Week Three - Careers

  My third week at The Principal was shortened by a couple days because I had a chance to go to Cedar Point, an amusement park in Ohio, with a few friends for some roller coaster fun.  As a science guy, I find myself thinking about the physics behind the machines and the biological reactions a body has to those kinds of situations during the rides, but it all really just equates out into fun.  When I returned, I had a chance to work with the Enterprise Applications Project Management Team.  It was great to get to learn about what a project manager's duties entail and the variety of skills that they must have to be able to be effective in a wide range of projects, each with it's own set of tasks and personalities involved.  The motions of the roller coasters could probably be applied to the life cycle of a project with its preparation, initiation, unexpected challenges and roll out, but during this week I was again reminded about how careers are likely to take unexpected routes and that I should share my observations with my students.

  As I've been meeting so many great people here at Principal, I've had a chance to discuss some of their backgrounds with them.  It's been interesting to learn that many people are working in an area that doesn't seem to have a direct link to their degrees and is not the job that they thought they would be doing when leaving school.  The path hasn't necessarily been a clear, straight path connecting education to career. In some cases, it may be more like a curvy roller coaster.  I think it's a bit silly to think that I can  truly help students realize what this means, but I think it is important to share with them that opportunities that structure your work life may be well beyond your current perspective.  It's important to work to become well rounded and have a diverse set of skills so that you are able to take advantages of those opportunities when they present themselves.

  In some cases, there may be individuals who don't think that their specialized education background has much impact on the way they work today, but I think for most there are realized connections, whether it be a way of thinking, an aptitude for learning and adapting or knowledge gained.  I think that especially in an area like project management, it is an advantage anytime you can start a project and use your background to quickly piece together the system that the project will become and understand the parts.  Given that you may not be specialized in the topic of the project, an aptitude to pick up the new concepts or at least have a surface level understanding of the topics is required to be able to help manage.

  This translates over into my classroom as a realization that many of the students I teach won't be going into a career related to science, but a strong foundation in science basics could easily impact their capacity to do their job or opportunities available to them someday.  I also understand that the students who see themselves as scientist while I know them, may end up doing something entirely different in their career.  This works for those students who have no vision of themselves being involved in a science related field.  It's important for them to gain a strong background in science from a competent citizen perspective, but also because of the possibilities of uncertain twists, turns and flips that seem to be part of most career paths.