My journey's beginnings

I graduated from UM in August 2004 with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. Since I did not have any internships during school, I knew that I would probably have to use networking to get my foot in the door. It's that whole vicious cycle of "you can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience without a job." If I had to do it over again, I would get a summer job as an engineer so that I would have that experience to add to my resume. I would suggest using networking to get the summer job because it is very competitive.

I had been working at a church on campus for all four years of college, and was able to continue working there while I looked for mechanical engineering job. My friend and classmate from the Boston area was able to get a job in the defense industry after graduation. After a year, the company was hiring a large number of people and she was able to get me a job there.

In senior year of high school, we were told to write where we saw ourselves in 5-10 years after graduation. I wrote that I would be an engineer living in New England, and that is exactly what I am doing! For me, it was a big decision to pick up and move to Boston after only having visited the state of Massachusetts once. My friend who got me the job was a large influence on me because she had lived in Italy and California and wasn't afraid to travel. When I was growing up, travelling was not something my family did. I have an uncle in California, but my family basically was in Michigan and never talked of moving. It helped that I knew people in the Boston area (the friend and her family), and that I would be moving into a furnished house that she rented very inexpensively. Everything was set up for me, and all I had to do was move my stuff, which the company paid for (bonus!).

I had also interviewed in western Massachusetts, but it was for an application engineer position that I was not really excited about. Plus, I would not know anyone and I didn't know how I would handle that. In the end, it is really good that I did not get that job. It's funny how things work out like that.

I grew up in a town 30 minutes from Detroit, and now live 30 minutes from Boston. I have found that living close to a large city is very important to me since there are airports, concerts, sports, theater, etc. near big cities. Boston is a great city with a lot of history, and I am so glad that I made the decision to move here. My rationale is that I am young, energetic, and have no desire to settle down yet, so why not see what's out in the world?