of a video game or a test. Once I had taken all of the exams I discovered that you could become a master certified instructor by passing all exams and teaching for two years, and so I got my certification in Office 2000 while teaching.
A few years later when we moved to California I had begun looking for work and leaned on what I knew best which was teaching. In the fall of 2004 I began teaching for CSUCI part time as an instructor teaching Comp 101 – Introduction to computers. There is nothing like repetition to ensure you know what you are talking about. Teaching 4 sections of the same course meant I would teach on the same topic 4 times a day, nothing is more mind-numbing than that – but at the same time I came to realize it helped to really solidify what I knew and my confidence in presenting it to other people. Upon getting hired as an Engineering Administrator for my current company I began to scale back my teaching and eventually took a break from teaching. It has only been in the last two years that I have returned to teaching part time and currently teach an online course for upper division non-computer science department on the Survey of Online gaming.
My experience in improved greatly as I began working at Meggitt, my first big corporate job. I learned what the engineering group did, supported them, booked travel, developed reports, and took it all in. I took an administrative position with a Masters degree not because it was as good as I thought I could do, but because it was in an area of interest to me and my way of getting my foot in the door. Clearly I have not chosen to work for the perfect company, but no doubt one that has given me plenty of opportunities to grow an learn. I have had opportunities to learn the business and implement systems where previously there had been paper. I continue to do this type of work at a corporate level, and change management remains one of the biggest challenges.
My career is not an expansive one, but it has taught me to push the boundaries, do more than was asked, and never say something wasn’t my job. I have looked at every new job as an opportunity to gain a skill or insight that I would save for future reference. I am highly appreciative of the confidence and opportunities that those around me have had which have enabled me to grow and develop as an individual. In any job you have your expectation of the experience will ultimately shape your performance and your future. Hopefullly I can convey that to the high school student I once was.
