Informational Interview Report: Mechanical Engineering Major

[Thanks to CT for sharing her informational interview about majoring in mechanical engineering.]

My current career goal is to graduate from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, CA majoring in mechanical engineering. I’m not sure what concentration I want to pursue quite yet, so that’s why I interviewed my cousin, who also graduated from Cal Poly with a mechanical engineering undergrad.

I interviewed her through Zoom since she lives in California, and I live in Idaho. My main goal for the informational interview was to see what she did during her years at Cal Poly, how she ended up choosing her major and concentration, why she chose Cal Poly, what she liked doing here, what clubs she enjoyed, and what kind of internships she pursued during her time in and outside of college.

I had six interview questions:

1. What clubs were you involved in?
2. Why did you choose mechanical engineering?
3. Why did you choose your specific concentration of HVAC?
4. What other activities, not related to academics or engineering, did you do at Cal Poly?
5. What other things did you do in pursuing engineering?
6. What do you like most about your job?

I selected these questions because they’re questions I would ask myself if I were going to go to college, choose a major/minor, and choose a concentration in a given undergrad subject.

What clubs were you involved in?

She explained to me how she was involved in Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Baja racing club, which is a club for building cars and test driving them, and another club that was specifically for Hispanic engineers. I am also involved in SWE, so it was good to hear that she also enjoyed her time at that club. For SWE, there are weekly meetings, and she advised me to go to them and pay attention to what the speakers are saying. Some of them came directly to SLO just so they can speak with the club, so their time is important and valuable to hear. Topics from the speakers included how to spice up our resumes, how we should download LinkedIn, and introductions to other apps so we can work on them as early as we could.

She also stated that it’s good to meet other female engineers and to see what they’re doing. Since I’m trying to decide on a concentration, she told me that I should talk to people about it there, even the speakers, to see if I’m interested in an internship during the school year or even interested in joining other clubs.

For the Baja racing club, she told me that it’s kind of an intense club. I personally know some people involved in this club, and it’s not really my interest even though there are lots of mechanical engineers in this club. But she told me it’s good information to obtain for future classes, as well as to see if I like building stuff like that. She said that she had a blast at that club, but the only downside is that it requires a los of time, especially on the weekends, and the club is serious about their racing. I’m not sure if I’d be interested in that, but she told me about some of her experiences in the club, and I don’t think they will affect my future career if I don’t join the club, so I was glad to hear this.

Regarding the club for Hispanic engineers, she basically told me that it’s a good club in which to make engineering friends, and it also looks good on a resume. I’m probably going to join this club based on what she told me because she said that it’s like SWE, and there’s only weekly one-hour meetings for it that aren’t intense at all. I’m glad she told me that it was like this, otherwise I would’ve never known about it. She didn’t say much more about this club, which is fine.

Why did you choose mechanical engineering?

She told me a variety of reasons of why she specifically chose mechanical engineering. For her first year at Cal Poly, she was pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering, but then she switched because she realized she probably couldn’t get a job with her degree if she stuck with it. Her sister, is a biomedical engineer, but she has had the best luck in finding jobs in her field. My interviewee was just too scared of not finding a job, and she knows that mechanical engineers are needed in almost any STEM company, so this was the one main factor of why she switched majors.

Another factor was because she really liked the major itself. Like she said for the clubs, it’s important to talk to people and see what they experience in their field. This is how she came about mechanical engineering. She experienced it hands-on in some machine workshops on campus.

The last factor for her is that she loves engineering in general. She loves the entire STEM field, and she told me all about the past camps she had done leading up to her career here at Cal Poly. She felt more in love with engineering every day. She explained to me some of her memories at these engineering camps, which I also went to, and it reminded me that I chose engineering because of how much I love it, too.

Why did you choose your specific concentration of HVAC?

This question was a little more serious for me because it was the main reason for contacting her. I really have no idea what concentration I want to do in mechanical engineering, and it’s a problem because I need to pick one within the next year. I’m still scared about it, but she reassured me everything will be fine.

She explained how she had to talk to many professors about what concentration to pursue as well, because she was also lost. In the end, she told me she chose HVAC because she liked designing, and she likes a process that repeats itself, which is exactly what HVAC is. I like designing as well, but HVAC can be a boring concentration, as many people have told her, even though she doesn’t believe it to be boring.

She advised me to talk to professors, and to just research all of the concentrations to see what my best interests are. She told me there’s a new concentration involving the use of energy, and it actually sounded quite interesting. Overall, she was like me when choosing a concentration, and she said she has faith in me to be able to choose well.

What other activities, not related to academics or engineering, did you do at Cal Poly?

I actually didn’t know what her response would be to this question because I never asked her what she did besides engineering-related activities when I saw her a year ago.

She told me that it’s important to stray away from academics and engineering every once in a while, just to make new friends and explore what other people are doing outside of the engineering field. But she specifically said she was a part of a fitness club for racquetball, and that this helped her make lifelong friends and stay fit at the same time. She said she even gained new skills in this sport, and she still continues to play it today. Even though she told me about painful experiences like getting hit in the eye, she said that these were some of her best memories outside of Cal Poly. Other than that club, she didn’t do anything else outside of engineering.

What other things did you do in pursuing engineering?

She kind of didn’t know what to say for this question, and I felt awkward. She explained to me that clubs and studying were her two main things at Cal Poly, and she didn’t do anything outside of that. The only thing she could think of were the internships she did, but she only did them during the summer.

She had one internship in SLO that involved in her concentration and her major. It was almost exactly like the job she has now, which is designing HVAC systems for homes and more. I’m not really too interested in her concentration, so I didn’t ask her more about that. It’s good to know that she had an internship involving her specific concentration before she graduated.

What did you like most about your job?

She explained her job to me like she did her internship. It’s almost the exact same thing but at a different company. She stated how her best friends are her coworkers because they are similar to her. She also likes how flexible her job is and how they are understanding towards her. She told me I should look for a job I would be respectful for (i.e. not be late, not complain, etc.). Even though I won’t have my “real” job until three or four more years from now, she emphasized how truly liking your job is one of the best accomplishments in life.

Reflection

All of the information she told me helped confirm what I know about myself, but it was valuable to hear about how important internships, clubs, studying, and making friends were for her. This interview definitely established a positive impression regarding the career and major, and I appreciated her tips on becoming a better engineer and choosing a concentration.

I just need more hands-on experience to find out what I really like in the engineering field because not knowing my concentration has been the most stressful thing in my life the past year. I need to explore the six possible mechanical engineering concentrations more to make sure I know which one I would love the most and would want to do for the rest of my life.

If I could do this informational interview again, I would definitely have it in person if we weren’t in a pandemic. I would want her to show me around Cal Poly. I would also ask a lot more questions, because she was on a time crunch during this interview. I would follow-up on what motivated her to choose her desired concentration and what she did to confirm her choice. I would also about what classes she took, what her friends are majoring in, and stuff like that.

I’ve been worried about choosing a concentration for a while, and now since the pandemic started, I haven’t been able to experience hands-on what I love. I think this informational interview was very helpful, and it helped to reduce my anxiety. It’s a relief to know that my cousin was like me when she was at Cal Poly; she wasn’t even a mechanical engineering major her first year.

But I know that I need to research my options more, as well as talk to more people about it, maybe through LinkedIn and other apps. I hope to do more informational interviews in the future because this one also helped me learn more about what I can do to enhance my undergrad experiences.

I sent a thank-you message over text following the informational interview because I know her time is valued. Just like she helped me, I hope to help my younger cousin someday.