One of my recent school assignments was to start a blog and share my experiences as a student, leader, employee, and etc. The following post is my attempt at a good grade.
I have been a student most of my life. I attended Oak Grove in Hattiesburg from kindergarten all the way through. After completing high school I decided to go to Mississippi State University to continue my education. I started there in 2001 in Biological Engineering. In 2003 I decided that I no longer wanted a degree in Bio Eng. so I decided to change majors. I found myself three years later with a degree in Agricultural Engineering Technology and Business. After two years of the real world I decided that an MBA would benefit me for the future. I am currently getting my MBA at the University of Southern Mississippi.
I have enjoyed school for the most part. I am by no means a great student, but I enjoy learning new things, especially things that will benefit me in the future. I look back on the progression of my education and laugh sometimes at all of the different ideas and where they have taken me. Being in school is different than the real world. I am not someone who would ever have a job where stressful deadlines keep me on my toes so school can be pretty stressful. I try to do my best knowing that knowledge will be a valuable tool for the future.
I have had several jobs in the past and two of those have been post undergrad. The first was working with a friend of my family at his small business. I never experienced a job interview coming out of school because it was made clear to me that I had a job at this company if I wanted it. I accepted the offer and worked there for around a year. I learned a lot of valuable lessons including what a bad boss was like. I also learned that in business you can't treat everything like it is just business. People are involved in almost all transactions and the way to be successful is to be respectful and always put your best foot forward. I felt like I had failed when I chose to leave this job, but since that time have realized a lot about the working world and do not view the experience as a failure any more. My second job was with a civil engineering firm here in town. My brother in law is a civil engineer and said that I could pass the time of looking for a new job working with his firm. I worked there for almost 2 years before getting back in school. It was a very good experience for me. I worked outside and sweat my butt off everyday doing mostly manual labor. I did have a little bit of knowledge from college that allowed me to learn things about the engineering world. After my first job and a bad boss it was nice to experience this new job with several really good bosses. I learned a lot about being an employee and how much better it was to have good people over me. I knew that I didn't desire a future with the firm, but was very grateful for the experience of hard work and good work environment.
All of my experiences have brought me to the place I am now. I have learned a lot about what I want out of life through school and work. I continue to learn and perceive things differently as I progress.
