Am I the only one who is still too addicted to the Facebook Memories section? I keep saying every year that I will stop looking, because I already hav. But as I’ve noted before, we humans, or at least this human, has a real thing for nostalgia; pondering where this life has come from and to where it is going.
To that end, when I saw the note from Facebook that I had graduated from Queens a year ago (it went official on December 15 but who’s counting) I laughed because I had recently asked some of my former classmates to complete a questionnaire where they could note their thoughts as well. I have included their responses, as well as my own, in a table pasted below. Three of the five persons whose information I still had chose to respond, so while small, it does give a good sample of the various takeaways from this experience. I have anonymized them and numbered them where they appeared alphabetically in my responders, which is why you see Student 1, Student 3, Student 5. Check it out.
| Question | me | Student 1 | Student 3 | Student 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reason for attending grad school (personal statement stuff) | Perhaps obtain freelance work that might lead to employment at NPR; broaden skills | Potential job promotion, (director or VP) | Increase marketability in comm field; become journalist/radio host; understand how people communicate in workplace | Passionate about learning,; increase marketability, hadn’t decided on career as was right out of undergrad |
| Have any of the goals been accomplished a year out? | No; better skills, but a need to maintain them; probably NPR goals have changed | No, not with company long enough, but hopeful | No, though attending program broadened general competencies and helped build portfolio; hopes to create opportunities out of rejection | Yes, though hoping to connect current political advocacy with communication in next role |
| Difference in online versus on-ground learning? If so, how. | Went to both, more tenuous friendships/networking because haven’t met, though some ties do exist | No significant difference, allows flexibility, requires motivation | Appreciated flexibility, but lack of networking and inability to take advantage of on-campus opportunities due to out-of-sate location | Went to both, difference was need to schedule out adequate time to learn the material when not attending a class |
| Is current employment related to the degree? | No | Not entirely, as primary work is in graphic design. Does help in marketing, though | No | Yes, but could be an even better fit |
| Would you recommend the degree to others? How might they enhance opportunities while therein? | Yes; take advantage of career center at least in improving resue/persuing internships, connect with profs | Yes, a Master’s can separate one from other candidates; find and think about how to apply it directly to job | Yes; Take advantage of chances to learn platforms/technology well | Yes, but develop clear plan for utilizing it after. Still working on this |
So, as you can see many of us feel that while our exact aims have yet to be achieved, both the experience was with it and it will certainly help us going forward. I do know that one can never be too tech savvy these days. As quickly as this stuff changes, it’s probably already a little different even from what we learned. That speaks to the need to keep working on skill sets and mindsets as we learn to fully compete in this new, heck really kind of overwhelming job market. Because whether we like it or not, much of our interaction will be at least partly online, and thus requires a slightly different way of thinking in order to persevere.
In thinking of all this, I realized I hadn’t done my usual Job Days post since returning to LCI (They’re no longer calling it LC Industries because that title makes less sense when offering tech services which they hope to do soon) earlier this year. Truthfully, my current “job” is harder to nail down than ever. Whereas I pretty much lived in light sticks, (See Job Days No. 5), I now do anything from PML’s (I don’t even know what those are except that I stick a pen through them) to packaging flatware, to, most recently, medical kitting. This last features an assembly line where we put together different kinds of bag (IFAK as I always hear her say, I’m guessing that means International First-Aid Kit?) at a relatively high speed. I also have packed tourniquets (who knows if I’m spelling that right), and other small bags containing medical products. I suppose this is the most important thing I’ve done in there, as this stuff is used to save lives in Iraq and other places where US troops are active. We also provide material to refugees in Syria.
< [>If O do remain at LCI over tie, I am looking forward to taking what I learned in graduate school in to training there and perhaps doing some kind of ciustomer services work. But other than that, I might really like to get back onto a college campus and maybe be employed in a disability Services office. Many possible doors are opening as 2018 winds down, so who knows.
In closing, I want to thank those who took the time to participate in my little survey. It certainly helps me think about what I gained from grad school attendance and how it might benefit me going forward. I hope it has done the same for you, and look forward to great things for us all.