So, I was at work today and noticed a message in my old university email that Opening Week had started back at Missouri S&T.
I paused to stop and think about how my own college career started out, now exactly 6 years ago. On Facebook, (Facebook’s layout was much different back then) there were pictures of students sitting in Convocation receiving their Joe Miner pins, looking forward to a new experience and their first semester in college…
It still astonishes me today how I got from when I first started out, to where I am today.
For me, college wasn’t a walk in the park. Choosing Aerospace Engineering as my major I knew I had a lot going for me. I wasn’t even sure if I would stay with that engineering major or move on to do something else such as business or even digital art as a career. Halfway through came the thought of transferring elsewhere, and doing something different. In the end, I knew I would love working with aircraft and as a kid were always fascinated with them.
Looking back on those years, here is my biggest secret to “success”:
The one greatest thing I learned in college is to face your failures head on and know your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Don’t look at others to benchmark your own performance. There’s always at least one or two bastards with photographic memory and can ace everything. Never get in the way of those people, they have their own path to “success”.
It’s OK to be discouraged by failure, but never be afraid of it. The best things can come from failure. Take Steve Jobs for example. He got ousted from Apple in 1985 by a board coup. He quotes shortly after he left:
“I even thought about running away from (Silicon) Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. And so I decided to start over.”
The day after Labor Day, 1985, Jobs dialed up a former colleague and together they launched a new computer company, NeXT. Jobs also launched Pixar Animation Studios. In 1996, Apple Computer, by now struggling, acquired NeXT, returning Jobs to the company he helped to create. And the following year Jobs became Apple’s CEO, driving the company to its greatest successes, from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-fire-company/story?id=14683754&page=2
Now some of my own examples:
Case 1:
Taking Thermodynamics (ME 219, now ME 2519 with the stupid 4-digit numbering system) was probably my biggest failure-turned-to-success. I can’t even remember what I got on the first exam, it was that bad.
I shredded it when I got a 100% the next time I took it with a different professor and nearly aced the course.
What helped me even more, by learning what made the subject matter difficult for me, I was able to help newer students by becoming a paid tutor for Thermo later down the road! (Elise, if somehow you find this, know: you are a freaking thermo prodigy).
Case 2:
Another lesser example, but still a good one was when I tried taking Calc III at S&T. This was before Thermo, and like the first exam there I didn’t do well. Deciding to take the course at St. Louis Community College was probably the best choice I made in dealing with failure.
Not only did I get course credit that transferred, but taking the course at STLCC introduced me to Wolfram Mathematica, a powerful computer language and software package used to solve complex mathematics functions. Therefore, from that failure, I learned how to program and code in many different programming languages, still a skill I use in my current job today.
Case 3:
After college I struggled to find a job. It was come June that I realized I might not be employed with anyone. In addition to searching for an “aerospace job”, I also searched for part time work. Finding somewhat technical work I called “Plan A”, fast food and grocery store work was “Plan B”, and for a time there was even controversial “Plan S” which I dare not mention further.
I took a job working at a computer store in June of ’14 that refurbishes off-lease computers and sells them on eBay, making close to minimum wage. Quite a start for someone with “rocket scientist” as a degree.
I worked there for close to 6 months, and let me tell you looking back, those months were miserable.
Fast forward to today. I was told around a month ago I got my current job because I was employed. I was working which showed that I had the work ethic and could at least keep a steady job. That was a big factor in why I am here. Even though those months were “miserable” I did get a glimpse of how small business shipping works and got me ideas on how to improve certain processes (processing one item at a time instead of batching; precursor on LEAN systems).
In summary, don’t be afraid to fail and always no matter where you are,
Move forward.
“This is my personal space and only contains my own views, thoughts and opinions. It is not endorsed by FedEx nor does it constitute an official communication of FedEx.”
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