My name is Justin Echevarria. I am currently a undergraduate at CUNY’s New York City College of Technology (City Tech). I came to this college because they offered me my current major Electrical Engineering Technology. I believe this career path is best suitable for me because I am very skilled in the mathematics and physics which is required, when I took my first physics course I was always fascinated with electricity and the circuitry. Also I am still debating if one day I too can become a professor and pass on my knowledge to the future generation(s). I will state what is required to become a professional electrical engineer, explain what City Tech has to offer that will not only help me, but the opportunities they have to offer. I will explain the median annual salary that will lead me to where I want to be in the future. In order for me to achieve my goal I must always remain focused, learn the ropes of becoming more professional, building more responsibility, and gaining the knowledge that was provided and use it for the everyday work place in my vicinity.

Responsibility is probably the most important asset because when I am in the field doing a job people expect and trust me to know what I am doing. With that being said if I do not have full responsibility and exactly know what I am doing I am putting many people at risk by allowing them to go into an area that is not safe for their wellbeing. Although I will not be able to get hands on experience now I will be allowed to when I am in my third semester. There are other ways to become more responsible without hands on work and that is what my EET professors test my intelligence in the class by giving my peers test and projects. In the projects the professor gives us a design or we have to design a circuit and he will question and ask us what will happen if something went wrong with it. The question can be about anything that is relevant to the class or it can be something that is the complete opposite.

Growing up my father has always taught me to become a determined person. With that being said, I grew up thinking about my future and what I wanted to do as a longer term career. Before graduating high school I felt as if I needed to figure out what exactly what I wanted to do before getting into college, so I decided to think about what am are my academic skills, what do I enjoy doing etc. I was in my senior year when I was taking a remedial physics course and we had finally taken the topic of electricity and as I was learning it I realized that I enjoyed it. I started doing some research on my own that way I would know more or less what I am getting myself into, and everything seemed reasonable enough for me so thats when I decided this is exactly what I want to do. I have a family friend thats actually is a supervisor for Con Edison, she was able to help me with further information that will help me and they do look for internships within this major. According to the City Tech’s catalog, “The Electrical Engineering Technology program is designed to prepare graduates for careers as electronic technician. The curriculum includes a balanced distribution of lecture and laboratory courses which provide an introduction to the design and development of basic electronic circuits. (City Tech p.267)” In other words City Tech is allowing me to gain the experience of basic hands on work in my field as well as I am taught through verbal lecture(s) which prepares me for future careers. On the City Tech catalog “Employers of the graduates of this program include a variety companies such as Con Edison, IBM, ITT, Avaya, USPS, NYPD, MTA, JPMorgan Chase and Verizon. (City Tech p.267)”  Although these are major well known companies there are other companies that I can possibly work for and even though I am not really learning anything new I am gaining the best knowledge that can be given such as experience.

As I was looking for a future career median salary was one of the most important things I had to look into. The Occupational Outlook Handbook states, “The median annual wage for electrical engineers was $87,920 in May 2012. The median wage is the wage half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount  and half earned less. (Web)” With this being said I can look to finish paying my college debt off, possibly go back into college to further my career and/or invest small amounts and as profit comes in invest that to keep earning more money. This isn’t only about money because I do plan to enjoy what I do for the rest of my life, but if I am given the chance to do something that can further my career and I can get into another field I will do it. It’ll be a joy for me if I can do other “hobbies” outside of my field or even connected while still mastering my own.

Before becoming an electrical engineer theres the obvious process of education that you must go through. According to the Outlook HandBook, “Entry-level jobs in electrical or electronics engineering generally require a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or electrical engineering technology. Programs include classroom, laboratory, and field studies. Courses included digital systems design, differential equations, and electrical circuit accredited by ABET.”  As a student of New York City College of Technology I am exposed to all these requirements as well as unpaid and/or paid internships. City Tech is great because they inform and try to include all students to join internships for more outside hands on work. Many requirements on the electrical engineering field is not only just understanding the concept of how electricity functions, but do have hands on experience. Hands on experience is important because it is a different style of teaching. For example, I can tell someone how to read the current flowing through a circuit, but when someone actually does it for the first time hands on some people may not really understand what is going or what they are doing. This brings up the method WOVEN (Written, Oral, Verbal, Electronic, and Non Verbal) is not only multiple ways of communication, but it allows others to gain a different approach on what they are doing.

I have decided coming to NYC College of Technology was my best fit because they have to offer the program Electrical Engineering Technology. I do plan on staying at City Tech because I believe I can benefit from this school, it has multiple things to offer and is well connected with numerous electrical companies. I have explained what are the requirements to enter my professional field and I am excited of what I can do when I excel in my academic career and begin my long term career.

Works Cited

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Electrical Engineering Technology.” New York City College of Technology Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Electrical Engineering Technology.” New York City College of Technology Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.

United States. “Graphic Designers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition. Web. 26 April 2015.

Introduction

In this project, I had wrote down my thought process every thirty minutes to one hour. I had came to realization how my thinking reflected on the person who I am and wanted to become. The way I was once thinking wasn’t really considered “bad” but I consider it negative. The negative thinking was holding me back form the positive due to being lazy, thinking about non-sense that wasn’t important, and just hoping I could’ve changed my lifestyle for the better. I have decided to straighten out my priorities and gain focus to achieve how i wanted become more positive, not only as a person but academically swell.

Thinking In Writing

While collecting my day of thoughts, every half hour to an hour, I have noticed that there are things that i think about without noticing. These thoughts that I have read over seemed quite interesting and odd at first and I wondered why I thought of those things, in my natural it’s normal I suppose. I started my day on a early Thursday morning in a rush to attend my morning during that entire time I was nervous due to my professors rigid class rules. The least thought process was during my math class I guess its cause I have to only think about math questions and figure a way to solve them, in a way thats a thought. After a few minutes of that class I was exhausted wanting to sleep and fell asleep enjoying a lustful dream. My thoughts during the day was mainly about my past baseball career and growing up. Also the odd thing I noticed i think about penguins quite often. My thoughts about growing up is different from other people, I do understand that not everyone has the best childhood and the best life growing up, but I’m pretty sure the way I pretty much raised myself wasn’t very positive and productive as it should’ve. Also the most depressing thing that has happen to me is having my dream crushed of having any type of baseball career due to the fact I suffered from multiple hip injuries. Writing my thoughts down made me realize that I should stop thinking of my past so much and start focusing on more of my future.

Thinking Visually

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571787742/
This picture is an old picture of me playing baseball last year in Texas with my traveling team. This picture always came to my mind because its not just a sport to me its my life everything I do with my daily life i tried to connect it to baseball that way it can just be more enjoyable. I’m very passionate about this sport and sometimes it frustrates me because now I’m limited with body movement due to injuries.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16572922905/
This is the area where I grew up and I spent most of my life till the age of fifteen. I took it upon myself to guide and find answers growing up, I had very little family that helped me find the right path of growing up which led to very poor decisions.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/15950545054/
Subway is taken daily flooded with New Yorkers and tourist from around the world. Most of my thinking was in the subway because i travel a lot; for school, home, city, work etc. I’ve realized that I am stuck in the past wondering if I would’ve done things differently things would have turned out the way i wanted them to, this allowed me to accept what I have done in the past because it makes me the person whom I am today and not everyone gets to fulfill their dreams.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571991122/
I am obviously a City Tech student currently, I think very little of my future because it wasn’t the dream I planned as a child. I have accepted the fact that what i want to truly do won’t be accomplish but i can focus on something that’s with in that field.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16572924265/
Planet Fitness probably the cheapest gym anyone would come by, I am attending a gym but not this gym. I feel overweight and sometimes I’m self conscious. Reasoning behind this is when I was younger I was also overweight but then I became ill and found out I had mononucleosis this caused me to lose a lot of weight. Although i lost weight the wrong way I liked my new look and tried to stay in shape but then later gave up which led to my current situation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130619959@N05/16571447161/
This is a baseball field covered with probably 1-2 feet of snow, although no baseball field is shown when I saw this for some odd reason i thought of penguins. Penguins are one of my favorite birds which is quite strange in my opinion. Sadly I wasn’t able to pass by an open zoo or stumble across stray penguins to get raw photos of them.

Thinking Reflectively

Dear Younger Self (Justin Echevarria),

It is the year 2020, who ever thought we would make it this far? Well I am proud to say you have achieved what you planned, finally became an electrical engineer. Although I am an engineer does not necessarily mean that you will become one as well. Due to “time travel” if you slack off in school your future will change, so I highly recommend you don’t just lounge around because to gain success you need determination. Yes I am considered “successful” on a scale of status,because I graduated from New York City College of Technology. Now I am an engineer, but you will not be able to overcome obstacles if you are being lazy. If you study from the beginning of the semester, it will honestly be less stressful and of course a lot more helpful, and eventually less work in the long run. Also stop dwelling on the past of what you should’ve changed because those mistakes made you who you are and if you really want change make the change now, proceed, become someone, succeed with bliss. There are a lot of questions you probably have for me, so one of the questions I think you may ask, “did I move out or do I still live with a parent?” Yes! I did move out just recently beautiful condo, still living in New York so not everyone is nice, but its a great living. I will not go into to much detail cause I do not want you to know exactly how your life will pan out. I also believe the world of mysteries and curiosity is a lot more exciting. This is only caused when you know information to an extent and the rest of the information that is untold allows the brain to create vivid imaginations what I like to call future goals.

From my personal experience I can not stress enough how important it is to manage your time. You should have a break down on what to do on a daily basis from eating, showering, traveling to school, studying/homework etc. If you manage your time better then you will notice you won’t struggle with school as much as before. Also complete your assignments on time! When I began to manage my time properly often I felt as if I was ahead of everything, meaning all my assignments were completed I studied for about an hour (all my subjects). Since I felt no need to push myself harder towards the school I slowed down on studying and started doing things that weren’t school related or helpful for my future career. Since I felt as if I was a the apex of my school performance I would study less and hang out with my girlfriend or a couple of friends/colleagues. This led to difficulties, so I want you to realize just because you may have an outstanding school performance never get to comfortable, once you get comfortable thats when you will start to slack off and it’ll be your downfall. So what do i expect you to do if you have free time? Study more! If you need a break make sure its about five to ten minutes, nothing longer because you will start procrastinating. I remember an old professor I had once said, “If you apply a little more effort everyday, the results will be amazing.” Keep this in mind this can allow a stronger drive for you to exceed in college outstandingly.

I remember when I was your age I wanted to graduate, but I didn’t have much of a drive. Determination is what i mean by having a drive, one must be determined and ready to achieve their goal.What I mean is in order for you to succeed you are going to want it bad, and I don’t mean just wanting it you have to do what ever it takes to get where you wanna be. A perfect example obviously we both experienced is baseball, as a child I wanted to become a professional baseball player. Do you remember what it took just for some people to recognize your talent? Exactly, you spent all day and night literally thirteen hours a day practice pushing yourself to get where you wanted. Although you did not achieve your goal it doesn’t mean it was because you were not good enough, you had an injury that you were not able to recover properly and proceed with the sport. That is the drive you are going to need if you really want to become an electrical engineer. Once you have the drive of course obstacles will occur, but you have to just overcome them, make sure no matter what happens by the end of the day you know what you have to know and more. Then you will succeed and in the long run it will all be worth it because there will be no more pressure on you for the classes you took. Always remember never let any obstacle interfere with your progression, if somethings holding you back figure out what you can do to get rid of it that way you can pursue.

I would just like to tell you ahead of time although i feel as if I can not change how you think and want to do because I am aware of how hard headed you can be, I highly recommend to not, I repeat, NOT become indecisive. This is college, you have an outstanding experience and get to know many people whom may or may not be in the remainder of your life, but you will think about changing your long term career goals just because you are tired of completing the same task. You will just feel bored of the entire concept of becoming an electrical engineer and will switch your major to realize that you only enjoyed engineering. With this said, if you still feel as if wanna change the your major, please do not, you will be better off if you just take an unnecessary classes. This will most likely fill you with the joy you once had for school and it will be easier to complete the engineering profession.

This is all I would like to tell you. I can not stress enough on how it is important to remain focus. To remain focus you will want to achieve your goals it cannot become a want it needs to become a need just like how your body needs to breathe. What plays a part as well is the drive that you have right now, embrace it and try to keep that spark lasting till the end. Once you have completed all these task you have set for college there will be more to come beyond college for the real world once your truly on your own.

Good luck.

I would just like to thank you for giving me information to prepare myself and how what I should start doing on my own. From reading this letter recently I have already become more focused in school. Although I love procrastinating I am still putting in the effort to complete school assignments/papers before time. From reflecting my day of thoughts and reading this letter I have realized I am an odd thinker and how I go about my day is quite strange,this does not necessarily mean I am weird I hope, but I just need to remain focus on what the “big” picture that waits for me. I have came to my sense that what makes me a better person and allows me to pursue my long career goals are my flaws and what I have been through for the good times to the worse. I just hope everything goes as planned. I know achieving my goals will not be easy to come, but there is a lot of hope I have and I have the passion to conquer. I feel I have become more ambitious and will accomplish what I have planned for myself.