Who is this post for? – This post is written for those young professionals that feel lost as they embark on their new career.
Why am I writing this? – Because I WAS one of those lost souls as I started my new career as an engineer with a large aerospace corporation. I’m writing this to help those are just starting out, but I am also writing this as my own guide as I ramp up to take the next step in my career. The feeling that comes from the conscious effort of deliberately putting your life on a desired trajectory is like no other – it’s clarity, it’s ownership of your life, it’s deliberate (hopefully, with a simultaneous benefit to the lives of others).
The Importance of a Career Roadmap
What exactly is a career roadmap and why is this critical to one’s success in business and in life? I’m not talking about financial success either, I’m talking about fulfillment and a deep sense of purpose.
Steve Jobs said in his famous commencement speech at Stanford, that work is going to take up a big part of your life. So why not spend it doing work you love? Now, many psychologists, notably Angela Duckworth in her killer book Grit argues that passion and in turn, love for one’s work is cultivated over years of dedicated and continuous effort toward one thing. (A different “thing” is also needed for one’s personal life, she notes.)
This is an important notion, I mean this is your life after all. Why not take the time to plan it out? I should note that my own personal roadmap that I am about to share took me about three days to throw together, with the footnote that I’ve spent years studying, training, and working on small projects to get a sense of what interests me and in turn, where I want to invest my energy to gain mastery during my time here on this wonderful planet.
Step one: Figure out what interests you. For me, it’s been my love of flying machines that has been driving me since I was about seven years old. To design them, to build them, and to fly them – well it doesn’t get much better than that. I can’t think of anything more worthwhile than to dedicate my life to such challenging work.
Full disclosure, I am about to take the next big step in my career, one in which I move away from the “I just want a job” – fresh out of college mentality, to one that aligns with my truth. No, I am not here to “follow my passion” and quit doing the work that I’ve been trusted to do – this is just a recipe for disaster. In other words, quitting everything to find the “perfect” job is the behavior of someone acting out of a passion mindset. (I would know, I’ve learned this hard way.) Rather, I now subscribe to the craftsman mindset school of thought, a mindset that has been proven by those courageous enough to adopt it, to lead to fulfilling work and personal flourishing.
The Craftsman
The craftsman enters into ventures with the mentality of: “How can I add value to this transaction? How can I add value to the world?” Whereas the individual with the passion mindset enters with the attitude of: “What can I get out of this transaction? What value is this job giving me?” As Cal Newport so eloquently argues in his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, the craftsman mindset is the foundation to creating work you love. As I’ve pondered about the craft that I have chosen to pursue, all roads lead to flight vehicles. I choose to develop the tool of exploration – one that will allow humanity to explore the universe while pushing the boundaries of human knowledge and capability.
The Career Roadmap
Step two: It is important — no, it is critical to know where you’re going. With something to aim at, comes an increased level of awareness of where to dedicate your efforts and as a byproduct you increase your career capital (career capital = your accumulated specialized knowledge + skills) and in turn an increased capacity to add value to those closest to you, your family, your peers, your organization, and ultimately – the world (for more detail on career capital see So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport). A career roadmap is a tool to help us navigate through the professional adult world, it is your GPS, your treasure map. I’m going to present mine here, with the understanding that it is a live document (*Subject to change).
Past
As you might have picked up, I’ve always been interested and passionate about flight. It’s one of those things that are hard to explain – it’s a primal inclination of mine (I highly recommend Mastery by Robert Greene for a guide to discovering your own inclinations).
Ever since I can remember my curiosity has been leading me towards flying machines. It was this technical curiosity which drove me to pursue mechanical engineering as a major while studying at university. In 2010 I earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and in 2013 earned an MS, also in Mechanical Engineering, both from the University of Texas at El Paso. It was during graduate school, that I had the wonderful privilege of working at a highly-advanced lab whose directive was to advance additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) research. Admittedly, I might have taken this experience for granted at the time. I didn’t know it then, but this experience was preparing me for a wide range of possibilities.
After graduate school, Raytheon (a large aerospace company) was looking for individuals who had both additive manufacturing experience and an interest in flight vehicles – it seemed that the stars had aligned. I took my first professional job in 2013, at the age of 27.
I started my young career as a project engineer within the Raytheon Operations organization, supporting mostly factory modernization initiatives. Then, I was promoted to a manufacturing engineer role, which meant that I would actually have the opportunity to build the things that would take flight. This was awesome. This meant I would get closer to the product and gain more hands-on engineering experience.
Now in full transparency, at this point in my career, one of my biggest impediments to being an effective technical professional was my poor verbal communication skills. Determined not to let this weakness kill me, I committed to mastering this skill. I figured one of the best ways to develop this coveted skill, would be to become a teacher. This would grant me the opportunity to stand and speak in front of an audience, while at the same time strengthening engineering fundamentals all whilst getting paid for it. While a full-time engineer, I took my first job as a part-time lecturer teaching undergraduate engineering courses at the local community college.
In 2017, I finally realized my childhood dream and checked off a HUGE bucket item, I earned my wings as a private pilot (airplane single engine land rating)!
Present
After 5 years at Raytheon, I decided to take some time off from full-time work to focus on aviation and family. But as it turns out, during this time I’ve been busier than ever – from part-time teaching undergraduate engineering courses at National University, while studying and training for an instrument rating to add to my aviation resume, to engineering consulting and contracting work – will do that.
I’d like to note that working as a contract engineer has been a wonderful experience, it’s taught me two invaluable lessons. First, the importance of narrowing one’s focus. Working as a contractor is a gift because we can choose to take on the projects that will serve our higher-level goals, so as long as one develops the skill and discipline to narrow your focus on your niche and say no – to all the distractions. Second, and most important, the customer has a voice — listen to it! This cannot be understated, we are here to serve our customers, so listen to their requirements AND their feedback – then, get moving to apply it.
Future
After a lot of soul-searching (and a lot of solitary striving), I have committed to joining to the space industry and do my part to make humanity a space-bearing species. This leads me to my professional higher-level goal: To contribute to the development of the next generation flight vehicles by applying manufacturing technologies, aerodynamic fundamentals, control theory, and flight intuition.
To that end, I’m going to focus on three major subsystems that I find fascinating: propulsion, aerospace structures, and guidance, navigation, & control (GNC).
My plan is to begin this journey at Blue Origin as a manufacturing engineer (Note: I’m putting this out into the Universe with the hope that my prayers will be answered — I am not currently employed by Blue, but God knows I want it!). Why start in manufacturing? Because I plan to be a top-dog engineer. I’m going to be the teammate that my peers turn to for help in solving the most complex problems. In order to be that person, my mechanical aptitude must be top-notch. I must build with my hands, this is the path to true mastery. I’m going to work various aspects of manufacturing engineering, from hands-on fabrication, tight-tolerance assembly, machine design, translate engineering intent and drawings into fully-functional hardware, application of design for manufacturing and assembly principles, to R&D and process development.
Then I have earned my instrument rating. Why? So, I can fly myself, family, and friends all over the world! My plan is to use my privilege as a pilot to fly humanitarian missions, such as flying for organizations like the Flying Samaritans, a philanthropic organization that flies medical specialists to help locals in rural areas of the world that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to reach by any other means of transport.
After my gaining some rich experience in manufacturing, I’m going to go all in on designing and analyzing propulsion systems. I’m going to specialize in fluid system design, turbomachinery components, and structural analysis. I’m going to apply my knowledge of fabrication, mechanical design, geometric dimensioning & tolerancing, fluid mechanics, structural dynamics, and rocket engine cycle theory to be the best mechanical engineer that I can be. I will utilize all the tools at my disposal, such as, CAD, FEA, computational tools such as Ansys, Python, NASTRAN, and MATLAB; I will apply CFD theory and numerical methods, statistical analysis, and time-domain and frequency domain analysis to the multitude of loads subjected on a flight vehicle.
I then earn my commercial pilot’s license. Why? To be the best the pilot that I can be of course, competitiveness is in my blood.
I then take my propulsion system design and analysis experience, and my flight experience and intuition to become the best aerodynamics engineer that I can be. I will lead the development of airframe and outer-mold line designs and configurations for launch, re-entry, and interplanetary vehicles. I am applying the fundamentals of air vehicle aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics, and flight mechanics. I am fluent in multiple flight regimes, from hypersonic, supersonic, transonic, and subsonic – at both continuous and free molecular flow characteristics. I implement analysis and test methods, by using hand calculations, CFD, and wind-tunnel testing. I create flight test plans and operations.
I terminate my formal higher education with a Ph.D. in Aeronautics from one of the most prestigious universities in the world – the California Institute of Technology. I’ve always sought to be an expert in my field, and some of the most decorated individuals that I look up have come out of Caltech.
I then add a multi-engine rating to my pilot’s license.
I then take my accumulated experience from manufacturing, engines & propulsion, aerospace structures, and aviation to become a the best guidance, navigation, & control (GNC) engineer that I can be. I am developing onboard autonomy and GNC technologies. I am architecting GNC mode states and transitions. I am applying flight management, guidance, control, navigation, and astrodynamics fundamentals. I am performing covariance and Monte-Carlo simulations, and leading verification and validation activities of hardware-in-the-loop and subsystem test campaigns. I evoke fundamentals in optimal state estimation and apply Kalman filters and signal processing techniques for inertial and relative spacecraft navigation. Again, I use state-of-the-art computational tools such as MATLAB, Simulink, and Python to design missions, perform trajectory analysis and multi-body transfer orbits and destinations.
Now, I have earned a jet-type rating to beef up my aviation resume.
Future: Fly a mission to space for the betterment of humanity.
Now – I know where I’m going. It feels amazing. I invite you to do the same.
*Subject to change