Suatcan Isik
Writing for Engineers
October 2019
Professional’s Steps;
Work and Education Experience of an Engineer
I am a Computer Engineering major student at City College of New York. In my informational interview, I wanted to learn more about the job that I am studying to get after I graduate. Also, to get more information about what do they do at the job, and whether is it really the thing I want to work as, in the future? So, I asked my uncle if he knows any engineer since he works at the Otokoç car company. He helped me meet with Burçin Tüfekçi, which is a computer engineer that works in the IT department of the company. I wanted to get an interview with her because she already had work experience in a place that I want to work in the future. So, I thought that listening to a professional’s advice about the industry and work would help me to make good decisions on my carrier. We couldn’t talk face to face because she lives in Turkey and the time difference made it hard that we couldn’t voice chatted either. So, we emailed each other, which took it longer. She was kind. She gave me good tips about what should I do while I am still in college. And told me about some qualities that I should get which might help me in the future.
One of the first questions that I ask was do you really enjoy the things you do because I always had the fear that what if I don’t like the job after I graduate and start working. Her answer made me happy because we have almost similar reasons to start studying for engineering. “Our goal is to make people’s lives easier, which makes them happy. This makes me proud. I feel that I exist for it. Being an engineer is always respected in society and I love it.” She mentioned that she likes making people’s life easier. She chose this career to make people happy. She was really involved with being an engineer because she respected them and the things they do. So, she wanted to be one of them. I thought the same when I chose to study engineering. Seeing her enjoy her job this much, kind of reduced my fear. She graduated from Sakarya University in Sakarya/Turkey as a computer engineer in 2017. And still, love working in the same job after 2 years.
Her regular work is fixing problems on company software and website. In her daily routine, she spends 2 to 3 hours emailing, 4 to 5 hours of coding and she attends many meetings with her teammates to discuss problems. What surprised me is that she works in a team, more than alone. They talk about the problems together and find solutions. This means you need good communication skills as much as you have knowledge of coding. She usually works with object-oriented programming techniques such as C Sharp, .NET, MVC. Though, she recommended me to learn Python and Java for a starter.
She recommended to me many things I should do at college that might help me in the future. One of the most important things was communication skills since she is working with her team on a daily basis and solving problems with them. There is no way you can do your part if you have poor communication skills. Communicating well with team members and workers makes the job more efficient in many ways. When it comes to transferring your thought about a topic, you need to be clear and direct as possible. She recommended me to join clubs so that I can talk to people, and work in groups. She mentioned that when she was in college, she was spending a lot of time with the dance community. Dancing helped her develop her communication skills. Working as a group gave her the discipline of working hard with other people. She got a sense of responsibility while learning how to dance with other people. When she got a job, she already knew what she is doing and how should she act in a group environment. Her social experiences gave her the confidence to express her thoughts easier. She also joined the computer community which let her know more people that have the same major and learned from them. She practiced coding languages and did group projects. Even working in small groups and writing a program taught her a lot about time management, responsibility, and how should she behave in a group environment.
She also taught me an interesting way of looking at coding. I always see coding as another language, and it made it harder for me because I am so bad at memorizing things which makes learning languages so much harder for me. I mentioned that it took me more than 2 years to learn English. She said, then look at the coding as it is a kind of puzzle that you must solve. She said that you have a goal that you have to achieve, to achieve that you need to find solutions using a different kinds of strategies which changed my view on codding. It felt more like a game than a language that I have to learn. There are just certain functions I need to learn then I can get to my solution.
She also told me to get a job or an internship as soon as possible, since it does teach you enormous amounts of things which school can’t teach. It is not only that it looks good on your resume, but it also gives you the experience of what you do. She mentioned that she got an internship in her senior year and made many friends and connections through her internship at college that helped her through life. She said that she would get sooner if she knew it is that important. Getting an internship will also help me find out about the subject I am working on whether it is a fitting job for me. Because if it’s not I can change my direction as soon as possible and don’t lose my time on what I will not work on in the future. Other than deciding my working place, it also teaches me a lot about the world and how to survive in it.
She also mentioned that she used to watch youtube videos about electronic applications and try them herself at home. She liked to play and fix electronic devices. Similarly, I like opening up fixing stuff myself if something breaks. Or upgrading my computer with higher hard drive or ram etc. which gives me joy. Seeing her enjoy similar things as I do makes me think that I am on the correct path.
Talking with someone that already passed through the steps I will take, gave me a lot of knowledge about the industry and engineering. I will definitely do this informational meeting again because I think listening to these professionals which already worked in the fields helps me see where I am going and do rational chooses. Picking the correct path becomes easier when you know and see people that have already done it. Also getting to know people may open some job opportunities too. However next time I will find someone from New York, which will be more helpful since even though they have the same languages they work on and jobs they are working, the country difference makes the experience completely different. But still, I have learned a lot from her, which might take so much longer to learn by myself. I have been studying computer engineering, but I noticed that I still don’t know a lot about it. Even if I try to find this much information online, I have to search it for hours and still would be the same because they all might not be correct. Informational Interviews are one of the best ways to get information from. It allows you to talk directly to people that are working on the field.
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