Specials | Career Guide 2019

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Career Guide 2019

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THE DAILY EDITORS’ NOTE

Advertising and Business Staff

It’s spring quarter, and that means a whole crop of UW students are now soon-to-be UW graduates. For many of us almost-alumni, it’s time to start looking for jobs, internships, and post-graduate positions of all kinds. This is equally exciting and terrifying, but luckily, there are many resources on our campus and in our communities to make this transition a little smoother.

Whether you’re preparing for interviews or just starting to dip your toe into the career-search pool, we wish you luck. The UW, while sometimes disorientingly large, has the benefit of providing opportunities and resources for almost everyone. This special edition of The Daily aims to provide resources and advice for finding internships and jobs whether your about to graduate or just getting started, and to alleviate any fears before transitioning into careers.

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The (not-so) five-year plan

By Mitali Palekar The Daily “Urgh,” I moan as I snooze my alarm for yet another morning, trying to squeeze in just nine more minutes of sleep before a day full of classes, work, and activities. Like every college student, waking up in the morning for me has always been a struggle. I’m not a morning person, and I’m definitely not an always-on-top-of-everything type of person. However, while I’ve faced my fair share of struggles, heartbreaks, and stresses throughout my time at the UW, I’ve always been content knowing that every

class, every failure, and every uphill battle would be leading to something — my computer science degree.

Today, as a graduating senior in computer science, I feel very privileged in many ways. I already have a job as a software engineer lined up for me after graduation and a great set of experiences, knowledge, and resources at my disposal through my involvement in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Most importantly, I have an extremely supportive community of family and friends who I know have my back.

At the same time, it’s extremely scary entering the “real” world. For the first time in my life, there isn’t a set path or “right” next step to success.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what life will look like for me five years hence, and there are a lot of different things that I’ve considered.

Sometimes, I wonder if whether a few years down the line I would go back to graduate school. There’s a possibility that after working in the technology industry for a few years, I’ll yearn to understand and learn a little bit more about the business side of things or dive deeper into specific technical parts of computer science. If that’s the

case, graduate school is possibly the way to go.

Or, what if I love working in the technology industry so much that I might want to continue developing as either an individual contributor or engineering manager? Having already worked in the industry for a little over a year, I already know I love it because it enables me to build products and contribute to software that people actually use. Maybe five years from now I’ll want to expand the scope of my projects through being a manager or becoming a technology lead for different engineering projects, who knows?

Maybe I want to start a business. At the UW, I had the chance to build products and companies through several classes that I have taken.

Through this coursework, I

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learned that I love thinking about user problems, building technical solutions to these challenges, and developing strategies to make businesses sustainable over time. Maybe five years from now I’ll have developed the right set of skills to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship and creating a company full-time.

What I am trying to get at is that, five years from now, I don’t really know what I will be doing.

And that’s okay. It enables me to be open to new challenges, develop my interests over time, and mold myself based on new experiences.

However, what I do know is that I’ll be doing something that I love, whatever that might be.

Reach writer Mitali Palekar at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @mitalipalekar

How to use LinkedIn effectively

By Kelsey Chuang The Daily

Angelique Guina The Daily

We are no strangers to LinkedIn, the social networking platform for business professionals. However, one problem the Career & Internship Center in Mary Gates Hall has identified is that many students don’t feel the need to have a LinkedIn account. The career center advises that everyone should have a LinkedIn account no matter what your major is or what kind of experiences you have. It is now the norm for recruiters to use LinkedIn to find potential candidates and for employers to learn about a student’s work experience.

Lindsey Friessnig, a senior career coach at the Foster Career Services, said that she likes to compare LinkedIn to a garden.

“The best LinkedIn profiles are the ones that remain active and are constantly updated,” Friessnig said. “Just as you would frequently tend and water your garden, you don’t want to neglect your LinkedIn profile.”

Staying active on LinkedIn means accepting new connections and following different thought leaders and companies in the spaces that you want to go into.

When you meet with people in multiple different social settings, make sure to add a personal note when you connect with them.

“For students, I think something that is hard to see is that people you’re in school with are going to be your colleagues in a few years,” Friessnig said, pointing out that these connections can come from classes, internships, or any student organizations on campus.

“LinkedIn is a great place for that because you can build and grow it over time.”

A strong LinkedIn profile has many components, including a clear headshot and a professional headline that can include two to three titles describing yourself professionally. Below the headline, it’s best to have a paragraph that summarizes your accomplishments (past), your current role (present), and the field you aspire to go into (future).

The profile summary can also be a place where you inject a little of your personality.

Another thing to note about navigating LinkedIn is to not be afraid of looking at other people’s profiles. This is quite different from the norms we have around other social media such as Facebook, where it would be weird to like someone’s post from six years ago.

However, it is common to look at how other professionals or peers structure

Angelique Guina The Daily and frame their experiences on their profiles. Looking at LinkedIn profiles is also often anticipated when one goes into the recruitment process.

“When preparing for an interview, definitely look at the hiring manager’s role and background,” Friessnig said. “This is totally normal because employers will expect you to do your homework.”

LinkedIn is also a resourceful tool to conduct informational interviews with UW alumni and certain professionals.

The purpose of an informational interview is to learn and investigate further on a specific industry or role to which you can see yourself aspiring.

Informational interviews are encouraged because they allow you to practice articulating your experiences in a relaxed and low-stakes environment. If you go to the University of Washington LinkedIn page and click on the alumni tab, you can find former and fellow Huskies categorized by where they live, where they work, what they studied, and the like.

“When I reached out to professionals randomly on LinkedIn, it was kind of a hit-or-miss situation, but it was still helpful because people were willing to answer my questions about the industry or their field of work,” Jane Park, a recent graduate who majored in history, said.

“It gave me a lot of insight into fields that I didn’t have a lot of knowledge of.”

Park said that she also used LinkedIn to study the hiring manager when she received a callback from her recruiter.

Friessnig pointed out that students can also think about themselves as a unique brand to market out to employers. “Marketing” yourself is a concept that may be new to some students. The idea is essentially telling a story to your audience in a compelling, simple, and honest way.

We, as daily consumers, know that brands we love are successful because they are good at telling their stories in a unique way, so as we apply the same concepts to ourselves, using LinkedIn is the opportunity to convey your personal brand and share your strengths and skill sets in the professional sphere strategically.

Reach writer Kelsey Chuang at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @chuang_kelsey

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Career Guide 2019

Ask a grad student

By Thelonious Goerz The Daily Grad students provide a wealth of knowledge; all you have to do is ask.

As of this past fall, there were 10,738 graduate students enrolled full-time at the UW. What most undergraduates don’t know is that their own TAs and other graduate students in

their departments are untapped resources for ideas and advice about careers.

With such a vast population of post-undergraduate professionals working toward a variety of careers and a variety of goals, there is a graduate student out there who has a similar path as yourself. Especially for questions about careers in research and academia, graduate students are

a deeply knowledgeable source, owing to the UW’s tier-one status as a research institution.

Additionally, these connections that students make could also be valuable down the line.

Anna Swan, a Ph.D. student in the department of communication, said that her mentorship of students has been less formal. According to Swan most of the career insight she gives is usually related to PR internships and advice about future internships.

“I always enjoy talking to students about their interests and I try to encourage them to follow their passions,” Swan said.

Swan researches social media and studies critical cultural theory. Her most recent publication focused on K-pop and fan reactions.

Swan emphasized that she also frequently recommends classes and certificates to obtain based on student interests. Yet, Swan noted that her primary area of expertise can be utilized when students ask her about her experience as a graduate student.

“I’m always thrilled when [undergraduates] ask me about graduate school or want advice about going to grad school themselves,” Swan said. “I feel like I have a lot of practical knowledge about it that I’d love to share.”

Similarly, Sarah Stansfield, a Ph.D. candidate in biological anthropology, said that when she was an undergraduate, she received a lot of career advice

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Paige Gedicke The Daily from her professors who served as mentors.

“Asking your favorite professor if they have time to talk about grad school or to edit your application essays can be really helpful,” Stansfield said.

Stansfield focuses on mathematical modeling of HIV and statistical analysis of disease spread. She currently works as a mentor for undergraduates in the UW Research Computing Club’s undergraduate program, and said that this process of being a mentor was very rewarding in demystifying how research is done.

Both Swan and Stansfield said that they are asked by students about their career paths, but not often. Since graduate students have a wealth of practical knowledge about being students, navigating university life, and understanding what it takes to succeed, undergraduates should take advantage of the advice and connections they can provide.

As for general advice, Stansfield advocated for trying as many challenging classes as possible before deciding a major which could eventually lead to a career.

“I changed my major twice

in my undergrad program,” Stansfield said. “Once in freshman year and once halfway through my junior year and the result was graduating with a double major I was really passionate about and proud of.”

In the same vein, Swan commented about strategies for success by taking risks and evaluating the results.

“I’m not always good at practicing this myself, but I strongly believe in taking risks and making sure to value the process,” Swan said. “We’re all often looking toward the future and trying to plan out our strategic next steps, which can be smart but can also prevent us from living in the present and really figuring out what we value and what we enjoy.”

Career planning is important, though part of the journey is enjoying the moment and seeing what you fall into. As both Stansfield and Swan articulated, dropping in on your TA’s office hours for advice can be an invaluable resource.

Reach writer Thelonious Goerz at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @TheloniousGoerz

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Career Guide 2019

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The ads aren’t the full story

What internships look like once you have them

By Rachel Morgan The Daily Getting an internship is heavily emphasized for the benefits that it has for your resume or creating connections in your future career field. Their importance is reinforced through majorspecific email lists, posters, and career fairs — the idea of getting an internship is thrown into student’s faces through every avenue possible.

There is so much hoopla over getting an internship that I never thought to wonder about what it would be like once I finally got one.

“For the most part, students are eager to find an internship,” Virgel Paule, one of the academic advisers for the communications department, said. “I have the conversation of what your schedule is looking like and if the load is something they can handle [with students frequently].”

Last December, I was hired on as a communications intern at a nonprofit in Seattle. As a sophomore, I remember thinking that I was lucky to have secured an internship so early on in my college career.

At the time, I had committed to working 20 hours a week, the maximum that students are allowed. It didn’t quite fit in with my schedule Monday through Thursday, but I was going to be

having Fridays off, so I would be able to condense the majority of my hours into one day of the week — or that was the plan, at least.

My first day of work, I was thrown into the mix of a massive social media campaign. I barely had an orientation and didn’t know anyone in the office besides my boss and the HR guy who hired me. I had no idea what I was doing or who I was doing it for.

That being said, I learned pretty quickly. I knew that I had to be able to stay afloat at what I considered my gateway to my future job. Looking back on this internship, I am pleased with the intimate knowledge of business that I acquired from this experience.

It was exactly as the email lists and the posters and the career fairs said. Never tacked onto the posters, though, is the side effects of an internship.

I was working in an office building, so I had to work between normal business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taking 8:30 a.m. classes or ones in the middle of the day wasn’t conducive to working within these hours. But to work there, I had to figure out how to make my schedule around these hours.

Many days, I was out the door at 8 a.m. and not getting back to

my apartment until 6 p.m. I felt like I was working a fulltime job, but that was just the combination of taking classes and being an intern.

It was tiring to commute between campus and the office, and it was expensive to keep buying food on the go since I never seemed to be able to pack a lunch. I was lucky enough to secure a position that was paid, so it evened out in the end, but that isn’t always the case.

Trying to fit in completing my homework was miserable. All I wanted to do after coming home was sleep, but that wasn’t my first priority. I often sacrificed sleep in order to attend to my school and internship responsibilities.

That being said, I was fully prepared to have this schedule. I just didn’t fully understand what it was going to look like.

“Students understand what a full-time schedule is,” Paule said. “You have to paint the picture of having a part-time job and then adding that to your current course load.”

Internships are a fantastic way to orient yourself with what is waiting out in the real world once you graduate, but first you have to make it to graduation.

I stopped taking care of myself

Anna Schnell The Daily as much as I should have during this stretch of time because I had too much on my plate.

The lessons I learned were invaluable, and I will be carrying them with me as I move closer to graduating college and finding my place in the job market. The trade-offs I made were worth it for me, but I wish I would have known what I was getting myself into. It is hard to ignore the idea

of getting an internship, but I urge you to think about what having an internship while taking classes may look like before accepting a position.

Reach Opinion Editor Rachel Morgan at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @rclmorgan

Are there any good jobs left in academia?

Shahbaz Khan The Daily

By Thelonious Goerz The Daily The question of whether there are viable jobs left in academia is a discussion that too often fails to address the problem with adjunct faculty in the current educational workforce.

In a quick word: yes, there are still viable jobs in academia.

According to HigherEdJobs, the average salary for a professor is $93,830 across all disciplines.

Comparing that to an estimated median salary of $79,565 to live comfortably in Seattle, we can see that the professor’s salary is $21,738 above that estimate.

However, while this may seem comfortable and on the surface, quite financially viable, this fails to capture the actual landscape

of academic jobs. To make that money cited earlier, you need to land a tenure-track job. Tenuretrack jobs are very difficult to come by and, even when a professor lands one, they need to fight uphill to cement their position at a university and keep their job.

When discussing the viability of academic careers, I argue that a more important discussion is to evaluate the systemic problem of unfair conditions and increasingly precarious situations that adjunct faculty are put in.

Currently, a majority of the faculty positions at universities are filled by adjuncts. According to a 2017 study by Inside Higher Ed, public research universities such as the UW increased part-

time faculty employment from 44% to 50% between 20032013. This is even more widespread in community colleges, which saw increases from 80% to 83%.

This has become a widespread problem in universities. I think it is one of the most crucial issues in understanding the current higher education workforce.

According to the same study, these colleges also spend 14% less on non-tenure track faculty.

It is clear that the problem here is monetary.

But this is no surprise to anyone who has followed academia in the last few years. The discussion becomes even grimmer when assessing the condition of jobs in higher education.

Colleges use adjunct professors to cut costs, but these adjunct faculty work with increasing uncertainty and lack of benefits. Maria Maisto, a professor at Cuyahoga Community College and the president of the New Faculty Majority, a coalition of faculty not on the tenure track, explained this problem in the same Inside Higher Ed article.

“The reports really show that the shift to a contingent academic workforce was motivated by economic (and, I would argue, political) concerns,” Maisto said in the article. “Disempowering the faculty by making them economically precarious of course reduces their influence and weakens shared governance, giving administrators more power.”

As Maisto explains, the problem with part-time faculty is more widespread than issues in academia. As Terry McGlynn, professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills, explains in an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, there are differences between what tenure and non-tenure faculty have to do. However, at the end of the day, nontenured faculty lose out.

“Regardless, as instructors in the classroom, non-tenure-track faculty are doing the same job, for less pay,” McGlynn said in the article.

The real-world strain that this puts on adjunct faculty is disheartening. Exemplary of McGlynn’s comments, adjunct faculty are often doing the work of full-time professors, but are compensated less and have to resort to other methods to survive.

A recent article in The Guardian explores adjunct faculty who are homeless, sleeping in their cars, and resorting to other work on the side to cover their costs. Even so, these professors are passion-

ate about their work. Regardless of whether it pays well or not, they are committed to doing it.

One anonymous woman in The Guardian article says that she loves her job and is good at it, but is devastated that it doesn’t pay enough.

Furthermore, The Guardian reports that administrators at the college level can limit hours so that adjunct faculty do not qualify for health insurance.

These faculty also do not receive support for their own research, affecting advancement and innovation.

Hiring adjunct faculty as a cost-cutting measure doesn’t add up when you look at the data.

According to Inside Higher Ed, studies have found that while faculty costs were lower with contingent faculty, the overall cost of employment was no different from full-time faculty.

The article also reported that the use of non-tenure track faculty did not make an improvement in the quality of education that students received, nor was hiring more adjunct faculty informed by any research — only cost-cutting measures.

In the current state of employment in academia, there is no comparison with the private sector. If colleges and universities do not provide fair work for their part-time faculty or change the system overall, there will eventually be a decline in the quality of higher education, because of the strain on its workforce. The viable jobs that are available are so few and far between that, when applying, it comes down to a luck of the draw.

Reach writer Thelonious Goerz at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @TheloniousGoerz

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Is grad school right for me? potential faculty advisers

By Aleenah Ansari The Daily The choice to attend graduate school depends on a range of factors. It can be an opportunity for a future pay raise, facilitate a transition to a new career, or be a chance to pursue a long-term research project. For Meshell Sturgis, a second-year doctoral student in the UW department of communication, graduate school is all about learning that goes beyond the classroom or assignments.

“I see [being a] graduate student as a transition phase,” Sturgis said. “You’re still a student but working toward becoming a professor one day. Sometimes, you identify more with undergraduate students. Sometimes, you see a faculty perspective a little more clearly. It’s still a learning process, but that learning looks different.”

Christian Love, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the UW Leadership in Higher Education program, has a dream to be a higher education leader such as a dean, provost, or vice president for student affairs. In these roles, having a graduate degree is highly encouraged.

“Thinking about my commitment to be an educator and a positive influence for families, communities, and youth, I saw myself pursuing graduate school in education in order to do so,” Love said.

Throughout the process, he consulted mentors, supervisors,

and friends about the process of applying to graduate school and available resources. When applying, he also met with his prospective advisor Joe Lott, an associate professor in the UW College of Education, to talk about the master’s program and the opportunity to stay for the doctoral program.

“It was an opportunity to find out ways to get involved at the university and consider how my advisor could support me in achieving my post-grad goals,” Love said.

Weighing the pros and cons of graduate school Instead of interpreting other people’s data or exploring predetermined research questions, graduate students often work on their own to identify a research question and the methods they want to use to answer it. “[In undergrad,] an assignment that comes to you has a rubric that explains what’s required,” Sturgis said. “Now, it’s a lot of working on your own, seeking your own projects, creating a strong network, and having strong mentors and advisers can facilitate that.”

On the flip side, this independence can be isolating for graduate students.

“You go from being in a class of 400 students to being the only person who studies what you study,” Sturgis said. “There are things you can do to counterbalance that.”

Sturgis said that taking time

off between undergraduate and graduate school can help you identify what problems you want to solve.

“It’s OK to take time to think less about the discipline and more about the problem you want to solve,” Sturgis said.

“Maybe you love 18th century British literature. What problem do you want to use that literature to solve? It might take more time to think about that, and being in the real world to see how that problem keeps returning or surfacing.”

The cost of attending graduate school can vary widely depending on the program and discipline.

However, some programs offer research grants, teaching positions, or scholarships to support the cost of a program. In the process, graduate programs offer resources from libraries, funding from the institution, and a network of other students.

Love said that he received an assistantship from the College of Education, so his graduate education was fully funded. He recommended looking into funding opportunities in other disciplines when possible.

“Students often hear it’s best to try and secure funding for graduate school,” Love said. “The reality is that some students won’t receive funding. Find time to chat with colleagues, advisers, and current students about additional ways to fund graduate school.”

For prospective and current graduate students at the

Angelique Guina The Daily UW, Sturgis recommended the Graduate Funding Information Service, a blog with a list of funding opportunities like teaching assistant positions that are available to graduate students.

In addition to the cost, doing a full-time graduate program may require you to take time off of work. However, some programs enable you to study part-time and continue to work. You can also work for a few years between undergraduate and graduate school.

“It’s OK to take a break somewhere, whether that comes after undergrad or [getting your] master’s,” Sturgis said. “It can be really helpful for people who struggle with burnout.”

Pursuing graduate school can also be challenging if you are far away from your family or network of colleagues. In particular, graduate school can be challenging for students of color who are often less represented in these programs.

“A lot of spaces aren’t meant for us,” Sturgis said. “It’s important to safeguard your body, soul, and mind. You have to think about that negotiation. How much of your story are you willing to share? If you share your whole story, is it your story?”

Amid these challenges, there

are still reasons that make graduate school worth it.

In Love’s case, he didn’t see himself represented in the role models at his undergraduate institution. He sees his studies in the College of Education as an opportunity to be a mentor and role model for other students of color.

“Valuing my identities as a first generation Black male student, I know that my perspective isn’t always represented,” Love said. “Part of my graduate student experience is … being a resource to more first-generation students of color who are navigating predominantly white spaces.”

Assessing the fit of a graduate school or program Choosing which program you pursue is an important part of the graduate school selection process.

When applying to graduate schools, Love considered programs in education, social work, and teaching.

“I chose education based on long-term fit and aspiration to work in higher education and serve college students,” Love said.

“I still see myself pursuing realms of social work and teaching in my career.”

Sturgis said that her master’s

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program in Cultural Studies helped her to assess whether or not graduate school was right for her.

“It was only two years,” Sturgis said.

“It helped me feel very prepared for my Ph.D. There are times where I still have to learn new skills and adapt, but a two-year master’s can be a good stepping stone.”

Another significant part of the program is identifying the faculty member who will be your research mentor or faculty adviser and ensuring that their research aligns with your interests.

“My adviser is like my boss,” Sturgis said. “She can say ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ to things on my program of study. I work for her for my research assistantship. She is the main person I report to.”

Since you may be in graduate school from anywhere from one to six years, it’s also important to visit the school to learn about the campus climate and culture.

For example, you may want to attend a public research institution like the UW or choose a smaller school. “[The] UW was a great fit for me because of its commitment to diversity and the administration’s dedication to social justice education, civic engagement, and serving diverse communities,” Love said.

More broadly, assess whether you want to live in that city, especially if that graduate school would require you to move away from the place you call home. If this is the case, it can help to find support systems that exist. Programs like Graduate

Angelique Guina The Daily Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP) host community socials, lectures, and spaces for conversation.

“GO-MAP has been my family away from family,” Love said. “Being from Detroit, Michigan, I’ve turned to GO-MAP to foster support and build a network of peers and mentors that I can connect with about my grad student experience and navigating the campus climate.”

Programs like GO-MAP, or even specific departments, offer prospective student day visits where you learn more about the program or the resources available. It’s also helpful to chat with students who are currently in the program.

“Current students will give you real talk about their student experiences, campus climate, funding opportunities, and ways to navigate a predominantly white institution,” Love said.

If you choose to go to graduate school, Sturgis encourages you to create a network of emotional support whether it’s friends, a therapist in the area, or colleagues.

Ultimately, graduate school is a place for continued learning, but the journey to graduate school is unique to each person.

Reach writer Aleenah Ansari at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @aleenah_ansari

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The Superman of Seattle

Career Guide 2019

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My career and the random, arbitrary machine of capitalism

By Shahbaz Ahmed Khan The Daily Full disclosure: I was ensnared into writing this article. Special Sections Editor Alyson Podesta has been a friend of mine since my first quarter at the UW, and when I heard her pleading with her co-editor Charlotte Houston for a 500-word personal essay to be published in the career guide, I volunteered because I’m an idiot and a goddamn fool when it comes to helping my friends.

See, I figured with just the sheer breadth of work I do in theater, in film, in journalism, in education — in addition to (somewhat poorly, but ultimately still manageably) balancing classes — I’d have enough to talk about for a quick essay.

Hell, I finished up a majority of this piece after juggling three different commitments for three different organizations, all back-to-back on the same day. The fact that days like this are relatively mundane for me creates an enormous wealth of material to draw from just by itself.

How do I do it? How do I pull it off? These are questions I asked when I started drafting

this, because honestly, I’m not sure I do. My sleep schedule is a mess; my mealtimes are all over the map; I’m rarely not tired; and I’m almost always running behind on something. It’s become a running gag with my friends and co-workers just how much of a flaming train wreck my day-to-day life is.

It’s tempting for me to attribute what I have accomplished to my own tenacity and gumption, but frankly, the only reason I’m able to achieve some simulacrum of stability ultimately comes down being born into a family that can support me.

American capitalism presents itself as a meritocracy where the ultimate currency is hard work, the ultimate reward innovation, and all who reap its profits are those who have the necessary mettle to truly earn their keep.

But if I’ve learned anything over the course of my career, it’s that happenstance is just as influential, if not more.

At the end of the day, I can be an actor, a journalist, a stage director, an illustrator, a writing tutor, and (most recently) an editor at the same time, because I don’t have to worry about making rent or having food on

Shahbaz Khan The Daily the table thanks to living with my parents, so taking low-paying theater gigs or writing jobs isn’t as risky a venture as it would be otherwise. That’s not something I did. It’s just the grace of God, the cosmic luck of my divine draw.

I suppose that’s the reason I’ve spent so much time engaging with things like race and opportunities for marginalized people. Because I know that the only thing special about what I do is just that I have the power to do it.

Reach Co-Development Editor Shahbaz Ahmed Khan at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @JadeMoonSpeaks

In defense of a fifth year: Making more time to be a full-time learner

By Aleenah Ansari The Daily Halfway through my college career, I was a public health and biochemistry major who was on the road to medical school.

However, I knew even after taking a full load of organic chemistry, biology, and calculus classes, I wasn’t fulfilled by my work. All I wanted to do was fast forward 10 years to the point when I could listen to people’s stories as a full-time career. I later realized that I wouldn’t have to wait so long to

pursue my dream career, and spending some extra time as an undergraduate could help me get there.

I was at a crossroads.

If I changed my major to human centered design and engineering, I’d need to spend a fifth year in college. If I stayed on my current path and waited until graduate school or a future career change, I’d get to graduate with the friends who I began college with, work a year earlier, and avoid the stigma that often comes with “taking your time.”

The decision to change my path was a long road, but it started with me realizing that I deserve to be excited about my work every single day. Since the beginning of my college career, I was already working as a journalist and trading study groups for informational interviews with educators and office hours for events about the need for representation in media. In these conversations, I felt like I was finally doing the work I loved: hearing people’s stories and amplifying them through writing. However, I

seemed to work double-time to be pre-med in the classroom and pursue my interests in journalism and writing outside of class. I knew that I wanted to do more of this work in my classes, but chemistry lab and vulnerable conversations rarely went hand in hand.

Changing my major helped me pursue the fulfilling work of storytelling in and out of the classroom. I’m so grateful that I took the extra time to change my major because it’s given me more time to take advantage of all the resources at the UW. Thanks to the flexibility that comes with my fifth year, I was able to double major in human centered design and engineering and comparative history of ideas, study abroad in Prague, write a thesis, get published in The Seattle Times through the Education Lab and get funding from the Mary Gates Research Scholarship. I took classes outside of my major that enabled me to pursue my interest in educational equity, memoir writing, and digital storytelling. I also had another summer to be an intern and focus on exploring the work of storytelling at Microsoft and find a job that I’ll pursue after graduating this spring.

I recognize that not everyone has the ability to spend another year of college. It’s especially pricey for out-of-state and

international students, and a lot of full-tuition scholarships only cover up to four years.

Because I had the financial means, I can confidently say that taking a fifth year was right for me because I was able to do so much more in college and focus on being a full-time learner.

College doesn’t have to a race to a career, but a journey to get you on the path to something that fulfills you. This has come with its challenges. People have commented about how I’m unfocused or taken too long to find my passion for writing. The truth is that everything takes as long as it needs to. But for every question about why I haven’t graduated yet, there are so many more moments when I know that I made the right choice: when I interview women of color who are powerful educators and find ways to lift while they rise; when I realize that many of my role models took a little extra time to master their craft; when I talk to underclassmen and help them find ways to bridge their passion in engineering, writing, and social impact.

I’d rather spend five years in the right major than four years in one that didn’t get me closer to my career as a writer.

Reach writer Aleenah Ansari at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @aleenah_ansari

Recycle Me!

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overcoming the awkwardness How to make networking less painful

By Kelsey Chuang The Daily There are a lot of good reasons to dislike networking. We may feel shy approaching someone we don’t know. We don’t want to take advantage of someone’s time. We just don’t know what to say. As students, we’ve been pressured over and over again on how important networking is when it comes to landing a job.

While socializing may come easy and natural for extroverts who absorb energy as they interact with others, for introverts who might dislike small talk, networking can be extremely draining.

Susan Terry, executive director of the Career & Internship Center in Mary Gates Hall, said this means that you have to be prepared for networking, and that preparation is a critical component to lowering your stress level.

According to Terry, preparation doesn’t mean that you need to know exactly what you want to do in the future. It’s more about understanding what you

have accomplished to date, having some general idea where you want to put your strengths, and you start from practicing with people with low risk — family members, friends, friends of friends.

“Preparation involves scripting yourself, writing down what you want to say, and practicing with people you’re comfortable with as a starting place, then the conversation goes into a more organic one,” Terry said. “You don’t want to start off with the place you really want to be [at] or the person you really want to talk to.”

Chisom Linda, a senior majoring in communication, said that one thing that helped her with networking was to introduce herself and have a couple talking points ready to go.

“For example, ‘Hi, my name is __, I’m majoring in __.’ Then they’ll introduce themselves and probably even ask questions about what I’m studying or my career path of interest,” Linda said. “If they don’t, have follow up questions ready: How did you get to your current position?

Laura Keil The Daily What advice do you have for current students? What’s an average day at work like?”

Linda said that if some of these questions seem uncomfortable, try to find some common ground, like talking about sports teams or current events (stay away from politics or religion, though).

“The most important thing to keep in mind is that although networking is a powerful tool, it’s also really just a conversation and the more relaxed you are, the easier it’ll be,” Linda said. “We have an advantage as students, because employers, grads, alums, etc., always want to help us. So, take a deep breath and just go for it. There’s really not much to lose.”

Geena Letrondo, a UW Foster alum now working as a Procurement Agent at Boeing, said that networking is oftentimes just

as awkward for them as it is for you.

“I’m extremely introverted so I thoroughly understand the struggle of reconciling the act of networking with that part of my personality,” Letrondo said. “I can honestly say that networking is awkward for 90% of people 90% of the time and that’s OK. Feeling weird or awkward is extremely normal for most people no matter how much they network, so it shouldn’t discourage you. It just means that you are still looking for what you have in common so you can have a real conversation.”

One important thing to remember when you feel stressed about networking is that nearly everyone does it. Rather than treating the professional as someone you want to impress, focus on relationship building.

“There’s usually an empathy

level at play,” Terry said. “Bottom line is, people want to help people, and you kind of have to take the risk to see what goes on.

I always tell my students to say the following: ‘Although I am looking for an internship, I don’t expect you to land me a job, and I don’t expect you to get me an internship. I am just exploring.’”

Terry added that doing so takes the onus off of that person to try to figure out your life.

Job searching is like a giant puzzle: there are multiple elements that come to play. It is true that networking varies depending on the individual, but as we break down and demystify the notion of “networking,” it shows that this is not something that only extroverts can excel at.

Reach writer Kelsey Chuang at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @chuang_kelsey

Taking a quarter off classes can be an unconventional investment in your career You don’t need to have all the answers to make the jump

By Devon McBride The Daily If you’re a politics dork like me, when multiple politicians and their staff name-drop the same internship to you, you give that a second look. That was the case for me through my first two years at the UW and the Washington State Legislative Internship offered through the university’s political science department.

Fast forward to last fall, and suddenly I had numerous people in my ear making the case that reporting on the Legislature, as opposed to staffing it, would be the better experience.

The university’s journalism department offers this opportunity and I was fortunate enough to take it, confident now that it was the right choice for me.

It was an opportunity I had planned for and worked toward for a long time, but I still found myself feeling as much hesitation as I did excitement once my first day grew closer.

Winter quarter, I worked fulltime for an internship through the university’s journalism department that sends a handful of reporters to Olympia to cover the state Capitol for various newspapers across the state. It requires relocation to Olympia, the suburban state capital with a small but eccentric downtown that doesn’t let you forget you’re not in Seattle.

Fortunately for me, I’m from Olympia so I was able to stay at home with my dogs (and my mom). I also had the luxury of being able to come back to Seattle on weekends and avoid

feeling completely disconnected from campus life. Students considering opportunities abroad or in another state have to consider what spending months in a new place can entail.

An important turning point in my college career was the realization that, after deciding on double majoring in political science and communication, the education line on my resume wasn’t going to deliver me any job offers the way, say, a computer science degree from the UW may.

This means my involvements outside of the classroom feel more important professionally than much of my work inside the classroom. This quarter, after I’ve completed all the requirements for my major, is the first time I am taking a political science course, a seminar on modern political campaigns taught by campaign veterans, that I feel is directly applicable to the work I hope to do after college.

Because of this dynamic, a chance to work among professionals in your desired industry and network should be strongly considered and was ultimately the factor that led me to pursue and appreciate the opportunity I had.

My internship, reporting on state politics and policy, hit the intersection of my interests perfectly. I had to learn policy at a deep enough level to write about it for readers learning about legislation for the first time, and I had the opportunity to work around professional journalists and political

Claudia Yaw

communications staff (Swoon).

Plus, if you complete your degree in the standard four academic years, 12 quarters, then what’s the difference between being on campus 11 quarters anyway, when you also have three months of real-world work experience?

If positioning yourself as best you can during college for your time after college is your only concern, taking time off school for a job is a no-brainer. But this point in our lives is infinitely more complicated than that and there are, approximately, a bazillion more factors to consider.

One of these factors is to ask

yourself whether you can step away from campus and friends for an opportunity like this. For me, this was a difficult aspect of my quarter away from classes, regularly experiencing FOMO toward things I saw my friends doing back in Seattle.

In the end, taking a quarter off of school for an internship was an undeniably valuable experience. It wasn’t without hesitations or second-guessing, but no worthwhile opportunity will be.

I’ve come to believe that college shouldn’t be completed in a linear path. The best advice I can leave you with is to encourage looking for

unconventional opportunities to advance your education, talk and think through its implications, and make the best decision you can — but make a decision.

Indecision sucks and can weigh on you more at times than even the consequences of the supposed “wrong decision.”

Oftentimes, we, as students, are deciding between two choices, and neither is inherently bad for our future — but failure to seize either opportunity can leave you looking in the rearview mirror.

Reach Co-Development Editor Devon McBride at specials@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @DevonM98

THE DAILY

Career Guide 2019

NEED A JOB? YES YOU DO. PLAN YOUR FUTURE CAREER careers.uw.edu 134 Mary Gates Hall | Seattle, WA 98195

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