Meeting #3

Our third meeting was a face-to-face one and we covered a lot of ground. A good portion of the meeting was spent on the MBTI selection.  First we went through the definitions and I choose my type on my own. The E was easy enough - I'm a pretty clear extrovert.  I'm also a pretty clear J.  I had a much harder time with the S/N and F/T categories - feeling like I fell somewhere in the middle for both of them.  Then we looked at my test results which put me as ESTJ - with E and J being very clear and the S/T being more towards the middle.   Finally we read some of the ESTJ, ESFJ, ENTJ, ENFJ descriptions.  I quickly decided that I was S and not N.  It was much harder to choose between ESTJ and ESFJ as i saw myself pretty strongly i each of them.  In the end I went with ESFJ because the description brought in a lot of the "helping people" leanings that I have.  The ENTJ type didn't capture that aspect of my personality at all.

The rest of the meeting was spent talking about the job descriptions and ideal jobs that I had outlined.  Here is the summary from CS:

·        We verified your MBTI type as ESFJ, but you are also very close to ESTJ. We’ll keep this in mind when looking at actions related to your type.

·        We identified the importance of building your self-confidence – it will be important to feel and to project confidence as you network and explore career options. You may want to include “Self-Confidence” on your action plan and have some specific actions associated with working on this. I think the BU speech clinic is a very positive step toward building your confidence.

·        You want to care more about what you’re doing and may want to explore non-profit scientific work

·        Your ideal jobs descriptions highlighted several things, among them:

o   You expressed your need to feel less restricted and confined in a job, perhaps steering away from government contracting and the rigid rules associated with that area.

o   You want a better mix of computer/technology with people interactions – your work is too focused on technology at this point, without enough people

o   A strong theme continues to be the desire to learn new skills

o   The option of working on your own doing technical consulting (perhaps even for Draper) and some non-tenured teaching is of interest to you.

o   Most of your job posting selections have to do with technical work, but the elements of collaboration, teams, customer connection, and meaningful work were emphasized as very important aspects.

At the end of the meeting we spent some time putting together an action plan.  Here's where things will get interesting I guess in terms of actually doing something!  The plan itself has names and companies and all that in it - so I won't be able to share that here.  But I am hopeful that getting a plan down on paper will help me make some concrete steps.   One of the action items suggested was to use some vacation time to carve out time for myself to actually work on this career stuff - what a great idea.  Sadly, I'm having a hard time implementing that one, but I need to figure out how to do it.

Here are the steps for the next meeting from CS:

·        Read the ESFJ MBTI Interpretive I Report

·        Read the MBTI Career Report for ESFJ

·        Read the 2 chapters from “Do What You Are” Book – ESFJ and ESTJ

·        Finish filling out the Action Plan we started last night. Some things to consider:

o   Think of how you can carve out time for this career work, in addition to the speech clinic, so that you’re not adding to an already hectic life. An option we talked about was using some of your vacation time weekly to work on this process.

o   Put as many actions down as you’d like to do, but then think about what’s most important and what are reasonable time frames for each action.

o   Think in terms of short term and long term. What can you do to make your current situation tolerable (e.g. learning something new at work, work on something that has a stronger local team aspect, ask to do work on contract basis, etc.) while you work toward your next step.

o   Kick your network into gear – just start reaching out to people you think can provide you with some insight or ideas.

Next meeting is tomorrow night (I'm pretty late on posting this) - and I've definitely made some progress on the action items.  I'll be looking to get some help with keeping me focused.  I've been feeling a little overwhelmed trying to keep up with everything!  I think my biggest goal is to really get a network going outside of the one I have that is centered around my lab at MIT.  Although that network has been fabulous and can continue to be a great resource, I would like to see what else I can drum up.  The aerospace world can be a small place - I'd like to try to see what's outside it as well.

Job Postings Search

After meeting #2 I got two homework assignments (well 3 if you could doing the MBTI assessment, but that was pretty easy to complete).  Here's the second one:

Go through job postings (on Monster or other job boards) and find descriptions of jobs or parts of descriptions that appeal to you. Circle what appeals to you and note why that’s of interest. Try to find 5-10 job postings that have something that’s of interest to you.

So, sounds easy enough, right?  But man - this was really hard - and sort of depressing.  The first challenge was figuring out where to find job postings and how to narrow the search.  I ended up looking through the postings on the MIT alum site since that was a limited number and focused on math/science/engineering.  Then I turned to Monster.com and tried to come up with a search that was narrow enough to be approachable, but wide enough to let in things that I may not have thought about.    To help keep the results list manageable I did limit the jobs geographically to the Boston area.

The depressing part of the exercise was that it seems like that jobs that are the most interesting are things that I am in no way qualified to do and/or would include a large cut in my salary.  There were a number of jobs posted that simply made my skin crawl just reading the description.  So halfway through I began to get sad, feeling like there was no job out there that I could do and that might make me happy.

But then I tried to let go of that by reminding myself that the assignment wasn't to actually go out and find a new job.  It is simply to find descriptions of parts of descriptions that are interesting to me and highlight those parts.  Once I eased on up my expectations/requirements it got a bit easier.  Here's the list I ended up with - it's long because I included the full descriptions, but I'll try to handle that with formatting.  The parts of the description that are the most interesting to me are highlighted in red text.

Job Posting #1


Title: Clinical Scientist
Location: Mountain View, California
Job Description
Description:
The successful candidate for this position will engage in translational research as a member of a team conducting clinical trials and developing new applications for a responsive neurostimulator for the treatment of brain disorders. The primary responsibility is to optimize the clinical application of this technology. This individual will be a key member of the clinical research team, contributing to preparation of scientific presentations and manuscripts, and FDA submissions. This person will work closely with NeuroPace research scientists, data management, field clinical engineers, and investigational trial coordinators and physicians. Additionally, this individual will attend scientific and investigator meetings as appropriate.


Responsibilities:
" Perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of clinical trial data to support clinical study reports and product development
" Develop tools to streamline data analysis processes to provide timely updates to clinical and regulatory teams
" Contribute to the writing of clinical study reports and other clinical documents
" Prepare abstracts, poster presentations, slides, and manuscripts of clinical study findings
" Contribute to clinical study protocol development - perform literature reviews and analyses to provide clinical and scientific evidence to support clinical trial design
" Participate in the development and review of statistical analysis plans
" Facilitate investigator initiated research
" Perform hypothesis-driven analyses and data-mining exploration of device and electrocorticographic data
" Collaborate with research scientists and software developers to develop research tools and implement data visualization tools


Requirements:
" An advanced degree and background in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, neurophysiology, or bioengineering
" 3-5 years experience conducting research
" Exceptional analytical skills; ability to organize data, develop hypotheses and perform complex analyses
" Proficiency in Matlab (or other analytics software) and strong working knowledge of Excel data analysis tools
" Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate complex concepts and processes to a varied audience
" Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in multi-disciplinary teams


Preferred qualities:
" Experience with clinical trials
" Familiarity with signal processing and data visualization algorithm development
" Familiarity with statistical software packages such as SAS
" Familiarity with database query languages such as SQL

Job Posting #2

Science Writer / Research Specialist


Reports to: 
Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD PhD
Investigator
Research Abstract 


Job Summary:


The Howard Hughes Medical Institute currently has an opening for a Science Writer (Research Specialist) to join Dr. Sangeeta Bhatias Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies at MIT. The Science Writer / Research Specialist will serve as project manager for communications and grant development. 


Dr. Bhatias research focuses on the applications of micro- and nanotechnology in regenerative medicine. The labs long-term goals are to improve cellular therapies for liver disease, develop enabling tools to systematically study the fate of stem cells, and design multifunctional nanoparticles for cancer applications. 


Principal Responsibilities:


The Science Writer / Research Specialist will manage the communication and development of scientific activities for the Bhatia Laboratory as follows:


Communication of science from the Bhatia Laboratory in forms appropriate for diverse target audiences. In association with the Director, typical responsibilities include:


Plan content, write and edit articles, manuscripts, and abstracts and assist lab members with research fellowships.
Substantial interpretation of diverse scientific information and maintenance of a current knowledge of biomedical and bioengineering research.
Coordinate presentation materials for talks, conferences, site visits
Coordinate and provide guidance on art/photography design and layout.

Perform proofreading/copy editing and supervise the distribution of written material.
Coordinate review and submission of the Director's manuscripts.
Scientific communication with Director's colleagues and collaborators at MIT and other institutions.
Liaise with Director and Public Affairs Office in communicating to the media after major scientific publications.
Manage and coordinate all aspects of the Bhatia lab website. Ensure the Bhatia laboratory web pages (HST, HHMI, MIT, EECS, and KIICR) portray the laboratory to its full potential in order to attract new students, post-docs and potential funding agencies.


Grants Development
Involvement in all aspects of the organization, planning and execution of grant applications in collaboration with the Director, the administrative assistant, post-docs, students and the Fiscal Office. Typical responsibilities include:
Maintain a current knowledge of funding opportunities and identify sources of research funding for the Bhatia Laboratory.
Formulate strategic plans for research funding.
Financial planning for each grant.
Critically review experimental designs, write and expedite submission of applications.
Liaise with funding agencies (Government, Corporate or Private Foundations) from initial contact through receipt of funding to writing progress and final reports.




Preferred Qualifications:


Advanced degree in Bioengineering or Biomedical Sciences; Ph.D. preferred.
Knowledge of science and science writing essential.
Must have 5 years of relevant experience.
Excellent writing and proofreading skills.
Excellent design skills and knowledge of good design elements.
Knowledge of grant funding resources and experience in writing and coordinating grant applications essential.
Excellent organizational and communication skills.
Ability to juggle multiple tasks and projects at once.
Must be able to professionally interact with all levels of employees, as well as members of the media and the community.
Must enjoy working in a fast-paced, service-oriented environment, and be a team player.
Experience with word processing, Photoshop and PowerPoint desirable.

Job Posting #3

Job Summary
Company: Veryst Engineering
Location: Needham, MA 02494
Industries: Engineering Services
Job Type: Full Time
Employee Years of Experience: 2+​ to 5 Years
Education Level: Doctorate
Career Level: Manager (Manager/​Supervisor of Staff)
Salary: Salary, disability, medical, dental, 401k
Sr. Mechanical Engineer


About the Job
Senior Mechanical Engineer

Veryst Engineering seeks a full time Senior Mechanical Engineer with a background in engineering mechanics and analysis. Responsibilities include engineering analysis, design, and prototyping.  Veryst Engineering is a small engineering consulting firm located in Needham, Massachusetts.  Our practice applies engineering fundamentals to challenging design, manufacturing process, and failure analysis problems.  PhD in mechanical engineering or aeronautical engineering with 2 years minimum industrial experience essential.  Strong academic record and references necessary. Experience with computational methods, particularly nonlinear finite element analysis desirable.  Will collaborate with other engineers on a range of engineering projects that require strong understanding of engineering fundamentals.  Should have demonstrated ability to communicate technical content well, analyze multi-faceted problems and be able to work well both self-directed and within a team.  

Responsibilities will include:
Nonlinear finite element analysis and system simulation
Mechanical engineering design
Arrange prototype manufacture
Project management and report writing
Document review and summarizing

Veryst believes strongly in a maintaining a healthy work environment.  The firm emphasizes superior technical content, a cooperative work environment, and honest interaction between staff.  Veryst is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

Job Posting #4

Principle Validation Engineer

Responsibilities:
Exa Corporation is seeking a Principal Validation Engineer who will be responsible for performing and coordinating development and validation studies for advanced physics development.   The PVE will be responsible for investigating new developments, validating, and documenting the results.  The results must then be communicated effectively to customers, as well as other groups within the organization. Additional responsibilities include testing existing products as well as early prototypes of new products, setting up fluid simulation cases, running the cases, collecting and analyzing results, carrying out technical research, writing-up analysis, and presenting results. The PVE will play a key role in new product development, interacting closely with the physics and software development teams to transition product prototypes through all of the development stages into product release. This position also requires modest customer interaction to provide assistance and support in using PowerFLOW for engineering development, beta testing and general product release.

Daily tasks would include:
·         Carefully define, run, analyze and document cases that test new developments in physics and software, and benchmark the results against known quantities.
·         Work with Physics development team to drive improvements and implement new versions of the development code, and discover potential issues.
·         Support physics related issues that arise from customers, as well as from other sectors of the organization.
·         Liaise between customers, physics, software, and application management teams to arrive at meaningful solutions for issues involving both product and development code.
·         Analyze and diagnose issues related to physics models, software implementation, and usage for a wide range of physical cases involving academic and industrial flows and report on the results.

Requirements:
·         PhD in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or equivalent, that is focused on CFD with a preference for focus in Industrial, high Reynolds number, turbulent flows.
·         Minimum 5 years post-doctoral research or industrial experience with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), preferably with aerospace or automotive applications. 
·         Prior experience with turbulent, compressible or transonic flows is a strong plus.

Additional Skills & Experience:
·         Excellent communication skills with strengths in both oral and written form.
·         Thorough understanding of fluid dynamics and fluids analysis.  Experience in the following fields is a strong plus:
Turbulence modeling
Compressible/Transonic flows
Acoustics
·         Strong problem-solving skills, energetic disposition
·         Strong computer skills, especially UNIX. Experience with Python, and scripting is a plus.

Company Background:
Exa Corporation, based in Burlington, Massachusetts, develops, markets, and supports PowerFLOW®, PowerVIZ®, PowerCLAY®, PowerWRAP®, PowerSPECTRUM®, PowerTHERM™ and PowerCOOL™ CAE simulation software applications along with a full suite of engineering consulting services.  The company's products are marketed to engineers worldwide in a range of industries including automotive, aerospace, chemical, energy, architectural, and environmental.  PowerFLOW, Exa’s flagship product, is a breakthrough technology that is unique among computational fluid dynamics (CFD) packages in its ability to handle complex geometry and deliver accurate fluid-flow analysis at a fraction of the total cost of other available solutions.  Exa’s products and services enable engineers to create competitive designs, while shortening product design cycles and improving time-to-market.  Exa prides itself on offering products and services that fundamentally improve and enhance the engineering design processes.

Exa currently employs over 150 people worldwide with offices in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, UK, Japan and South Korea.  For immediate consideration, please send your resume to physicsjobs@exa.com and enter Job Code 10-009 in subject line.

Job Posting #5

Staff II - Structures
About the Job
Function/Role:
The Structural Mechanics and Infrastructure group has built a solid foundation for advanced engineering services based on experience with large-scale computer analyses and design. We analyze and design structures using state-of-the-art linear and nonlinear finite element programs and optimization techniques using nonlinear programming. We work on precision structures such as large radio telescopes, antennae, land and sea based radar, and observatories. Our infrastructure work includes pipelines, tanks, tunnels, bridges, and nuclear facilities. Special areas of expertise include failure analysis, wind effects, seismic analysis, soil-structure interaction, dynamic and blast response, structural plastics, composites, metallurgy, and corrosion analysis. Our engineering work is supported by our in-house testing laboratory.


Responsibilities: 
Conduct structural analysis, design, and investigative projects.
Perform finite element analysis.
Complete and review design calculations.
Manage the preparation of drawings, specifications, and reports.




Job Requirements:
MS or PhD in Civil Engineering with specialization in Structural Engineering.
Professional Engineering (PE) Registration, or the ability to obtain with in 1 year.
3-5 years experience in development & use of large scale finite element computer models for the analysis, design & evaluation of a broad variety of structures including antennas and telescopes, nuclear structures, elevated tanks, large diameter buried structures, and pipelines.
Effective oral and written communication skills.
Assist with client communication pertaining to specific assignments or meetings.
Strong background in structural analysis.
Preferred knowledge of soil structure interaction.
Experience in the design of hydraulic structures.
SGH has more than 400 employees and offices in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington DC.SGH is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
Req. Code : 104 
Division/Department : Engineering Mechanics/ Infrastucture 
Skills : Engineering -> Structural Mechanics, Structural Design, Finite Element Analysis

Job Posting #6

Manager, Systems Engineering
About the Job
Nuvera Fuel Cells (www.nuvera.com) is a global leader in the development of fuel processing and fuel cell technology, committed to providing clean, safe, efficient, and high-value added hydrogen-based power products.  With offices in the USA and Italy, Nuvera is focused on the commercialization of electrochemical power modules for industrial and automotive applications, and modular, cost-effective hydrogen generation, storage, and dispensing systems.

We are seeking a Manager, Systems Engineering to join our team.  This position will report to the Vice President of Technology & Product Development.  An experienced engineer and dynamic leader is sought to drive innovation and lead a group of eight engineers at the center of the company’s product development initiatives.  The Systems Engineering Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of activities, including:   product requirements definition, verification unit prototyping, system simulation and analysis, test program design and execution, control logic creation, reliability monitoring and forecasting, troubleshooting, and sustaining engineering.   This is a fantastic opportunity for a talented, team-oriented engineer with keen analytical abilities and passions for challenge, leadership, and clean energy technology. 

Essential Job Responsibilities
Project Management
     Develop, propose, and implement project plans (objectives, scope, budget, schedule)
     Lead business-critical, systems-related projects
     Document work and communicate progress to project stakeholders
Systems Engineering
     Develop mathematical models to describe complex dynamic systems
     Exercise system models to inform and guide engineering/development
     Design and conduct system verification test campaigns
     Create performance maps and develop control logic for subsystems and products
     Lead root cause identification campaigns and implement corrective actions
Functional Management
     Coordinate involvement of direct reports in company projects
     Manage staff development plans and conduct performance reviews
     Communicate company strategy and priorities
    
Job Qualifications: (required unless otherwise noted)

Educational Background
MS/PhD (Mechanical, Controls, Chemical, or Electrical Engineering)

Previous Work Experience
7-10 years development experience, including modeling and analysis, design, and testing/experimental work



Skills and Abilities
·         Solid grounding in engineering disciplines:  thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, heat & mass transfer, strength of materials, controls, and basic electronics.
·         Proven capabilities in engineering mathematics (linear algebra, differential equations, numerical methods, probability & statistics, and control theory)
·         Demonstrated ability and interest to manage, mentor, and grow people, in functional and/or project contexts
·         Dynamic systems modeling capability using MathWorksTM platforms
·         Power systems simulation (preferably hybrid) and/or engineering
·         Understanding of battery and/or fuel cell performance and aging phenomena
·         Familiarity with power system hardware (plumbing, wiring, pumps, blowers, heat exchangers, filters, valves, regulators, power convertors), engineering instrumentation (flowmeters, pressure sensors, thermocouples), and data acquisition systems
·         Ability and interest to work in a fast-paced team environment
·         Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills
·         Fluency in English language

Desirable Skills and Abilities
·         Process simulation software (ASPEN preferred)
·         Automotive systems design methods and engineering
·         Mechanical or electrical component design/development experience
·         High pressure gas (5-15 kpsi) systems experience
·         CAD software, preferably SolidWorks
·         Design for Manufacturability & Assembly (DFMA) principles and cost estimation
·         Training/experience in Six Sigma or related principles

Physical Requirements/Work Environment
Laboratory and office work environments.
Significant time standing in development laboratories/work areas is required.
Ability to lift components weighing up to 35 lbs. is required.

Travel Required
Up to 25% regional travel and occasional 0-5% travel outside the U.S. is required.


Job Posting #7

Engineer Research and Development
About the Job
Creare, a leader in cutting-edge R&D since 1961, conducts applied research, develops new technologies and provides analysis, design, experimental, computational, product, and consulting services to industry and government.  Project teams are small and engineer-led and individuals have significant opportunity to pursue areas of technical interest. 
With 80+ active R&D projects, Creare's work spans the following areas:
Fluid Mechanics/Heat Transfer
Analog/Digital Electronics
Structures
Cryogenics
Software Development
Signal/Image Processing
Biomedical
Combustion
Applied Mechanics
Manufacturing Processes
We are looking for exceptional engineers with the passion, creativity, and skills to pursue varied technical research in a multi-disciplinary environment.
Professional requirements:  Ph.D. with exceptional academic achievement and/or Masters with the same plus 5 or more years of relevant industrial experience.  Engineering degree majors include:  Aeronautical, Biomedical, Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, and Nuclear.


This position requires U.S. Citizenship or U.S. Permanent Residency.
Creare is an Equal Opportunity Employer F/M/D/V.

Job Posting #8

I work for Booz Allen Hamilton (www.boozallen.com), a leading strategy and technology consulting firm which consistently receives prestigious “Best Place to Work” and “Best Place to Launch a Career” recognition from BusinessWeek, Fortune, Working Mother and numerous other lists.

I am looking for strong candidates to fill aerospace consulting positions within our Science and Technology Team. The division provides technical direction, program management, and development consulting to civilian and government clients. We are located in Arlington, Virginia.

The ideal candidate will have an aerospace engineering or related degree and experience in the following disciplines:

§  subsystems and systems engineering

§  mission analysis

§  operations

§  business knowledge

§  ability to work independently

§  interaction with clients

We are looking for both early career professionals (with 1 to 2 years of experience) as well as senior-level professionals with a graduate degree and up to 10 years of experience.  In addition, U.S. citizenship and clearability are required. 

Ideal Jobs

Finally getting around to this week's homework assignments.  I was supposed to meet with CS today, but had to postpone due to severe lack of organization as well as sick kids.  We just got back from a week cruise to Bermuda.  I had been hoping to find time on the cruise to sit down and get at least part of my homework done there, but the only thing I was able to put any thought into was that fact that my ideal job is most definitely not within a 50-mile radius of a cruise ship.

OK so here's the first assignment:

Write about 1 or 2 ideal jobs and talk about a day or other period of time in the life of this job. What do you do? Who do you work with? What do you accomplish? How do you feel? How does it fit with the rest of your life? How does it match with your values?

One reason I've procrastinated on this for so long is that I'm worried that I don't *have* an idea job.  Ugh, what if the answer is something along the lines of "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on a drum all day"?  I feel like I could go on and on with lists of what my ideal job would NOT be, but it's so hard to figure out what the ideal job is.  But here we go - I'm going to dive into fantasy, let go and see what happens (not easy for me to do, BTW).

Ideal Job #1: working for someone else
I look forward to work days and I enjoy putting in a little extra time here and there when I'm home. I'm plugged in and engaged, but am not chronically under stress. I work a part-time schedule - maybe 5 days a week, but reduced-hour days. Or three days at work, one day at home. I have goals at work that are quantifiable and I can see/measure my progress. I work on projects that have a definite beginning and end. I feel a sense of accomplishment when something is done as I can see the results.

I am involved in a team and have a leadership role. I spend maybe half my day at my computer, but not the whole day.  I have a nice balance of doing work that I know and feel comfortable doing and work that is new and challenging to me. I have opportunities to learn new things and add new skills to my toolbox. I am leading a small team, but I also work with people from whom I can learn.  I have a mentor that I trust. I work in a collaborative environment where working meetings are both common and productive. I spend at least as much time in my day interacting with people as I do staring at a computer screen.

My work is client-focused and I get a good amount of feedback and constructive criticism. I don't spend a lot of time wondering if I'm going down the right path. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about internal politics and stepping on someone's toes. The work environment is open, supportive and trusting. I am evaluated based on the quality and quantity of work that I accomplish, not by how long I spend in my office. I am free to manage my time as needed to be productive.

I am self-motivated because I care about what I am doing.  I'm probably not actively saving the world, but I am probably not doing marketing, sales, e-commerce or building weapons.  My work is somehow tied into a community of people and there is a tangible cause and effect that I can observe.  Perhaps there is a component of teaching to my work.  I can see the results of my efforts and feel accomplished and proud when students or others on my team succeed.

My work environment is a balanced one.  I do not necessarily mean that there are an equal number of men and women, but rather that the environment itself has both male and female characteristics - that both gender aspects are represented in the management and mission statement of the company.  It is not enough, I think, simply to have one or two women in upper management if those women have to "play like men" to be there.  My ideal workplace is one that feels both male and female - drawing form the strengths of both genders.


Ideal Job #2: working for myself

I often think sometimes that the ideal solution for my life right now would be working for myself.  Maybe I'd be contracting engineering work or technical writing or some combination.  I'd be setting my own hours, working from home and putting together the life/work balance that is best for me.  I'd be working in a field that would allow me to remain current in some science/tech field - perhaps allowing me to return to work in the future.  The overall job would be purely customer-focused and would consist of a number of small projects that are well-defined, but still interesting.

The challenge in this type of scenario is finding a social and collaborative environment.  While working for myself would do wonders for my work-life balance (no time commuting, my own hours, compatible with school schedules) (#3 on my values list) - I worry about the growth aspect (value #1).  So any type of self-motivated endeavor would have to allow for collaboration and growth.  I would like to find work that gives me both computer time and face time with customers/clients.  I worry that the isolation of being on my own all the time could be crippling and demotivating.

One way to perhaps obtain the balance between working on my own and having a social outlet might be doing some teaching "on the side".  The combination of consulting work and a non-tenure track position at a local university teaching an engineering class is very intriguing.

Meeting #2

My second meeting with CS was a phone meeting.  It had been an exhausting day and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to stay awake and focus on the phone - but it turned out okay.  It sort of helped that the previous week at work had been bad - really bad.  I have very few hours left to charge to shuttle for this fiscal year (until end of September) and didn't have another project to charge in the meantime.  So that means that I'm charging "CM" - effectively an internal overhead code that upper management does not like to see on your time card.  On top of that I hadn't really found anything to do with my CM time yet.  Therefore the week at work was spent largely being bored and irritated by condo issues, since I had no other distractions.  I don't do bored well.  Seriously - I have nightmares about having nothing to do. I fear boredom more than I fear being accosted by a praying mantis bearing mayonnaise and flip-flops.

Anyway - I managed to get my homework for the week done and the meeting fell into place from there.  While I do prefer a face-to-face, the phone went better than I had expected and felt productive.  The main topics were finding the themes in my achievement stories and talking about the rationale behind my value rankings.

CS and I seemed to pretty much agree on the achievement story themes.  One observation she made was that my desire to "help" others felt more genuine/altruistic to her from my stories than I had led her to believe in our first meeting.  I guess I've been seeing this trait as part of a need for external validation.  I don't simply enjoy helping others - I also enjoy the way it makes me feel to have had someone successfully follow my advice, etc.  It was nice to hear that perhaps there was something more to that trait then just stroking my own ego! It's certainly true that all of my achievement stories have a social theme to them.  I'm definitely not someone who could sit in a garage inventing something for years on my own and emerge 15 years later completely satisfied.  I need connection with others and social feedback.  I feel the best about my achievements when they are placed in the context of other people - not necessarily in a competitive way, but I need to feel that what I've done is somehow relevant to others.

These are the notes that CS took on the achievement themes:

Summary From 2^nd Meeting

Some of the themes that emerged from your achievements exercise are:

·        You like situations where there is a well defined beginning and end

·        You work best when you’re getting direct feedback from others

·        You like to achieve personally, but you also like it to have an impact on others – either socially, the team, the group you’re in

·        You like to bring people together to provide a value to the group

·        You like to make a difference/have an impact in what you’re doing

·        You like to document significant things in your life

·        You like to tell stories that capture significant things in your life

·        You like to take chaotic things and bring order to them

·        You like to be part of a team/group when working

The next topic was my value sorting and the top three values.  At first glance the top three don't seem particularly work-related, but there was no escaping that these are the things that matter most to my in my life right now.  Growth covers so many things really - and I feel if I can find a career in which I am growing, both personally and professionally, then many of the other top ten values will follow.  It's a little silly, but I remember the year that I learned how to both drive a car with a manual transmission and knit with such fondness.  I remember being really happy at the end of the year that I had these two tangible new skills.  It's been such a long time since I've felt like I've learned something and become competent at it.  Perhaps that's a side-effect of having two small children - I always feel like I'm behind the learning curve and have no idea what I'm doing! It would be so nice to have a job where I could grow and gain a little more confidence at some aspect of life.

The top 3 values at this point in your life are:

·        Growth [New training & learning, change & variety, personal development]

·        Serenity [Order (tranquility, stability), living in the present, simplicity, just having fun]

·        Balance Work & Life [Time flexibility]

Regarding some of the other values that are important to you (close family, self-esteem, team, recognition) - you believe those will be positively influenced by getting these 3 in line first.

We wrapped up the conversation by talking about potential jobs that might be better tuned toward my top values and the themes from my achievement stories.  I had just attended a meeting at work with my advisor regarding a project that we are funding him to do involving the search for Earth-like planets - hence the appearance of that in the list.  I'm sure I was babbling about planet-searching pretty incoherently. 

One other thing that came up was my leadership skills, or lack thereof.  It had been an interesting week in that my bosses at work kept talking about how they really saw me as a leader and someone who gets along will with others and who would be a good manager.  In direct contrast to that assessment, a situation at the condo completely blew up which resulted in me resigning as a trustee on our HOA board.  I was very upset by the whole thing (it had been brewing for a long time) and have a hard time not seeing it as a failure on my part in terms of dealing with difficult people.  Again, my confidence has been shaken.  Perhaps an area where I have potential, but need some development?

We talked a little about potential job situations or having a job that includes more of what is important to you. I’ll just document some of the ideas here so we have a record - I just want to capture the ideas for now without limiting other ideas. It’s not yet time to start evaluating these  - we want to keep open to all ideas at this point. Some initial ideas:

·        Academic teaching and advising in a non-research oriented school

·        Finding technical projects where you can have an impact and the problem interests you (vs. Navy nukes)

·        Working on finding planets (work your advisor is doing at Draper) (is it planets they’re looking for? I wasn’t sure)

·        Personal financial organizer

We also talked about your potential leadership capabilities and your concern about dealing with conflict in a constructive manner.

The conversation wrapped up with my homework assignments, of course.  We are going on a family cruise at the end of August, so the next meeting will be three weeks away.  CS also wants me to do the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  I've taken these tests before on my own - but I'm interested to see how it turns out this time and to really explore what the results mean.  I'm hoping to gain insight, not only on what type of job might suit me best, but also on why I experience the difficulties I do with certain personality types.  Some pretty interesting things to think about!

HOMEWORK

1.      Write about 1 or 2 ideal jobs and talk about a day or other period of time in the life of this job. What do you do? Who do you work with? What do you accomplish? How do you feel? How does it fit with the rest of your life? How does it match with your values?

2.      Go through job postings (on Monster or other job boards) and find descriptions of jobs or parts of descriptions that appeal to you. Circle what appeals to you and note why that’s of interest. Try to find 5-10 job postings that have something that’s of interest to you.

Be sure to complete the MBTI on-line assessment before you leave on your vacation, so I will have the results before our next meeting.

Acheivement Stories

One of my homework assignments for my second coaching session is to write about my achievement stories

Achievement Stories: Identify stories from your life where you accomplished something or were involved in something that really made you feel good about what you did. Talk about why these were valuable to you. One example we discussed briefly is your work with undergraduates in your sorority. What about this work gives you a sense of value and why? What talents or skills are you using and how do you feel when doing this work?  You can reach back into your childhood, your schooling, volunteer work, professional work.   Don’t feel it has to be “significant” in a measurable way – it just needs to be something where your talents, interests, and results were aligned in a meaningful way to you.
If you have time, think about what themes emerge from this exercise.

I'm a bit nervous about this exercise because I rely so much on external validation.  I worry that it'll be hard to find things that *I* felt good about.  I tend to recognize more strongly the items that I was praised highly for etc.  See?  I'm already concerned about  not doing it "right".  I'm also excited about it too though as I think it's something I really do need to think about.  What are those things in life that make me feel truly happy or satisfied?  So I'm just going to get started and see what comes out!

•  Our yearly photobook: When Lily turned 1 in 2007 I put together a Blurb "Lily's First Year" book.  I put a lot of time and effort into it and was pretty proud of the result.  Since then I've done a "MasterWong" photo yearbook each year.  Gordon takes awesome photos, and it's been my job to go through them all, select the best ones, edit layouts, fill in text - basically tell the story of our year in pictures.  It's a ton of work and I stress out about it, but I really love it.  I get great satisfaction out of doing it and I love the finished product.  I love giving it to our parents as gifts every year.  I'm definitely not a "scrap-booker" in the modern sense of the word (think that scary aisle at Michael's.... shudder) - but I've always enjoyed organizing, cataloging and documenting.  In my undergraduate sorority days I was the archivist/historian and spent an entire summer putting together an archival scrapbook.  I did something similar with the memories of my paternal grandfather after he passed away.    I love these activities for the both the process of organizing, cataloging and bring order to these little bits of our life.  I also love it for the feeling of achievement when I hold the finished product and the joy they seem to bring to others.  Lately, with our family photo books I have enjoyed the artistic expression that comes with laying out the photos to tell a story.
• Speaking at high school graduation:  I'm iffy about this one, because I can't say that I really enjoyed the actual speech-giving.  But, the event brought me a little bit of fame in my home town and is something that I think of as a pretty major achievement.  I was salutatorian in high school and therefore was supposed to speak at graduation.  The hitch was that I have always had a pretty good stutter.  It comes and goes and generally doesn't affect me in everyday social life, but it definitely makes public speaking and reading aloud difficult.  Some folks believed I shouldn't give the speech - that I should step aside an let the person who was #3 give it instead.  I refused to do that.  I practiced, I worked hard on it.  The theme of the speech was to tackle obstacles head on and not to back down from challenges.  I don't think the content was all that spectacular, but the fact that I was up there giving it seemed to reach a lot of people.  There were newspaper articles afterward and interviews and folks recognizing me in the ice cream shop.  I definitely felt proud and accomplished.
• Advising Undergrads, R's Story: I spent a good portion of early adult-hood in school.  I did 10 years total at MIT with a year break in between spent living in Los Angeles.  During the post-undergrad time I served as finance adviser to undergraduate sorority women at both MIT and USC.  The USC experience was a complete disaster, but I had some really great moments advising at MIT.  I had close relationships with most of my advisees and loved seeing them succeed.  There was one woman, R, who I wasn't advising directly, but had spent time with due to her some financial hardship that made it difficult for her to pay her dues to the sorority. One day she ended up talking to me about some very serious issues in her life.  I listened to her and did my best to empathize.  Years later she sent me a wonderful card telling me how important that conversation had been to her.  That experience really touched me and is one that I think about with fondness when I remember the advising experiences.
• Advising Undergrads, Bexley: during the last two years of my PhD program I took a job as a Graduate Resident Tutor (GRT) at Bexley Hall.  The deal was that I lived in an undergrad dorm and served as a residential adviser to the students there.  My then boyfriend (now husband), Gordon, moved in with me about 6 months into it.  I had a great time living with the undergrads.  We cooked gigantic dinners for the entire dorm twice a year during finals weeks.  I loved doing that.  Gordon was the mastermind behind the dinners, but I loved the prep, the cooking, the serving - all of it.  It was basically throwing a very large party.  We'd have a team of friends helping - all under Gordon's expert direction.  I loved how much the "kids" enjoyed it.  I also loved just living there with them, getting to know them, helping them out with advice and support whenever they needed it.  When I look back on my years at MIT I think of Bexley more as a home, than the dorm that I spent four years in as an undergraduate.  I really felt comfortable in my skin in my role as GRT there.
• Reaction Wheels, my Master's Thesis:  I did both my masters and my PhD work in the Space System's Laboratory at MIT with Prof. Dave Miller.  My Masters thesis was on the modeling and validation of reaction wheel disturbance models.  There was nothing particularly amazing about the work that I did - but there was somewhat of a hole in the literature in this area and the work needed doing.  I did a nice, thorough job of it.  I definitely enjoyed my experience and felt very accomplished afterward.  I got a couple of conference papers and a journal paper out of the work.  I made a good impression on our customers and JPL and built some good professional relationships there.  I felt capable and confident in the work I was doing.  I felt like I was making a difference and having some impact.  I still get occasional emails about this work and I know the journal paper gets cited here and there.  The combination of confidence, challenge and success was just right in this endeavor.  It was challenging, yet I felt successful enough as I went along that I never really lost confidence.  I both enjoyed the work itself and also enjoyed all the external validation that came with it. I have much fonder feelings towards my Masters thesis than to my PhD.
• Entertaining:  while not a major achievement per se, I do really enjoy throwing parties.  Gordon and I love to entertain and while it's gotten a bit harder logistically with children we still have a good time with it.  Before kids we threw numerous dinner parties, wine tastings, birthday bashes etc and always enjoyed them.  I like the planning, the execution, and the talk of what a great time it was later.  Our wedding was the biggest party we ever thew and it was a blast.  More recently I planned a surprise 40th birthday party for Gordon at a local restaurant that went off really well.  G was completely surprised and had a great time.  It was also a nice way to get friends from all different phases/parts of our lives in one place.  I really enjoy helping people make connections and creating a fun social environment.  Now that we're parents, we throw pretty big "happy hour playgroups" at our house about 2x/year that attract a ton of people.  For me, the joy of party-throwing isn't in the details (like elaborate favors or themes) but in creating a fun atmosphere and getting lots of people socializing in one place. 

Value Sort

 The first activity that CS asked me to do was a value sort.  Here are her instructions from before our first meeting.

Values Sort:

Cut out the boxes of values and identify the top ten values for you in your life right now – both related to your personal life and your work life. These top ten should be what you want your life to be like, not necessarily what it is right now. You can do this exercise by eliminating those that aren’t important to you and then prioritizing the most important to you. Try to get as close to 10 values as you can. If you have time, place the 10 in priority order.

 Along with her email came a word document with just over a 125 values formatted in boxes.  I cut them all out, put them in a little gift bag and started sorting while we were driving up to NH for a family camping trip.

It was daunting, at first, to imagine getting down to only ten values from all of them in the bag.  For the first pass I read them all and threw out anything that I just KNEW wouldn't make the top 10.  That got rid of about 34 or so:   

travel to see world, being visionary, adventure, detachment (work at work), great leisure life, democracy, safety/protection, work under pressure, privacy, purity, competition, fast-paced work, sports, working alone, reaching the top, religion group, arts, reverence for life, humility, sophistication, financial gain, financial independence, power and authority, owning a house, beauty, physical challenge, traveling, public service, becoming an entrepreneur, wealth, following my bliss, good nutrition, interesting retirement, fame.

Some of the first-pass rejects are things that I flat out don't value, like "work under pressure", while others are things that I just know I can't rank in the top ten at this point in my life, like "traveling". 

When we returned from the camping trip I took the remaining hundred or so values, spread them out on my bed and picked out the ones that really jumped out at me.  After that exercise I was left holding only 31 values - still three times more than I was supposed to have!

On the day that CS and I were meeting to discuss them I had planned to go from 31 down to 10 during Lily and Quinn's naptime.  And of course they both decided not to do a whole lot of sleeping that day - it's just always the way.  So, I decided to make the value sort into a little art project.  I spread the remaining values out on the table and began to notice that they fell quite nicely into categories.  I started doing what I do best - organizing and sorting.  Pretty soon I had managed to pull out 10 main values, some with supporting sub-values.  I made sure that I was happy with the "big" value in each category and then pulled out construction paper and some mounting tabs.  After a little while Lily and I had made these:

Although I did the sorting weeks ago it wasn't until last night that I had a chance to sit down and do the ranking.  CS and I had already talked through the values and why I chose them, so ranking them was not that difficult.  Here's the final order and a little bit on why these ten values called out to me.

1. Growth [New Training & Learning, Change & Variety, personal Development]
2. Serenity [Order (tranquility, stability), Living in the Present, Simplicity, Just Having Fun]
3. Balance Work and Life [Time Flexibility]
4. Being a Close Family [Parenting with Wisdom and Love]
5. Meaningful Work [Quality of what I take part in, Invovlement]
6. Self Esteem [Decisiveness, Using my Abilities, Living Courageously]
7. Helping Other People [Influencing Others, Making a Difference, Community]
8. Economic Security
9. Working with a Team [Being with Open and Honest People]
10. Recognition [Reputation, Achievement, Intellectual Status]

Meeting #1

Time to blog about the actual coaching meetings.  Sadly I'm writing this weeks after the meeting occurred so I'll need to rely on memory a little.  But! one of my favorite things about CS so far is that she's so completely organized and after each meeting sends me an email with a recap of what we talked about and my homework assignment.  She's really great like that.

Our first meeting was spent talking about the coaching process and our commitments, gathering information and reviewing the results of my values sorting.  I expected to do a lot of talking at this meeting since CS had to get to know me in order to figure out what I was looking for.  So I talked a lot.  She and I talked about what I was hoping to get out of the coaching process so that we could be sure to stay on the same page in terms of expectations.  Here's what we came up with (taken from CS notes):

Expected Outcome of Coaching Process

We talked about what you’d like to accomplish over the next 3-4 months of working together and this is what I heard from you:

·       You’d like to be on the road to your next step professionally. You defined this as having clear options defined in terms of the type of position(s) and organizations/companies you’d like to be contacting.

·       You also said you would like an action plan that you are implementing that involves whatever networking you need to do, organizations you might join, knowledge you may need to gain, or other actionable steps you need to take in order to accomplish a better professional situation.

·       You acknowledged that you probably won’t be in a new position by the end of this time, but you should be clear about what options you most want to pursue and have a clear idea of what actions you need to take to get there.

       You would like to have a general idea of what you might do longer term (~5 years).

In preparation I had sorted my values, but hadn't had a chance to rank them yet.  So I also got a couple of homework assignments:

Homework for Next Meeting

1.     Values: You’ve done a nice job grouping your top 10 values into clumps of values that are important to you at this point in your career and eliminating those that are not very important. I’d like you to narrow to the top three value groups you definitely want to focus on for your next professional situation – what’s most important to you and why. We will still consider other values, but it would be beneficial to have a closer focus.

2.     Achievement Stories: Identify stories from your life where you accomplished something or were involved in something that really made you feel good about what you did. Talk about why these were valuable to you. 

One example we discussed briefly is your work with undergraduates in your sorority. What about this work gives you a sense of value and why? What talents or skills are you using and how do you feel when doing this work? 

You can reach back into your childhood, your schooling, volunteer work, professional work. Don’t feel it has to be “significant” in a measurable way – it just needs to be something where your talents, interests, and results were aligned in a meaningful way to you. 

If you have time, think about what themes emerge from this exercise.

       
All in all the first meeting went very well.  I easily became comfortable with CS and enjoyed talking with her.  She seems smart and perceptive and took care to listen to what I was saying.  I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the process.  Our next meeting is a phone meeting since she will be away on vacation for a few weeks.