Values

So if you read my PhD post, I talked about what I value in life. We all value something. But what's different between us is what we hold in the highest regard.

Throughout my undergrad, I wanted to simply find a job within a company, and hopefully, align my values to the companies. But with 3 internships (but basically four), I've realized that you can't do that. Some engineers are lucky, finding a company that aligns with their values on the first try or unconsciously. But your values are part of your integrity, which you shouldn't give up.

Although this is an extreme analogy, Nazi Germany required many people to either surrender or defend their integrity.  Some still defended their values, and were placed in dire circumstances due to their unwillingness to join the Nazis, and some were even killed. We still respect those people 70 years later.

So I've started to make a list of what I value, and some of it is very obvious. Here is part of my list:

• Meaningful work. not copying papers for the sake of copying papers.
• Education. I need to continue learning. And I want to continue teaching and mentoring others.
• Heath of the mind, body, and spirit...it should be encouraged.
• Openness to alternative and interdisciplinary solutions. It really irritates me when other engineers scoff when I talk about social interaction and trends.
• Social encouragement. Others flourish when they have friends and feel welcome. I know I do, and I love to see people excited about the above.
• Building up the next generation. It makes me so happy when I see young kids excited about science...and I want to be part of that mentoring and encouragement.

Those are just a few. Although they seem similar to "what-everyone-values," it's not. Write down your own list. What are you proud of? What gets you up in the morning? What makes you work harder during the 2 o'clock slump? 

Find out what you value, and then find a company. Trust me, you won't become a disgruntled employee (I've met many even in my few internships of experience, haha).

-Serena

To PhD or Not PhD. That is the Question!

I haven't been posting as much lately, and that's probably due to the fact that I'm working full time (AND HAVE WAY TOO MUCH FREE TIME!). Hahaha, getting A's in school is much more difficult and time consuming than getting "Good Jobs" at work. I've been watching too much of the Olympics. hehehe

I'm at the end of my undergrad career, and I basically have 1 more engineering class to take which I'm super excited for. It'll be the only main challenge I'll have with an awesome professor I had during Winter Quarter. Other than that...I'm taking stupid general classes, and I'm trying to pick out the most "useful" so I'm not bored out of my mind this fall.

But, actually, I've been struggling a lot with whether or not to pursue a PhD program.  As many of you know, I will be applying in Fall for graduate school.  And I'm thinking of not pursuing a PhD...here's how I did my research.  First, I thought about this blog, where I spill wonderful advice to current or future engineering undergraduates. I figured, "Well there's gotta be a few engineering-female-phd-professor-like blogs out there." Well I found several. And I realized that the PhD (and the later career) is surrounded by data. Creating data, analyzing data, finding more ways to create data. Which, it may be for some...but maybe not for me.

I was thinking about what I value in life... and I've seen myself promoting the creation of something "useful" from that data. That's the whole reason why I became an engineer! Notice: I know having the data is important...but I see myself using it rather than creating it. So therefore, I think having a research background is important. But I've seen the PhD in a new light, and it's re-affirmed what everyone's told me. The lead scientist I worked for at NASA said, "Serena, we need people who can find meaningful information and trends from data." I always saw the PhD as a stepping stone to doing something "useful" with that data. But I've realized...I can do something "useful" now, and the PhD would be superfluous for me.

I'm still on the journey of life...but these are my observations so far. :-D


-Serena

Chicago!

So some of you have probably been thinking dang, Serena's been posting a lot. That Nassim chick is such a slacker. Well, I have an excuse haha. I've been taking summer classes and am now in training for my Autodesk Position in Chicago.

SO much has changed since lat year. Our numbers have gone from 30 to 150. We have 75 here this week. There's one more mech-E girl here! I've also gone from the bottom of the ranking to the top now with my role as Platinum Expert/West Regional manager.

So what do I have to share. I've been getting tons of goodies (maybe we'll do a giveaway!) and been learning new software to come back and share when I get back home. I've toured Chicago Architecture, I've successfully broken my favorite (new ><) bag. It's an amazing experience. I'm also getting two projects 3D printed right now!

Anywho, just wanted to check in, I'll be back with some meaningful posts whenever I get back to my nice California Weather.

Cheers,

N. Riazi

Programming

With my new internship, I've found myself doing something that I never really considered enjoyable...until now. People always asked me, "So, do you like programming?" I was always stunned at the question, because I had taken one programming course (until my Senior year of college), and I replied, "Well, if there's an application, I probably would like it more. Before, the "application" was trying to find a sequence of numbers line up in a certain way, or somehow creating a Christmas tree while using a for loop (which I thought was such a waste of time).

However, this last Winter quarter, I had the opportunity to program more in Matlab. (Now, I understand that "real programmers" don't consider MatLab a real programming language. But it's very useful for some applications.) Basically, we had to model how a spring-damper system would move based on a certain input. For example, viewing how a rider would move up and down based on how-stiff-the-spring-was and how-strong-the-damper-was. It was a lot of fun. We got to model a motorcycle going over a bump (I know it sounds super simple...but it's not.)

For my current internship, the interviewer asked if I knew Visual Basic (another programming language). I replied that I knew MatLab. Basically, he laughed, saying that people (at least in the company) don't use it, but said I could probably pick up Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA.

So my first week at this new internship, I was given a database project using Microsoft Access.  It's like taking Excel to a different level by creating multiple dimensions of relationships between cells. (For instance, a customer is linked to a product, but different customers are linked to multiple (but different) products). So for the last month or so, I've been learning how to program behind Microsoft Access using VBA. My first three weeks kinda looked like picture below...basically, I had no idea what was going on. But boy! Was I grateful to know how to use for-loops, do-loops, the need to define variables/data types...and so on. I didn't need to learn how to program logic. Instead, I could concentrate on the syntax (basically, the specific triggers for the language) in order to create the program.

So next time you're complaining about how-much-you-loath-programming, think about if you would hate it so much if there were a decent application attached to it. You may change your mind. (Not to mention that you may, simply, be required to program...whether or not you like it!)

-Serena

Scholarships

Summmer's here, and I know what's on everyone's mind: I gotta pay for school in the Fall.


I was poking around on the SWE National Website, and I saw the following link.

http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php/scholarships#activePanels_

It's definitely much more intuitive than it's been about 4 years ago, and I suggest that many of you girls (including Seniors in High School) to check it out.

If you need some advice on writing scholarship applications, let me know in the Comments section.

-Serena

Astronaut!

You know what's cool? Stephen Robinson (a former astronaut) is joining the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering faculty at UC Davis. Professor Robinson is a fellow Aggie, and is looking to give back to the place where he jump started his career.

For the article and *pssss* information on which class he's teaching, see this article.

The Busy Syndrome

I've started my third internship about 3 weeks ago, and I really like this job.  My hours are from 7-3:30, and when many of you say that 7am is waaayyy too early, I just think back to my NASA schedule....waking up quarter to 5 with a total of 2.5 hours commuting...did I also mention that I was taking two classes? Comparatively, this schedule is nothing (in terms of energy/time drainage).

Looking back at my high school and college years, we spend so much time striving for better and better grades and activities...to the point that they aren't fun, but for some reason, nothing is more important than the next step (college or a job). During high school, my day started at 6:30 and sometimes didn't end until 10.  Honestly, I don't know how I did it. College isn't as busy, but it's still tiring as ever. I guess my schedule looks a bit similar, but instead of required physical activity, I'm doing required studying....which saddens me at times.

With that said, I've found this summer to have a substantial amount of free time...and free time I don't know how to fill. I often get like this, especially after finals week.  Final week consists of studying, eating, complaining, and sleeping (if, possible) until it's over. Typically after my last final, I just lay on my bed, and say, "What is the purpose of life?" simply because I don't know what to do with my time.

These last three weeks have been tough too. I basically was waiting on an income, so I didn't have money to work out or go places. I was basically forced to stay at home. (Well it wasn't as bad as I explained, but I'll get to that). I ended up resorting to many tasks that I put off during the school year, such as the following:

• Finding ways to eat cheap (which ended up being a lot healthier)
• Deep cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom
• Watching TED...I'm telling you, I have the TED virus...
• Watching Netflix...I had already subscribed 
• Reading books...Yes, they still exist
• Riding my bike
• Trying to eat my freezer food by making "new recipes"...I hate being broke, lol
• Watching the Olympic Trials
• Sleeping...a little too often

And you know what? It's been a good, relaxing experience. Because I didn't have a lot of money, I forced myself to stay home and relax for once.  I recently got my paycheck and spent some of it on small splurges (such as a mani/pedi), but I also took the time to wash Sally and clean the house again. I look forward to reading my books, and spending some time just to watch movies.  I do, however, look forward to buying my summer gym pass, because I'm in desperate need of a long swim....and I'm also sick of freezer food. It's nice not being super busy for once.

-Serena