April 8, 2025 • 44 mins
Join us as we discover, Chloe's STEM Journey
Chloe Johnson is a dynamic Software Engineer with over three years of experience and a passion for continuous learning and innovation. She is currently a Level 2 Engineer at her company and pursuing a Master’s degree in Software Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. With expertise in systems engineering, automation, and software safety processes, Chloe is dedicated to fostering a collaborative "no blame" culture within her team, focusing on root cause analysis to drive efficiency and enhance project outcomes. Her work spans designing safety-critical systems, reviewing safety workflows, and managing automation projects, such as developing simulators for button-click automation. Chloe’s background includes conducting in-depth analyses of control loops for safety-critical systems and excelling in software integration, quality assurance, and configuration management. Her thoughtful approach to solving engineering challenges, coupled with her dedication to delivering innovative, user-centered solutions, makes her a versatile and highly effective member of any technical team.
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Chloe Johnson is a dynamic Software Engineer with over three years of experience and a passion for continuous learning and innovation. She is currently a Level 2 Engineer at her company and pursuing a Master’s degree in Software Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. With expertise in systems engineering, automation, and software safety processes, Chloe is dedicated to fostering a collaborative "no blame" culture within her team, focusing on root cause analysis to drive efficiency and enhance project outcomes. Her work spans designing safety-critical systems, reviewing safety workflows, and managing automation projects, such as developing simulators for button-click automation. Chloe’s background includes conducting in-depth analyses of control loops for safety-critical systems and excelling in software integration, quality assurance, and configuration management. Her thoughtful approach to solving engineering challenges, coupled with her dedication to delivering innovative, user-centered solutions, makes her a versatile and highly effective member of any technical team.
Please Watch, Comment, and Subscribe! New Episodes Every Other Friday!
Follow us on Instagram: stemwithashley
Follow us on Facebook: STEM With Ashley
Follow us on tiktok: stemwithashley
Follow us on LinkedIn: All Things STEM With Ashley
If you are interested in being a guest on this channel please contact: stemwithashley@outlook.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello everyone, and welcome to All Things sim with Ashley.
I'm super excited for you to join us today. This
platform is all about empowering women in STEM fields and
we highlight STEM careers, mentorship, community service, and success in
the industry. Our motto is to be stimp powered. So
today's guest is a software engineer. We will have Chloe,
(00:31):
a rising star in the software engineering world with a
strong passion for innovation and problem solving. Chloe has spent
over three years honing in her experience in systems engineering, automation,
and software safety. She is currently pursuing a master's in
software engineering at John Hopkins University while working as a
Level two engineer at her company. So today, Chloe is
(00:54):
dedicated to breaking barriers not just in her field, but
in the workplace, culture, collaboration, and a no blame mindset.
So she enjoys empowering her team to drive impactful results.
Whether she's designing safety physical systems or developing automation workflows.
Chloe brings a thoughtful, innovative approach to every challenge. So
(01:16):
join us today as we navigate Chloe's journey, her advice
for women in STEM and how she's helping pave the
way for the next generation of STEM engineers.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Hi, Chloe Bookman, thank you. Thank you actually glad to
be here.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm honored that you chose me to be a part
of your video and you know, reach out to people
in STEM women in particular.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, thank you, Chloe.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So today, to start out, we want to learn about
what sparked your interest in STEM and how did you
decide to pursue it as a career.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, that's actually a really good question, Ashley. So, growing up,
both of.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
My parents were veterinarians, and naturally, I thought I wanted
to be a veterinarian too, just like them, until.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I got into the seventh grade and the.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Teacher gave me a project assignment about what I wanted
to be when I grew up, and so naturally I
chose veterinarian. And I had two amazing resources at home. Yeah,
and I got a lot of information from them and
realized I did not want to be a veterinarian anymore
(02:28):
because of how similar it is to becoming a doctor.
It's the same amount of schooling.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
They have, and it's just I didn't want to be
in school forever.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So I decided that I did not want to be
a veterinarian that day. So my mom saw that I
was uncertain about what I wanted to do when I
grew up, and that summer she actually put me into
a stem camp called Grade Camp that summer that I
could be introduced to the.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Different types of engineering.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And in that grade camp there were all different types
of engineering like civil and mechanical, and robotics and computer science.
And I remember one of the cool activities they had
for us was building popsiclestick towers and having it hold
(03:25):
the weight of three textbooks.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And there were thick.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Textbooks, and so we got into groups and had to
see if we could build a structure like civil engineers
to hold the weight of three textbooks. And I will
say my group succeeded, and now challenge. Another cool activity
(03:49):
was a robotics activity where we had to program this
robot to follow a line in a maze and try
to get of a maze. That was a really cool activity.
And lastly, we also had a project where we created
virtual island using Unity and we could create our third
(04:12):
person character to shoot arrows at a target on our island.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So that was.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
A really cool experience to have, and then the next summer,
my mom put me in another camp where we built.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Our own computers.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Oh yeah, so I actually ended up using the computer
I built all through high school and that was a
pretty cool experience. Where are you from, I'm from Houston, Texas,
so great Camp was with the University of Houston.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They might still have it, I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And then after my senior or during my senior year,
my mother moved to South Carolina and took me and
the rest of the family lived there.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that was a very hard transition for me.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And when I was talking to the counselor trying to
choose my classes, my dad was actually with me. And
turns out the Great Education of Texas put me above
like where South Carolina education was, so I didn't have
many classes to take, like I already pretty much accomplished
(05:31):
most of the classes.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So the counselor was trying to get me to choose
like electives to fill in the space since I didn't
have to take a bunch of mandatory classes my last year,
and I was unsure of what electives to take because
all through high school and Houston, one of my electives
was basketball, so I was on the basketball team, cool,
(05:55):
and so we didn't have to choose.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Like extra electives. Outside of that, I never had the
chance to like see.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
What other electives were available, and so my dad was like, Hey,
there's a computer science class.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I think it would be pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And I was hesitant at first, but I looked and
it said that the computer science class was a late
in class, so they had A and B classes, and
so it was on an A day, so I have
to come in normal time on A days, but B
days I didn't have to come until second period.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And I was like, bet, I will choose.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
This class so that I don't have to come in
every day at the same time. And so choosing that class,
it was surprising because of how easy computer.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Science came to Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I realized, Wow, I think this is what I want
to do at that point in time, and I realized
you can make a career out of doing computer science.
So that's when I truly decided to pursue a career
in computer science. And then I chose to go to
college with that same idea and I was excelling.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
That's good at that time.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So that is the answer to the question Yeah, Chloe,
that is super inspiring, very cool. The reason I asked
where you were from was because I got to go
to a STEM conference in Alaska during my time in
Alabama and we got to start They wanted to start
a pipeline of how Alaska does it where they build
a computer for themselves in sixth grade and they get
to use all the way through their PhD. And it
(07:34):
was really unique because the place in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Was very rural. It was not as much internet, not
as civilized as here.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So I got to go with like the associate dean
of my engineering school along, we had like people from
the Board of Education compan we had a teacher, we
had teachers from other college universities, and we got to
spend a week in Alaska and we helped.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
The sixth graders make their computers. Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And that was my first time getting to make a
computer ever too, So it was it's super unique to
see the process.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So I was like, I didn't even know they did that,
you know, in the South.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Or well, they don't consider Texas south, but I consider it,
So I didn't know they did it. Let me say,
I had never experienced it until I went to Alaska.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So that's why I was like super shocked to hear that. Yep,
when you mentioned that.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So that's exactly what happened, and it worked well, but
all through my senior year of high school and then
I got a laptop for college. R I be mobile right,
Thank you, Floe, And that's how I started my career
and I never looked back.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh good, Chloe, thank you so much for that.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So we got to hear how your parents impacted your
STEM career and STEM journey. So were there any other
role models or mentors that influence your STEM journey along
the way after your parents got you on that original track?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yes? Yes, So in college I went to Prayer View
A and M University and the head of student engagement
actually really helped me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Start my career in the correct way.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So advice that she gave me as a college student
was going to these career conferences and career fairs and
just being able to do that help me to get
internships every year of my college career and.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Even as a freshman.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
As a freshman, especially as a freshman, So yeah, I
would say advice for that is as long as you
already have a GPA, so not like fall semester of
freshman year, unless you took summer classes with that college,
then yes, fall semester, because that's exactly what I did,
and I got an internship fall semester of my freshman year.
(09:51):
But if you don't go that route, then spring semester
should be possible for you as long as you had
really good grades.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I had four point zero. It was only two classes
at the time, but that's good. I graduated to MA
cum lati, so it was it was a good experience
for me.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But yeah, as long as you go to these conferences
and make an elevator speech, shake that person's hand, the
recruiter's hand, and get in the door, like that's how
you get in the door. So they'll be surprised at
how great your resume looks because of that four point
oh GPA, and they'll give you like an interview.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And when I tell you, they were fighting over me,
like that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
First interview was with can I see it was with
Northrop Grummen. They were two people were fighting over me,
one in Oklahoma and one in Maryland. And I chose
the verily one because my grandmother lives there so I
didn't have to like pay for living cost. Yeah, but yeah,
(11:00):
it was a paid internship and that was a fun
experience that companies look to get. Like, sorry, you're fine.
So companies look for people fresh out of college. They
look to see if you have an internship experience. So
trying to get that internship experience early on really helps
(11:23):
you get that first, like full time job. It was
practically so easy for me to get a full time
job just because of the three years of internship experience
that I had gained throughout my college career and good grades.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So when you were interviewing as a freshman, well, I
was gonna say, of course they.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Would know it's your first time.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I was gonna ask because when I was like a sophomore,
I went to my first NESBIE conference and I was
doing interviews and I was getting so nervous, and I
was like, Okay, I'm sorry, I just need a second.
This is my first like conference interview. And then it
was like, why did you say it first? You know,
why did you say that to begin with?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And so I ended.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Up getting an offer with Kimberly Clark. I did not
actually end up taking it. I went to NASA that summer,
but I think sometimes being having that transparent moment with
the interview or do you think that assists or would
you just say because I was gonna say I started
a love later than you, so I was just gonna say,
do you say, oh, you know in your introduction, maybe
like oh, this is my first which for call fair
(12:27):
and I'm trying to get my first internship, or did
you just for your resume?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They already knew it, so it was just like, okay, whatever.
I think it was more of the latter.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I did in my elevator speech say that I was
freshman okay, and I had a four point on GPS, so.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
They forgot the first yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
We're like oh yeah, what yeah, really okay, So that's
how you like kind of try to get into the
door with comments like that and say oh and because
I had prior like coding experience from high school, right okay, wow,
So it was Java that I learned in high school,
and then I was learning C plus plus in my
(13:05):
current classes.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So I said I was proficient.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
In Java because that was true, and I was learning
C plus plus in my.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
In my elevator speech, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So gotcha, that makes sense. I was like when I
after I said. I was like, actually, it wouldn't have
mattered because you, like you said, they already saw your
resumes sell you a freshman, so it made sense.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, yeah, well thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And that was the ship conference that my very fairly
internship from it.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
And what's a SHIP stand for? For people that may
not know.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So it's s HPE.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I know it's spelled weird, but that's what it stands for.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I'm not Hispanic at all.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
But so I to get interested in that, in that
group or that conference, what intrigues you so to apply to.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Register register for that?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I actually was told by some people in Houston. So
I was originally from Houston and moved to South Carolina,
and then Prayer of You is in Houston basically, and
I had a big family friend support system in Houston,
and a lot of them went to Prayer of You
(14:20):
and so they knew.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
People I should get in contact.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And one of the people that they told me to
get into contact was a person by the name of
Chris Galvez and he became a huge support throughout my
entire college career. And he was the advisor for sure.
And so once I finally found him. He was a
hard guy to find because he had like five different
(14:43):
offices in the different engineering buildings. But once you found him,
he could really help you a lot. Yeah, he ended
up giving me a job sophomore year and I was
one of his laptechs.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Okay, so thank you Chloyd for that. That's super cool.
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So, y'all, I'm learning about my guests as you're learning,
even though I know them. I learned some things as
you learned things. So that was super cool, Kobe, thank
you for that. I want to go next to what
was one project or accomplishment that you're particularly.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Proud of from your STEM career.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
So this accomplishment happened last year with my previous team.
I just moved teams last April, but this was my
previous team from before that, and I was on an
integration team with the same company. And on this integration team,
I was tasked to design a new filter to help
(15:46):
with the data that was not being filtered correctly. And
I was partnered with a system engineer and she did
like the design work, and I implemented this design and
it took maybe six months to really good like good
results that everybody was happy with for this project, and
(16:09):
about twenty different engineering releases as well.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Wow. So it was an intense project.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
The customer had to be like happy about it, and
we would design something and implement it and it would
fix like half the problem, and then when we tried
to fix the other half.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Part of the first part of the problem would show.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
So it took about twenty tries, but we were able
to get something like acceptable for everybody. And that happened
right before I transferred to my new position, so I
left with a big bang.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, that's so exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So the customer was happy with your results and it
solve all the problems.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And you got to cross collaborate with other teams, right right,
So that's super important in the workplaces, cross collaboration to
get the job done.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That is excellent.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So my next question is have you been involved in
any initiatives or programs to encourage young women or underrepresented
groups to produce them careers.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So I haven't been involved in too many activities, but
I have been a recruiter for this company that I'm at,
and I went to Howard University and got to talk
to the students to really inspire them and give them
resume tips and just advice so that they knew like
(17:32):
what they needed to do so that they can get
that job.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And the really good.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Resumes I did pass on to the lead for that
career fair. And then the other recruitment activity that I did.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Was go to the Suite Conference Society of Women.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Engineers, and that was two years ago now, and I
went there and.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I got to talk to so many different students.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And really inspire them to go for the jobs. Like
everybody that came, they were almost all.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Qualified to get hired that day. That's so good.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, So there was a lot of good talent there
and we just talked about I talked to a few
like computer science students and I was like, wow, y'all
are doing so good. Yeah, and they were really encouraged,
and I passed their resumes onto so hopefully they had
an internship that year.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not sure. I don't get to see the other side, right.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Right, Yeah, thank you. So it's great getting to see that.
Chloe got to pass it forward. Even though she's early
in her career, she still got to help other people
the way she got to get help during her collegiate
journey and her early career journey. So it's really excited
to see that, especially because everyone, I think sometimes feels
like you have to be a manager to make an impact,
or you need to be a standior manager, or you
(18:56):
have to be in the workforce for ten years to
make a difference.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
But it's good to see that even in your first.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Years in your career, you are already making an impact
and giving back and paying for it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Now we are going to transition to learn more about
your journey of pursuing your masters while working full time.
I know it's something I did, and I know a
lot of friends that sometimes want to know what it's like,
how to navigate that and how to balance it all
with working full time and having a regular social life
(19:29):
and having your other things to do while still working
full time and going to school part time. So what
motivated you to pursue a master's in selfware engineering while
already working in the field of software engineering.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, having a master's degree at my company actually eliminates
two years of experience, so it's easier to get promoted
a lot faster with a master's degree. And I wanted
to upgrade the skills that I had and be a
more valuable player for my team.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That's excellent. I love that.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So while you're in your program right now, how you
balance work and studying and press the line and what
strategies to help you manage this workload.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So for me, having Fridays off is a big impact
on being able to balance between work and my personal
life and my school work. I usually work ten hours
a day and Monday through Thursday, okay, starting at six am,
and then I can leave at four pm. And that's
(20:40):
a key because then I have a little bit of
my evening to look at my school work and get
a game plan for what I need to do next.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Typically, I use.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Fridays to finish, like all of my work. That's like
a goal that I have. If that doesn't happen, then
it can leak into Saturday. It should definitely be done
by Sunday, but if I wanted to hang out with
some friends, then I definitely have to get it done
by Friday.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So Saturday I have the whole day for myself.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Typically my assignments are due either on Monday's or Tuesdays okay,
So being done by Sunday gives me enough time, Like
if I have to do corrections or something, or if
I find like new information that would make the answer better,
then I'll have time to like correct that before it's
(21:34):
actually due, So I can't wait till last minute. That's
procrastination is not the way to go, especially in a
master's program. Some tips and tricks that I use is
I found that one note like those wonders.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So my classes are.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
All online, and so I just copy all the notes
into one note and then I can control f everything
and find answers very quick. So it's not too much
of a time killer.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So that's excellent. Yeah. I think that's pretty much that answer. Yeah,
well that's good you kind of already have answered.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
One of my next questions was what tools or methods
do you use to stay organized and productive while balancing both?
So one, Nope, it's a good tool. Do you have
a planner anything or do you do you use your
phone calendar to put things on there for deadlines and
things like that.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
I just know either Monday or Tuesday is d day.
That is the day you have to complete everything. Bye,
So as long as like it's.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
A consistent day that everything is due and that is.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
The day there are like discussion posts, and sometimes like
the first post would be due like a little bit earlier,
like Thursday or Friday. I hope for it to be
due on Friday and not on Thursday, because then I
have Friday to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And actually like take in the information before then.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Some classes do hurt me when it's on Thursday that
the first thing is due, but most of the classes
are Friday, the first thing is due, and then Saturday
or Sunday is like the responses are due.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Gotcha? Yeah, okay, very cool.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So next I went to ask how does your current
job compliment concepts you're learning in your master's program in
any sometimes it doesn't till later, but does it with
you in particular?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yes, it actually does. So.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
The last class I took was software safety, and in
that class I learned how to keep software safe right yeah,
And and my current team we were having problems with
the software and test errors, and from what I was
learning in class, I actually found a way to better
(23:49):
like doing error handling for these tests so that test
errors don't happen and then we can actually have good
or like the results of what the test is doing
so good or bad.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Like, yeah, it's a test to see if performance is good.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
But the tests can't have test errors that error out
the test and don't log the information. So I was
eliminating the test errors with the information I learned from
the class.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
What software engineering is it all completely coding? Is there
no things? What can you test a little bit about
what is comprised in software engineering? Just in general, like
in school and career in life, because I feel like
everyone thinks you have to code all the time.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
No, So for school.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
In particular, it's definitely a variety of things. I've only
had maybe two classes out of the eight classes I'm
taking I've taken already, Yeah that involve coding, okay, so
oh wow. Yeah, so the other classes did not have
any coding at all.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There was like projects.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was more like a class called software engineering is
about creating a project, not like coding it, but like
the paperwork behind that project pretty much. Yeah, so like
the design there's a lot of graphs involved and umil diagram.
(25:19):
I'm not sure if you're familiar with that kind of stuff,
but not coding.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, So when you deal with software engineering, does that
automatically include like cloud and artificial intelligence. I know that
is the way a lot of things are going. We
see it a lot with chat ept, we see Meta
doing things with AI when we search in it. Google
is using a lot of AI. Does software engineering can
go hand in hand with that? Or is that a
whole different brain shot by?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Like, So it's within the computer science like realm, but
you get to choose your classes, so you can choose
to go the AI route or the cybersecurity route. Right,
my classes, like, there's like the core classes and then
there's elective classes, so those would be counted as elective
classes for me. Okay, but my core classes were about
(26:09):
project management and things like the software safety right, stuff
like that very cool.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think that's good for our audience to know because
if we don't study those fields or work hand in hand,
like when she cross collaborated with her team, we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Really know what other groups do.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So I really want this platform for people to learn
and understand just a little bit more about it, and
they can look it up more, but at least they
get to hear from a direct software engineer kind of
what plays a part in her career and her schooling.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So thank you for that. So next I have how
do you envision.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Your master's degree influencing your long term career path?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So I envision it helping me toward my wanting to
become a manager basically. So I'm this coming semester, I'm
about to take another project management class, and I think
that class will definitely help me like understand how to
like PI plan and see what the cost.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Of like engineers are and how long.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It would take to like complete a project estimating.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So with that new knowledge, I think it'll help me
get into like the manager's I love that, Chloe.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But that's like five to ten. Yeah, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
We're just asking about your total plan. So with how
you've done pursuing your masters in software engineering early in
your career, how did.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
You decide that?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Because I know some people wait still, Like for me,
I was like about two years into the workforce before
I did my masters in engineering management. But how did
you decide your timeline of Oh, I don't want to
wait five years to do it. I want to do
it now. How did you decide when to start that?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So I knew fresh out of college I didn't want
to start my Masters at the same time, I was
learning how to do my job. But I thought I
could give myself a year to get used to just
my regular job and then I can add a master's class. Also,
I'm only taking one class per semester so that I'm
(28:24):
not overloaded between both work and school at the same time.
So that's like a strategy I already knew I wanted
to take before like starting my masters, but I didn't
want to wait longer than a year to start it
because I didn't know if I would actually go back,
wait too long, you don't come. So I decided, yeah,
(28:48):
I'll wait a year, and luckily talking.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
To my co workers, a lot of them were.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Already doing their masters in the school they were going
to like basically took all the people from my company,
so I was like, oh, I'll just apply there too,
and yeah immediate like yes, and I was like okay, yeah,
And with like a support group that's doing their masters
at the same time, I was able to like, hey,
(29:16):
what class should I take for this and that?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
But most of them.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Were system engineers, but there was one person that was
doing like software engineering like me, So it's good, we're
actually going to be in the same class next or
this coming semester. I love that we were in the
same class last semester too, Yeah we were.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
We got good grades, Yeah I did.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I had a group of four students that we kind
of did our whole cohort together, and one was at
the same company as and which made it really unique
and really a great experience because you have someone that
can bounce questions.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
It's like, did you understand what the teacher said on us?
Or what did you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Catch for notes on this? And it's good to cross collaborate.
And I love how you said you paced yourself and
you do one class a semester. So what advice would
you give to someone You've alread hit on some points?
But are there any other piece of advice you would
get to someone that's trying to consider doing a master's
while working full time.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Other than what you already tested, other than what I
already If.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
There's nothing, that's okay, I just like to have anything
else that in your process you considered and thought out
prior to starting.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Prior to starting, I think a good thing to.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Know before you start is a lot of the classes,
at least for computer science.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Is group project center.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So I don't think I had any classes that didn't
have a group project involved. That's good. Yeah, So if
you do do your Masters, make sure you've got a
good group to do that the projects with, because it
could get challenging if you don't have a good group.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
How do you scope out having a good group? How
do you so?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
A lot of the time, especially online, it's kind of
harder to do that, but a lot of times the
teacher requires you to do like an introduction about yourself
and like what field you're working in and stuff like that,
and you kind of can surmise, like how much coding
they're doing, yeah, through that introduction, so sometimes they even
say what code coding languages they're proficioning.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
But yeah, so you just kind of have to were you.
That's great advice, great advice. I know.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Sometimes the teacher does choose groups, but when you can pick,
this is a great thing to understand because I had
to mix as well. In my my FAST's program, we
had a lot of group projects and sometimes we got
to pick, and sometimes it was decided for us. So
I mean, but it does teach how to team build
and learn how to talk and really build connections. Even
though it's over the computer even though it's online, you know,
(31:41):
having that icebreak at the beginning to get the group meeting, saying,
you know, how is your week going, what is the
high for you this week?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
What is something you.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Know you accomplished, There's something good that happened to kind
of break the ice before you start getting straight into
like this is what we need to do, who's gonna
do it? So who's gonna do which part?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
And just delegate. But but you know, it's great things
with all of it.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
And like you said, you even meet people sometimes at
your same company, which is very nice because the people
I met from my company we didn't even work together,
are at the same location, but we're at the same company,
so it was still great to meet them and find
out like, oh, you started out the location that I'm
at right now, and so you built that connection company
wise as well as through your master's program.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So thank you. That was excellent.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
So next we have are there any particular roles or
areas within software engineering you are now interested in exploring
as a result of your master's education.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So funny question, our funny answer.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I should say, I just moved into my current role
like less than a year ago, and I'm doing automation now.
And in my previous team, I was doing integration work, okay,
and so this is already like a new thing that
blew my mind. Previous team was doing C plus plus
work and now I'm all at Python. And so that
(33:05):
was like a deep dive for me because in undergrad
I was only learning C plus plus.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I had one Python class and then Masters.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
The two classes that did have coding involved it was
Python actually, okay, so I was a little bit more
familiar than I would have been if I didn't have
my master's with Python. So jumping into this new role,
I definitely had to learn a lot. Yeah, because there's
(33:35):
a lot of cool like things in Python that you
can do that C plus plus is just not capable
of doing, like in one line, right, And yeah, my
mind has been blowed, like multiple times just talking with
my team lead, like how to solve this issue and
how to solve that issue and then he's like, oh,
you could do that.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And I'm like, you can do that in Python. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, So right now I'm like all into automation. Yeah,
so I'm not really interested in anything else at the moment,
but yeah, automation is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Oh that's so exciting. Thank you. I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
And it's good that when you do start studying new things,
it gives you the exposure to that thing. And that's
that's another reason I really want to do this channel
because I feel like when you're exposed to it, you
can actually start investigating and learning more into it. But
if you never see it, you can't learn about it.
You don't you don't want to look more.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
And so thank you for that. And I feel like
it's very important for us to all have a community.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Of women in STEM what we can see and hear
real life issues or not even issues.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
But in real life journeys that motivate us.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Soul's question I wanted to ask, were there any challenges
you face during your STEM journey that made pursuing a
STEM career difficult?
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yes, So I feel like everyone went through this challenge,
but COVID nineteen during my time in college started when
I was a junior and kept going through my senior year.
So that's kind of the hardest time for me to
be staying home when I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Get a job, right, And because COVID nineteen had HIT.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
I couldn't go to these conferences that I love and
could actually talk to people, and that's how you get
your foot in the door is in person.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Extremely hard for me to figure out a better way
to try to get a full time position while still
in college because my role is you got to have
a job before you leave college.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Don't wait till.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You've graduated and then start looking for a job, like,
already have something secured before you leave. Definitely, So trying
to get something secured without having to go to the conferences,
it's just how it was. Getting all my internships was
at the conference and not having available for me was
extremely challenging.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Luckily, there were before.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Before I would say like everything shut down, there was
still companies coming to my school and doing like workshops
here and there. And my current company actually had came
to my school before, like COVID HIT, and someone from
there remembered me and told me to apply for full time,
(36:32):
and so I took them up on that offer, and
I applied and.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Immediately got a call back the next day. They wanted
me to go to New Jersey, though.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I was not trying to do that, but my options
were very limited. So I decided I did a job. Yeah,
and the company is really good. Yeah, so I'll find
a way to come back to Texas and here I
am yet the same company too.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I love that. Yeah, that's excellent. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
She was resilient, she overcame the obstacles, and she made
a plan.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
It made it happen, right.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Talking about my episode this morning, Yes, so thank you
for that, Chloe. With that, now, I want to ask
what is the best piece of career advice you've received
so far and how has it shaped your journey. So
someone gave me really good advice straight out of college
when I first started my full time.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
For employment, and they told me to not be afraid
to ask questions. And that really was a good piece
of advice because with that advice, I used it to
explore different processes that my team was doing and really
gain understanding on like how to do things on my
(37:55):
team so that we could start having like informational sessions,
sessions and how tos as well. Like that started after
I joined the team, right, and then everybody had the
same information so that we could all do similar work
(38:16):
and like help each other out when things were difficult
and be like oh, I can look at that and
actually complete stuff that way.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It was also awesome advice that when you first start,
you basically have like a year of a grace period
to like really try to understand like how to.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Work and like how to do things.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
So knowing that made me feel a lot better because definitely,
when you first start something, it's like really hard to
feel like you're doing things correctly and you're like, I
don't understand how this happened and how to do this,
and they're like, it's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah, that's why you're here so.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
You can learn and you can do it on your own.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I love that, Chloe, that that impacts even me because,
as you well know, I just moved to a new
role at the same company, just like Chloe, And it's true,
you got to ask those questions and get the help
you need so you can understand it and eventually, you know,
take off the training rails and do it.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
On your own.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
So that was great advice. Thank you for sharing it
with everyone.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Next, I wanted to ask, looking back, is there anything
that you would have done differently in your STEM journey?
So looking back, I do feel like I wanted to
get my masters a bit quicker.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Than what I'm doing now.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
But the way I would have done that is to
start my masters immediately after I graduated, and trying to
learn my new master's courses in working full time didn't
seem to be a good idea, like learning both at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
But another way I could have.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Done it was continue like my master's through college. There
was actually a program in my college where you'd only
had to stay for an extra year and then you
could have your masters in your own round. Yeah, at
the same time, But I wouldn't be getting paid for
that last year, so I didn't want to go that route.
(40:21):
So I decided to do what I currently am, and
I think it's probably the best path for me.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's excellent. I love that.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
But for the people that may want to be looking
into the other program you talked about, what is it
called it?
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Pray of You, Adam? What is that?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Do you know any information? I th it's like it's
just a master's program. Okay, you would have to talk
to your advisor to like get added to it. But
you start taking master courses in your junior year and
you complete it a year after your senior year.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Thank you, Chloe.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Also, for those at University of Alabama, they have a
STEM to NBA program as well that you can ask
your NBA advisors about or your regular academic advisors.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Because I did have some tears do.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
That route, but like you said, we can get paid
why Yeah, and if.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
You choose the correct company, they pay for your masters.
So I feel like that's the better option. Yes, yes,
So definitely research a lot of the different pathways. That
just just what's worked best for me and Chloe, So
definitely looking to both of those ways and seem what's
best for you if you are deciding to get your masters.
Our last question to close out today is what are
(41:33):
three tips for success that you would give on navigating
a STEM journey For those watching, I'm wanna tailor these tips.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
To college students specifically, Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
And let's start with forming study groups throughout your college career.
Then I would go with going to these career fairs
and conferences because that is really what helped me get
the jobs I have now and the internships that I
had then.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
And then also.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
That experience from these internships really help you get that
full time and going to resume workshops would be the
third tip because getting that help from actual like recruiters
and professionals telling you what you need on your resume
definitely blows the recruiters that you go talk to in
(42:27):
person's minds when you actually have a good resume, because
I can't tell you how many times, like I've heard,
like overheard other recruiters go, man, if they are a
resume was like better, maybe you would have given them
a chance. So that really gives you the first step
in the door is a good resume. Also, like if
you're applying online, I would say, look at the basic
(42:51):
requirements and make sure you have the same key words
of the.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Basic requirements on that rec number to what your resume
is saying.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Because is it won't pass the algorithm because I think
a lot of companies have like automatic algorithms and if it's.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Not hitting any of these key words, they don't even
look at it.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
So being able to like do that and then actually
get your resume looked at definitely helped you out.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Thank you, Chloe. I love that.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
One more question to tag on today with the getting
the career for like over your resume is did you
ever do mock interviews while you were in school, my
interviews with maybe your career center or things like that. Yeah,
we had a career center. I think I only had
one mock interview.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
What I did is I excel at behavioral interviews, so
I made sure the company in question would only do
the havioral interview and then I would be perfect.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, Well, thank you, Thank you, Thank you everyone for
watching and for joining us on all things and with Ashley.
Thank you Chloe for being here today and sharing your
journey tists for success.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I really hope you all. I learned some great things.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I learned some great things, and I heard some advice
I wish I had had during my STEM career and
journey through college. So thank you for watching.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Please like and subscribe, and we hope to see you
again next time.
Hello everyone, and welcome to All Things sim with Ashley.
I'm super excited for you to join us today. This
platform is all about empowering women in STEM fields and
we highlight STEM careers, mentorship, community service, and success in
the industry. Our motto is to be stimp powered. So
today's guest is a software engineer. We will have Chloe,
(00:31):
a rising star in the software engineering world with a
strong passion for innovation and problem solving. Chloe has spent
over three years honing in her experience in systems engineering, automation,
and software safety. She is currently pursuing a master's in
software engineering at John Hopkins University while working as a
Level two engineer at her company. So today, Chloe is
(00:54):
dedicated to breaking barriers not just in her field, but
in the workplace, culture, collaboration, and a no blame mindset.
So she enjoys empowering her team to drive impactful results.
Whether she's designing safety physical systems or developing automation workflows.
Chloe brings a thoughtful, innovative approach to every challenge. So
(01:16):
join us today as we navigate Chloe's journey, her advice
for women in STEM and how she's helping pave the
way for the next generation of STEM engineers.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Hi, Chloe Bookman, thank you. Thank you actually glad to
be here.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm honored that you chose me to be a part
of your video and you know, reach out to people
in STEM women in particular.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, thank you, Chloe.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So today, to start out, we want to learn about
what sparked your interest in STEM and how did you
decide to pursue it as a career.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, that's actually a really good question, Ashley. So, growing up,
both of.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
My parents were veterinarians, and naturally, I thought I wanted
to be a veterinarian too, just like them, until.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I got into the seventh grade and the.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Teacher gave me a project assignment about what I wanted
to be when I grew up, and so naturally I
chose veterinarian. And I had two amazing resources at home. Yeah,
and I got a lot of information from them and
realized I did not want to be a veterinarian anymore
(02:28):
because of how similar it is to becoming a doctor.
It's the same amount of schooling.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
They have, and it's just I didn't want to be
in school forever.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So I decided that I did not want to be
a veterinarian that day. So my mom saw that I
was uncertain about what I wanted to do when I
grew up, and that summer she actually put me into
a stem camp called Grade Camp that summer that I
could be introduced to the.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Different types of engineering.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And in that grade camp there were all different types
of engineering like civil and mechanical, and robotics and computer science.
And I remember one of the cool activities they had
for us was building popsiclestick towers and having it hold
(03:25):
the weight of three textbooks.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And there were thick.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Textbooks, and so we got into groups and had to
see if we could build a structure like civil engineers
to hold the weight of three textbooks. And I will
say my group succeeded, and now challenge. Another cool activity
(03:49):
was a robotics activity where we had to program this
robot to follow a line in a maze and try
to get of a maze. That was a really cool activity.
And lastly, we also had a project where we created
virtual island using Unity and we could create our third
(04:12):
person character to shoot arrows at a target on our island.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So that was.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
A really cool experience to have, and then the next summer,
my mom put me in another camp where we built.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Our own computers.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Oh yeah, so I actually ended up using the computer
I built all through high school and that was a
pretty cool experience. Where are you from, I'm from Houston, Texas,
so great Camp was with the University of Houston.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
They might still have it, I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And then after my senior or during my senior year,
my mother moved to South Carolina and took me and
the rest of the family lived there.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that was a very hard transition for me.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And when I was talking to the counselor trying to
choose my classes, my dad was actually with me. And
turns out the Great Education of Texas put me above
like where South Carolina education was, so I didn't have
many classes to take, like I already pretty much accomplished
(05:31):
most of the classes.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So the counselor was trying to get me to choose
like electives to fill in the space since I didn't
have to take a bunch of mandatory classes my last year,
and I was unsure of what electives to take because
all through high school and Houston, one of my electives
was basketball, so I was on the basketball team, cool,
(05:55):
and so we didn't have to choose.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Like extra electives. Outside of that, I never had the
chance to like see.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
What other electives were available, and so my dad was like, Hey,
there's a computer science class.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I think it would be pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And I was hesitant at first, but I looked and
it said that the computer science class was a late
in class, so they had A and B classes, and
so it was on an A day, so I have
to come in normal time on A days, but B
days I didn't have to come until second period.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And I was like, bet, I will choose.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
This class so that I don't have to come in
every day at the same time. And so choosing that class,
it was surprising because of how easy computer.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Science came to Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I realized, Wow, I think this is what I want
to do at that point in time, and I realized
you can make a career out of doing computer science.
So that's when I truly decided to pursue a career
in computer science. And then I chose to go to
college with that same idea and I was excelling.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
That's good at that time.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So that is the answer to the question Yeah, Chloe,
that is super inspiring, very cool. The reason I asked
where you were from was because I got to go
to a STEM conference in Alaska during my time in
Alabama and we got to start They wanted to start
a pipeline of how Alaska does it where they build
a computer for themselves in sixth grade and they get
to use all the way through their PhD. And it
(07:34):
was really unique because the place in Alaska.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Was very rural. It was not as much internet, not
as civilized as here.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So I got to go with like the associate dean
of my engineering school along, we had like people from
the Board of Education compan we had a teacher, we
had teachers from other college universities, and we got to
spend a week in Alaska and we helped.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
The sixth graders make their computers. Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And that was my first time getting to make a
computer ever too, So it was it's super unique to
see the process.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So I was like, I didn't even know they did that,
you know, in the South.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Or well, they don't consider Texas south, but I consider it,
So I didn't know they did it. Let me say,
I had never experienced it until I went to Alaska.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
So that's why I was like super shocked to hear that. Yep,
when you mentioned that.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So that's exactly what happened, and it worked well, but
all through my senior year of high school and then
I got a laptop for college. R I be mobile right,
Thank you, Floe, And that's how I started my career
and I never looked back.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh good, Chloe, thank you so much for that.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So we got to hear how your parents impacted your
STEM career and STEM journey. So were there any other
role models or mentors that influence your STEM journey along
the way after your parents got you on that original track?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yes? Yes, So in college I went to Prayer View
A and M University and the head of student engagement
actually really helped me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Start my career in the correct way.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So advice that she gave me as a college student
was going to these career conferences and career fairs and
just being able to do that help me to get
internships every year of my college career and.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Even as a freshman.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
As a freshman, especially as a freshman, So yeah, I
would say advice for that is as long as you
already have a GPA, so not like fall semester of
freshman year, unless you took summer classes with that college,
then yes, fall semester, because that's exactly what I did,
and I got an internship fall semester of my freshman year.
(09:51):
But if you don't go that route, then spring semester
should be possible for you as long as you had
really good grades.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I had four point zero. It was only two classes
at the time, but that's good. I graduated to MA
cum lati, so it was it was a good experience
for me.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But yeah, as long as you go to these conferences
and make an elevator speech, shake that person's hand, the
recruiter's hand, and get in the door, like that's how
you get in the door. So they'll be surprised at
how great your resume looks because of that four point
oh GPA, and they'll give you like an interview.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And when I tell you, they were fighting over me,
like that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
First interview was with can I see it was with
Northrop Grummen. They were two people were fighting over me,
one in Oklahoma and one in Maryland. And I chose
the verily one because my grandmother lives there so I
didn't have to like pay for living cost. Yeah, but yeah,
(11:00):
it was a paid internship and that was a fun
experience that companies look to get. Like, sorry, you're fine.
So companies look for people fresh out of college. They
look to see if you have an internship experience. So
trying to get that internship experience early on really helps
(11:23):
you get that first, like full time job. It was
practically so easy for me to get a full time
job just because of the three years of internship experience
that I had gained throughout my college career and good grades.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So when you were interviewing as a freshman, well, I
was gonna say, of course they.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Would know it's your first time.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I was gonna ask because when I was like a sophomore,
I went to my first NESBIE conference and I was
doing interviews and I was getting so nervous, and I
was like, Okay, I'm sorry, I just need a second.
This is my first like conference interview. And then it
was like, why did you say it first? You know,
why did you say that to begin with?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And so I ended.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Up getting an offer with Kimberly Clark. I did not
actually end up taking it. I went to NASA that summer,
but I think sometimes being having that transparent moment with
the interview or do you think that assists or would
you just say because I was gonna say I started
a love later than you, so I was just gonna say,
do you say, oh, you know in your introduction, maybe
like oh, this is my first which for call fair
(12:27):
and I'm trying to get my first internship, or did
you just for your resume?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They already knew it, so it was just like, okay, whatever.
I think it was more of the latter.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I did in my elevator speech say that I was
freshman okay, and I had a four point on GPS, so.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
They forgot the first yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
We're like oh yeah, what yeah, really okay, So that's
how you like kind of try to get into the
door with comments like that and say oh and because
I had prior like coding experience from high school, right okay, wow,
So it was Java that I learned in high school,
and then I was learning C plus plus in my
(13:05):
current classes.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So I said I was proficient.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
In Java because that was true, and I was learning
C plus plus in my.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
In my elevator speech, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So gotcha, that makes sense. I was like when I
after I said. I was like, actually, it wouldn't have
mattered because you, like you said, they already saw your
resumes sell you a freshman, so it made sense.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, yeah, well thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And that was the ship conference that my very fairly
internship from it.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
And what's a SHIP stand for? For people that may
not know.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So it's s HPE.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I know it's spelled weird, but that's what it stands for.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I'm not Hispanic at all.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
But so I to get interested in that, in that
group or that conference, what intrigues you so to apply to.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Register register for that?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I actually was told by some people in Houston. So
I was originally from Houston and moved to South Carolina,
and then Prayer of You is in Houston basically, and
I had a big family friend support system in Houston,
and a lot of them went to Prayer of You
(14:20):
and so they knew.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
People I should get in contact.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And one of the people that they told me to
get into contact was a person by the name of
Chris Galvez and he became a huge support throughout my
entire college career. And he was the advisor for sure.
And so once I finally found him. He was a
hard guy to find because he had like five different
(14:43):
offices in the different engineering buildings. But once you found him,
he could really help you a lot. Yeah, he ended
up giving me a job sophomore year and I was
one of his laptechs.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Okay, so thank you Chloyd for that. That's super cool.
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So, y'all, I'm learning about my guests as you're learning,
even though I know them. I learned some things as
you learned things. So that was super cool, Kobe, thank
you for that. I want to go next to what
was one project or accomplishment that you're particularly.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Proud of from your STEM career.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
So this accomplishment happened last year with my previous team.
I just moved teams last April, but this was my
previous team from before that, and I was on an
integration team with the same company. And on this integration team,
I was tasked to design a new filter to help
(15:46):
with the data that was not being filtered correctly. And
I was partnered with a system engineer and she did
like the design work, and I implemented this design and
it took maybe six months to really good like good
results that everybody was happy with for this project, and
(16:09):
about twenty different engineering releases as well.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Wow. So it was an intense project.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
The customer had to be like happy about it, and
we would design something and implement it and it would
fix like half the problem, and then when we tried
to fix the other half.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Part of the first part of the problem would show.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
So it took about twenty tries, but we were able
to get something like acceptable for everybody. And that happened
right before I transferred to my new position, so I
left with a big bang.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, that's so exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So the customer was happy with your results and it
solve all the problems.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And you got to cross collaborate with other teams, right right,
So that's super important in the workplaces, cross collaboration to
get the job done.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That is excellent.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So my next question is have you been involved in
any initiatives or programs to encourage young women or underrepresented
groups to produce them careers.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So I haven't been involved in too many activities, but
I have been a recruiter for this company that I'm at,
and I went to Howard University and got to talk
to the students to really inspire them and give them
resume tips and just advice so that they knew like
(17:32):
what they needed to do so that they can get
that job.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And the really good.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Resumes I did pass on to the lead for that
career fair. And then the other recruitment activity that I did.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Was go to the Suite Conference Society of Women.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Engineers, and that was two years ago now, and I
went there and.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I got to talk to so many different students.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And really inspire them to go for the jobs. Like
everybody that came, they were almost all.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Qualified to get hired that day. That's so good.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, So there was a lot of good talent there
and we just talked about I talked to a few
like computer science students and I was like, wow, y'all
are doing so good. Yeah, and they were really encouraged,
and I passed their resumes onto so hopefully they had
an internship that year.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not sure. I don't get to see the other side, right.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Right, Yeah, thank you. So it's great getting to see that.
Chloe got to pass it forward. Even though she's early
in her career, she still got to help other people
the way she got to get help during her collegiate
journey and her early career journey. So it's really excited
to see that, especially because everyone, I think sometimes feels
like you have to be a manager to make an impact,
or you need to be a standior manager, or you
(18:56):
have to be in the workforce for ten years to
make a difference.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
But it's good to see that even in your first.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Years in your career, you are already making an impact
and giving back and paying for it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Now we are going to transition to learn more about
your journey of pursuing your masters while working full time.
I know it's something I did, and I know a
lot of friends that sometimes want to know what it's like,
how to navigate that and how to balance it all
with working full time and having a regular social life
(19:29):
and having your other things to do while still working
full time and going to school part time. So what
motivated you to pursue a master's in selfware engineering while
already working in the field of software engineering.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well, having a master's degree at my company actually eliminates
two years of experience, so it's easier to get promoted
a lot faster with a master's degree. And I wanted
to upgrade the skills that I had and be a
more valuable player for my team.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That's excellent. I love that.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
So while you're in your program right now, how you
balance work and studying and press the line and what
strategies to help you manage this workload.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So for me, having Fridays off is a big impact
on being able to balance between work and my personal
life and my school work. I usually work ten hours
a day and Monday through Thursday, okay, starting at six am,
and then I can leave at four pm. And that's
(20:40):
a key because then I have a little bit of
my evening to look at my school work and get
a game plan for what I need to do next.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Typically, I use.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Fridays to finish, like all of my work. That's like
a goal that I have. If that doesn't happen, then
it can leak into Saturday. It should definitely be done
by Sunday, but if I wanted to hang out with
some friends, then I definitely have to get it done
by Friday.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So Saturday I have the whole day for myself.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Typically my assignments are due either on Monday's or Tuesdays okay,
So being done by Sunday gives me enough time, Like
if I have to do corrections or something, or if
I find like new information that would make the answer better,
then I'll have time to like correct that before it's
(21:34):
actually due, So I can't wait till last minute. That's
procrastination is not the way to go, especially in a
master's program. Some tips and tricks that I use is
I found that one note like those wonders.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So my classes are.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
All online, and so I just copy all the notes
into one note and then I can control f everything
and find answers very quick. So it's not too much
of a time killer.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So that's excellent. Yeah. I think that's pretty much that answer. Yeah,
well that's good you kind of already have answered.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
One of my next questions was what tools or methods
do you use to stay organized and productive while balancing both?
So one, Nope, it's a good tool. Do you have
a planner anything or do you do you use your
phone calendar to put things on there for deadlines and
things like that.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
I just know either Monday or Tuesday is d day.
That is the day you have to complete everything. Bye,
So as long as like it's.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
A consistent day that everything is due and that is.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
The day there are like discussion posts, and sometimes like
the first post would be due like a little bit earlier,
like Thursday or Friday. I hope for it to be
due on Friday and not on Thursday, because then I
have Friday to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And actually like take in the information before then.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Some classes do hurt me when it's on Thursday that
the first thing is due, but most of the classes
are Friday, the first thing is due, and then Saturday
or Sunday is like the responses are due.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Gotcha? Yeah, okay, very cool.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So next I went to ask how does your current
job compliment concepts you're learning in your master's program in
any sometimes it doesn't till later, but does it with
you in particular?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yes, it actually does. So.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
The last class I took was software safety, and in
that class I learned how to keep software safe right yeah,
And and my current team we were having problems with
the software and test errors, and from what I was
learning in class, I actually found a way to better
(23:49):
like doing error handling for these tests so that test
errors don't happen and then we can actually have good
or like the results of what the test is doing
so good or bad.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Like, yeah, it's a test to see if performance is good.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
But the tests can't have test errors that error out
the test and don't log the information. So I was
eliminating the test errors with the information I learned from
the class.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
What software engineering is it all completely coding? Is there
no things? What can you test a little bit about
what is comprised in software engineering? Just in general, like
in school and career in life, because I feel like
everyone thinks you have to code all the time.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
No, So for school.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
In particular, it's definitely a variety of things. I've only
had maybe two classes out of the eight classes I'm
taking I've taken already, Yeah that involve coding, okay, so
oh wow. Yeah, so the other classes did not have
any coding at all.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
There was like projects.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was more like a class called software engineering is
about creating a project, not like coding it, but like
the paperwork behind that project pretty much. Yeah, so like
the design there's a lot of graphs involved and umil diagram.
(25:19):
I'm not sure if you're familiar with that kind of stuff,
but not coding.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, So when you deal with software engineering, does that
automatically include like cloud and artificial intelligence. I know that
is the way a lot of things are going. We
see it a lot with chat ept, we see Meta
doing things with AI when we search in it. Google
is using a lot of AI. Does software engineering can
go hand in hand with that? Or is that a
whole different brain shot by?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Like, So it's within the computer science like realm, but
you get to choose your classes, so you can choose
to go the AI route or the cybersecurity route. Right,
my classes, like, there's like the core classes and then
there's elective classes, so those would be counted as elective
classes for me. Okay, but my core classes were about
(26:09):
project management and things like the software safety right, stuff
like that very cool.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think that's good for our audience to know because
if we don't study those fields or work hand in hand,
like when she cross collaborated with her team, we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Really know what other groups do.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So I really want this platform for people to learn
and understand just a little bit more about it, and
they can look it up more, but at least they
get to hear from a direct software engineer kind of
what plays a part in her career and her schooling.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So thank you for that. So next I have how
do you envision.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Your master's degree influencing your long term career path?
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So I envision it helping me toward my wanting to
become a manager basically. So I'm this coming semester, I'm
about to take another project management class, and I think
that class will definitely help me like understand how to
like PI plan and see what the cost.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Of like engineers are and how long.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It would take to like complete a project estimating.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So with that new knowledge, I think it'll help me
get into like the manager's I love that, Chloe.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But that's like five to ten. Yeah, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
We're just asking about your total plan. So with how
you've done pursuing your masters in software engineering early in
your career, how did.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
You decide that?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Because I know some people wait still, Like for me,
I was like about two years into the workforce before
I did my masters in engineering management. But how did
you decide your timeline of Oh, I don't want to
wait five years to do it. I want to do
it now. How did you decide when to start that?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So I knew fresh out of college I didn't want
to start my Masters at the same time, I was
learning how to do my job. But I thought I
could give myself a year to get used to just
my regular job and then I can add a master's class. Also,
I'm only taking one class per semester so that I'm
(28:24):
not overloaded between both work and school at the same time.
So that's like a strategy I already knew I wanted
to take before like starting my masters, but I didn't
want to wait longer than a year to start it
because I didn't know if I would actually go back,
wait too long, you don't come. So I decided, yeah,
(28:48):
I'll wait a year, and luckily talking.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
To my co workers, a lot of them were.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Already doing their masters in the school they were going
to like basically took all the people from my company,
so I was like, oh, I'll just apply there too,
and yeah immediate like yes, and I was like okay, yeah,
And with like a support group that's doing their masters
at the same time, I was able to like, hey,
(29:16):
what class should I take for this and that?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
But most of them.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Were system engineers, but there was one person that was
doing like software engineering like me, So it's good, we're
actually going to be in the same class next or
this coming semester. I love that we were in the
same class last semester too, Yeah we were.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
We got good grades, Yeah I did.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I had a group of four students that we kind
of did our whole cohort together, and one was at
the same company as and which made it really unique
and really a great experience because you have someone that
can bounce questions.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
It's like, did you understand what the teacher said on us?
Or what did you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Catch for notes on this? And it's good to cross collaborate.
And I love how you said you paced yourself and
you do one class a semester. So what advice would
you give to someone You've alread hit on some points?
But are there any other piece of advice you would
get to someone that's trying to consider doing a master's
while working full time.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Other than what you already tested, other than what I
already If.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
There's nothing, that's okay, I just like to have anything
else that in your process you considered and thought out
prior to starting.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Prior to starting, I think a good thing to.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Know before you start is a lot of the classes,
at least for computer science.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Is group project center.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So I don't think I had any classes that didn't
have a group project involved. That's good. Yeah, So if
you do do your Masters, make sure you've got a
good group to do that the projects with, because it
could get challenging if you don't have a good group.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
How do you scope out having a good group? How
do you so?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
A lot of the time, especially online, it's kind of
harder to do that, but a lot of times the
teacher requires you to do like an introduction about yourself
and like what field you're working in and stuff like that,
and you kind of can surmise, like how much coding
they're doing, yeah, through that introduction, so sometimes they even
say what code coding languages they're proficioning.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
But yeah, so you just kind of have to were you.
That's great advice, great advice. I know.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Sometimes the teacher does choose groups, but when you can pick,
this is a great thing to understand because I had
to mix as well. In my my FAST's program, we
had a lot of group projects and sometimes we got
to pick, and sometimes it was decided for us. So
I mean, but it does teach how to team build
and learn how to talk and really build connections. Even
though it's over the computer even though it's online, you know,
(31:41):
having that icebreak at the beginning to get the group meeting, saying,
you know, how is your week going, what is the
high for you this week?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
What is something you.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Know you accomplished, There's something good that happened to kind
of break the ice before you start getting straight into
like this is what we need to do, who's gonna
do it? So who's gonna do which part?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
And just delegate. But but you know, it's great things
with all of it.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
And like you said, you even meet people sometimes at
your same company, which is very nice because the people
I met from my company we didn't even work together,
are at the same location, but we're at the same company,
so it was still great to meet them and find
out like, oh, you started out the location that I'm
at right now, and so you built that connection company
wise as well as through your master's program.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So thank you. That was excellent.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
So next we have are there any particular roles or
areas within software engineering you are now interested in exploring
as a result of your master's education.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So funny question, our funny answer.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I should say, I just moved into my current role
like less than a year ago, and I'm doing automation now.
And in my previous team, I was doing integration work, okay,
and so this is already like a new thing that
blew my mind. Previous team was doing C plus plus
work and now I'm all at Python. And so that
(33:05):
was like a deep dive for me because in undergrad
I was only learning C plus plus.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I had one Python class and then Masters.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
The two classes that did have coding involved it was
Python actually, okay, so I was a little bit more
familiar than I would have been if I didn't have
my master's with Python. So jumping into this new role,
I definitely had to learn a lot. Yeah, because there's
(33:35):
a lot of cool like things in Python that you
can do that C plus plus is just not capable
of doing, like in one line, right, And yeah, my
mind has been blowed, like multiple times just talking with
my team lead, like how to solve this issue and
how to solve that issue and then he's like, oh,
you could do that.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And I'm like, you can do that in Python. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, So right now I'm like all into automation. Yeah,
so I'm not really interested in anything else at the moment,
but yeah, automation is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Oh that's so exciting. Thank you. I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
And it's good that when you do start studying new things,
it gives you the exposure to that thing. And that's
that's another reason I really want to do this channel
because I feel like when you're exposed to it, you
can actually start investigating and learning more into it. But
if you never see it, you can't learn about it.
You don't you don't want to look more.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
And so thank you for that. And I feel like
it's very important for us to all have a community.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Of women in STEM what we can see and hear
real life issues or not even issues.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
But in real life journeys that motivate us.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Soul's question I wanted to ask, were there any challenges
you face during your STEM journey that made pursuing a
STEM career difficult?
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yes, So I feel like everyone went through this challenge,
but COVID nineteen during my time in college started when
I was a junior and kept going through my senior year.
So that's kind of the hardest time for me to
be staying home when I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Get a job, right, And because COVID nineteen had HIT.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
I couldn't go to these conferences that I love and
could actually talk to people, and that's how you get
your foot in the door is in person.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Extremely hard for me to figure out a better way
to try to get a full time position while still
in college because my role is you got to have
a job before you leave college.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Don't wait till.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You've graduated and then start looking for a job, like,
already have something secured before you leave. Definitely, So trying
to get something secured without having to go to the conferences,
it's just how it was. Getting all my internships was
at the conference and not having available for me was
extremely challenging.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Luckily, there were before.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Before I would say like everything shut down, there was
still companies coming to my school and doing like workshops
here and there. And my current company actually had came
to my school before, like COVID HIT, and someone from
there remembered me and told me to apply for full time,
(36:32):
and so I took them up on that offer, and
I applied and.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Immediately got a call back the next day. They wanted
me to go to New Jersey, though.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I was not trying to do that, but my options
were very limited. So I decided I did a job. Yeah,
and the company is really good. Yeah, so I'll find
a way to come back to Texas and here I
am yet the same company too.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I love that. Yeah, that's excellent. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
She was resilient, she overcame the obstacles, and she made
a plan.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
It made it happen, right.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Talking about my episode this morning, Yes, so thank you
for that, Chloe. With that, now, I want to ask
what is the best piece of career advice you've received
so far and how has it shaped your journey. So
someone gave me really good advice straight out of college
when I first started my full time.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
For employment, and they told me to not be afraid
to ask questions. And that really was a good piece
of advice because with that advice, I used it to
explore different processes that my team was doing and really
gain understanding on like how to do things on my
(37:55):
team so that we could start having like informational sessions,
sessions and how tos as well. Like that started after
I joined the team, right, and then everybody had the
same information so that we could all do similar work
(38:16):
and like help each other out when things were difficult
and be like oh, I can look at that and
actually complete stuff that way.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It was also awesome advice that when you first start,
you basically have like a year of a grace period
to like really try to understand like how to.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Work and like how to do things.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
So knowing that made me feel a lot better because definitely,
when you first start something, it's like really hard to
feel like you're doing things correctly and you're like, I
don't understand how this happened and how to do this,
and they're like, it's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah, that's why you're here so.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
You can learn and you can do it on your own.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I love that, Chloe, that that impacts even me because,
as you well know, I just moved to a new
role at the same company, just like Chloe, And it's true,
you got to ask those questions and get the help
you need so you can understand it and eventually, you know,
take off the training rails and do it.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
On your own.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
So that was great advice. Thank you for sharing it
with everyone.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Next, I wanted to ask, looking back, is there anything
that you would have done differently in your STEM journey?
So looking back, I do feel like I wanted to
get my masters a bit quicker.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Than what I'm doing now.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
But the way I would have done that is to
start my masters immediately after I graduated, and trying to
learn my new master's courses in working full time didn't
seem to be a good idea, like learning both at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
But another way I could have.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Done it was continue like my master's through college. There
was actually a program in my college where you'd only
had to stay for an extra year and then you
could have your masters in your own round. Yeah, at
the same time, But I wouldn't be getting paid for
that last year, so I didn't want to go that route.
(40:21):
So I decided to do what I currently am, and
I think it's probably the best path for me.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's excellent. I love that.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
But for the people that may want to be looking
into the other program you talked about, what is it
called it?
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Pray of You, Adam? What is that?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Do you know any information? I th it's like it's
just a master's program. Okay, you would have to talk
to your advisor to like get added to it. But
you start taking master courses in your junior year and
you complete it a year after your senior year.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Thank you, Chloe.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Also, for those at University of Alabama, they have a
STEM to NBA program as well that you can ask
your NBA advisors about or your regular academic advisors.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Because I did have some tears do.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
That route, but like you said, we can get paid
why Yeah, and if.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
You choose the correct company, they pay for your masters.
So I feel like that's the better option. Yes, yes,
So definitely research a lot of the different pathways. That
just just what's worked best for me and Chloe, So
definitely looking to both of those ways and seem what's
best for you if you are deciding to get your masters.
Our last question to close out today is what are
(41:33):
three tips for success that you would give on navigating
a STEM journey For those watching, I'm wanna tailor these tips.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
To college students specifically, Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
And let's start with forming study groups throughout your college career.
Then I would go with going to these career fairs
and conferences because that is really what helped me get
the jobs I have now and the internships that I
had then.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
And then also.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
That experience from these internships really help you get that
full time and going to resume workshops would be the
third tip because getting that help from actual like recruiters
and professionals telling you what you need on your resume
definitely blows the recruiters that you go talk to in
(42:27):
person's minds when you actually have a good resume, because
I can't tell you how many times, like I've heard,
like overheard other recruiters go, man, if they are a
resume was like better, maybe you would have given them
a chance. So that really gives you the first step
in the door is a good resume. Also, like if
you're applying online, I would say, look at the basic
(42:51):
requirements and make sure you have the same key words
of the.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Basic requirements on that rec number to what your resume
is saying.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Because is it won't pass the algorithm because I think
a lot of companies have like automatic algorithms and if it's.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Not hitting any of these key words, they don't even
look at it.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
So being able to like do that and then actually
get your resume looked at definitely helped you out.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Thank you, Chloe. I love that.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
One more question to tag on today with the getting
the career for like over your resume is did you
ever do mock interviews while you were in school, my
interviews with maybe your career center or things like that. Yeah,
we had a career center. I think I only had
one mock interview.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
What I did is I excel at behavioral interviews, so
I made sure the company in question would only do
the havioral interview and then I would be perfect.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, Well, thank you, Thank you, Thank you everyone for
watching and for joining us on all things and with Ashley.
Thank you Chloe for being here today and sharing your
journey tists for success.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I really hope you all. I learned some great things.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I learned some great things, and I heard some advice
I wish I had had during my STEM career and
journey through college. So thank you for watching.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Please like and subscribe, and we hope to see you
again next time.
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