John Ayers has been writing for CERM Risk Insights for two years. His pieces are among the most popular. In this piece, he provides his perspective on life lessons earn. Earning a living. Having fun. Making a difference.
Greg Hutchins (GH)
Why did you pick engineering for a career?
John Ayers (JA)
When I was a sophomore in high school, a friend of mine told me his father was an engineer. I had not heard the term before. After my friend explained it to me, I began to think about it and decided to pursue it in college.
GH
After high school graduation, did you follow through with your desire to pursue a college engineering degree?
JA
Yes I did. I graduated from high school with my older brother who was 13 months older than me. Since my family could financially support only one of us in college and given my older brother had more money saved than me, he went to Boston University and I went to work for the Fore River shipyard owned by Bethlehem Steel at the time. I also enrolled in night school in Mechanical Engineering. I got into a drafting apprenticeship program at the shipyard and planned to make that my career in the short term pending my ME degree which would take eight years going nights. My work experience at the shipyard proved very valuable to me in terms of solidifying my determination to work hard and get a degree. As circumstance has it, after working 3 years the shipyard went on strike for 6 months. During the strike, I decided to go to day school at Northeastern University (a co-op school) to study Mechanical Engineering. I graduated 5 years later with a BSME. The engineering studies were very hard and difficult requiring many late nights and early mornings to complete. It took me 8 years after high school graduation to earn my degree but I persevered. Later on in life, I was very thankful for getting my degree especially in a STEM area that provided many opportunities for employment with good pay and benefits over the years.
GH
Did you like the co-op format?
JA
Yes I did. It is a 5 year program with the first year full time and the last 4 years alternating between school and a co-op job (10 weeks in school and then 10 weeks on the co-op job). I had saved sufficient funds to pay for my first year and then used my co-op pay to pay for my tuition. My co-op job was working for a casting company. The company did not have a degreed ME on staff so myself and my alternate (he worked the co-op job when I was in school and I did the same when he was in school) performed the ME tasks. In my senior year, I designed, created the drawings and performed the structural analyses for a very large heat treatment fixture for the Trident missile body. The fixture was built, shipped and utilized without incident which made me feel pretty good and gave me invaluable experience before entering the work force. Upon graduation, the company made me an offer but I chose another company. The co-op program is a win-win situation for the student and company.
GH
What advice would you give to millennials about to start college?
JA
The first advice is to get a college education or a certification for a trade. Most people need a piece of paper to succeed today. If you decide to go to college, select a course of study that upon graduation will provide job opportunities with good pay and career growth. STEM jobs are and will be in great demand in the future. In general if you take English, Psychology, History or other such courses of study, be prepared to go onto advanced studies to achieve a well paying career. As an example, my son graduated with a degree in English and had a difficult time finding a good paying job outside of sales which he grew to dislike greatly. After working in industry for 3-4 years, he decided to go to law school. He graduated, passed the bar and is now a very successful corporate lawyer in a large insurance company.
A number of students accepted to a college drop out for a number of various reasons. Some do not want to put in the work. Others get too involved in the party life and flunk out. Family and money issues are other reasons. If accepted by a college, they have determined they think you have the brain power to graduate if you do the work. I found engineering school be difficult and a lot of hard work. A number of times I came close to quitting but stuck it out and in the process sacrificed a lot of social events to study. It was worth it. My advice here is to work and study as much as required. Get tutoring help if necessary. Stay the course. Do not quit.
GH:
What are your recommendations for today’s millennials?
JA
It took me 8 years to get my BSME between 3 years of night school and 5 years Co-op College because I did not have the money to go directly from high school to college. I am thankful to have had the perseverance to see it through and get my degree. Today, college tuitions are sky high.
What Government loans are available but result in large debt upon graduation. I advise college seniors consider the following options if money is an issue:
- Community college for 2 years and then transfer to a 4 year college to complete your degree.
- Obtain degree nights. It takes longer but allows you to work full time to pay bills. Many companies reimburse your tuition expenses if you maintain a minimum grade.
- Go to a state university where tuition costs are typically significantly less than private colleges.
- Join one of the Armed Services that provide you free tuition upon satisfying your service duty.
- Other creative options that may be available.
GH:
Thanks John. Great advice on Life Lessons Earned.