1. EDUCATION
The first successful tactic to career growth is education. I graduated from the University of California Riverside in 2007 with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering. As one of the few who were fortunate to have a well-paying job right out of college, I began my first job as a Pipe Stress Engineer for Jacobs Engineering Group. After about 2 years, the company, due to the economy at that time, laid me off. The recession had finally caught up to the company. Little did I know, but this would be one of the most challenging times for me.
2. PERSEVERANCE
Another successful tactic for career growth is to persevere through hardships. Initially, I wasn’t too bothered. Since an engineering degree is very broad, I figured I’d be able to find another job. I applied to a few jobs but seldom got a call or email. I didn’t even get a simple response saying I wasn’t going to be considered for the position. At that point, I knew that I had to start making myself stand out from the pile. I began to look into different credentials or certifications I could obtain. I studied for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and I also got a certification in SolidWorks modeling. Eventually, I landed an interview with SpaceX – a company I aspired to work for. Unfortunately, as straightforward as the interview was, I completely blew it and was asked to leave by security (haha just kidding).
I started sending out my resume to as many jobs as I could. I also started attending career fairs, even if I knew I had no business being there. At a career fair sponsored by NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command – Department of Defense), I ran into an old classmate. He happened to be an employee for NAVSEA in Corona, Ca. I had no recollection of who he was but for whatever reason (God), he remembered me and took my resume.
Weeks later, I went in for an interview. I successfully landed the job, and my 15 month unemployment period had finally come to a halt. I was now a Systems Readiness Engineer, performing Reliability, Maintainability, and Availability analysis on Navy gun weapon and communication systems. With a new excitement for my life, I enrolled in school and eventually obtained an MBA from Cal State Dominguez Hills. I did this despite complacent coworkers telling me I didn’t need it. Seeking a more exciting challenge, I transferred from Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona to NSWC Port Hueneme.
3. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
The third successful tactic for career growth is to work on your personal development. I started working at Port Hueneme as an Installation Engineer for a missile weapon system. This job was a bit boring. But, it was my way in to working at the Port Hueneme base, with the plan of transferring to a more exciting/challenging job. I took advantage of the downtime of the job. I decided to study for the Professional Engineer (PE) exam, while I was on travel in Virginia for months. Once again, not heeding to the words of other government employees telling me I didn’t need the PE credential, I successfully passed the exam with the hopes of propelling my career.
Obtaining a PE license is a HUGE deal in the engineering world.
Even though I knew I wouldn’t use the license working for the Dept of Defense, I felt very accomplished. Rather than other engineers congratulating or being excited for me, the most popular response I received to the news of my PE was, “Oh that’s cool. Yea I never got it or took the exam because I knew I’d never use it”. I was immediately able to sense the jealousy in many of my coworkers. Finally, I had the opportunity to transfer to another job within Port Hueneme.
In my next job, I served as the Surface Warfare (SUW) Gun Mission Module Lead Engineer. Initially, I didn’t have interest in the job. What actually happened was that I was hired for the job I applied for (Combat Systems Engineer), but I was “volun-told” to take the job as the SUW Engineer by the Department Manager. I didn’t handle the situation as well as I should have. Everyone could tell I didn’t want to be in the group and it was obvious that I wasn’t giving it my all. I’ll never forget being sent home from travel in San Diego because I failed to show up to work (due to some other things going on in my life) without notifying anyone.
One of the senior engineers told me, “You know, I don’t think this job is for you. Maybe you should just talk to the department manager and ask to go back to doing something else”. At that exact moment I realized one thing:
if there is anyone that is going to tell me I CAN’T do something, that’s going to be ME.
Within a short amount of time, I became the subject matter expert for my gun weapon system. I was the go to guy for everything gun system related. I was blessed to be able to travel to multiple places in the world, solely due to my acquired expertise in the field. Eventually, I outgrew the position and I knew it was time to leave.
If there’s anything that people know about me, it’s that I love to frequent theme parks and go on as many rides as possible. As a matter of fact, I started my path to becoming a mechanical engineer (way back in high school) for the sole purpose of working on roller coasters. After applying to jobs with Disney and Universal Studios over the course of 10 months, by the grace of God, I landed an interview with Universal Studios Hollywood. It took three months of multiple interviews. After waiting, and negotiating, I was offered a position that was hard to resist. The ups and downs from my previous experience lead to my career growth, ultimately landing me this job.
Of course, I got the push back from many people saying, “You have it good with the government. Why would you want to leave? You shouldn’t.” Being a person that always goes with my gut feeling, I had no time to listen to people, so I accepted the position with Universal. The hiring manager later revealed to me that despite not having the theme park industry experience usually needed to land the job, my credentials, drive, and non-complacent demeanor are what got me the job. Although I wasn’t going to use them at my government job, I knew this Universal Studios position is why God put it in my head years ago to work on obtaining my MBA and PE license.
4. DRIVE
The fourth successful tactic for career growth is having a sustainable drive. As a means of doing other things to keep myself balanced and continuously improving, I participate in/organize many community service events, I work as a part time online instructor teaching a class for the EIT/FE exam (SchoolofPE.com), I started a hair grooming business (Catch Our Fade Barber Shop in Chatsworth, Ca), and most recently I began my quest to obtain a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering. You can’t let others dictate your path in life or how great you can become. The only person that can inhibit you from being great in life is you. Through all of my ups and downs in the past 8 years, I realized one major thing – people don’t want YOU to do what THEY can’t do. Let’s all be GREAT!
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