With college applications being submitted and admissions rolling in, many MAMS students are wondering what their futures will hold. Whether it be a senior unsure of their major or a junior staring fearfully at the myriad of options post-grad, students are looking for guidance on their future.

In an interview with MAMS alumna Rachel Johnson, class of 2005, she shares her own experiences after graduation and what she learned along the way. Rachel majored in aerospace engineering at Princeton, then went on to explore roles in government, education, and  her current job at MathWorks.

“I like the idea of designing things and creating things, so I studied aerospace engineering,” Rachel explained when asked why she chose her major.  “I didn't actually have any idea what 

engineers did when I decided I wanted to be an engineer.”

However, she quickly realized her idea of engineering differed from reality in her first job post-grad: “I like the subject of aerospace engineering maybe more than the goal of it.” Rachel continued to say that while she enjoyed solving the problems in her field, the disparity between the company's goals and her own led her to reconsider her career as an aerospace engineer in the Navy.

“I'd like to give this advice to people, you know, the more you can go out and actually see what these people do, talk to people who are actually in that field, see what kinds of things do they like to do, what they actually do day-to-day, the better off you'll be,” she muses, reflecting on her own experiences.

Rachel realized that to truly fulfill her passions, she needed to branch away from her only career experience thus far: “I think I stayed too long in my first job, actually. I recommend to most people who are graduating from college now that they stay in their job for a couple of years, and then re-evaluate whether they want to stay in that job. I think you don't necessarily know whether that's the right job for you, because that's the only one you've had.”

After leaving her role as an aerospace engineer, Rachel went on to work as a teacher, and for a year, even at MAMS. She emphasized that students were the best part of her job, but eventually, she found the need for a further career change into MathWorks. She worked first on the more technical side, where she travelled around to different companies as a MATLAB expert. She noted that this experience was like a combination of engineering and teaching, her two past fields.

Though she enjoyed her role, she was offered an opportunity for a different position at MathWorks. “Now I'm a product manager,” she notes, “ which is another role that, when I was in college, I didn't know existed.” Rachel emphasizes that there are a plethora of roles and career paths that are unbeknownst to many high school and college students that can bridge a variety of passions.

“I think there's this myth that people find jobs by just, like, applying on the internet and crossing their fingers and hoping that they get it,” Rachel says, explaining how she found some of her jobs. “I think the vast majority of people find jobs because of their network.” She describes that while changing paths can be scary, it’s a necessary part of life, and the people around you will likely be facilitating that change.

Rachel is currently enjoying her role as a product manager at MathWorks, but her journey leaves a variety of lessons for current students. Her experiences illustrate how important it is to stay curious and not only embrace but strive for change; after all, there’s a whole world of opportunity waiting out there.