For the last 3 years, I have worked as an electrician for my father's company. Over the last year, I have taken side jobs by myself where I must speak with clients about the issues they are facing and produce solutions promptly. I recently worked for a woman where I had to ground all the receptacles in her home. While the skills in a position like this vary widely, the most noticeable that sticks out to me is problem-solving.

In the electrical field, there are a multitude of ways that a situation will not go as planned. For example, many of the receptacles in her house add grounds that were too short to attach on their own. For one of them, all the wires were too short to the point where it could have been a fire hazard. Instead of simply attaching the ground wires, I had to splice them together with the material I had to make them usable. I removed the receptacle that could have been a fire hazard, capped the wires off for safety, and let the homeowner know that the receptacle box needed to be blanked off instead. Toward the end of the day, she informed me that her disposal line also needed to be secured. I managed to find a junction box that would fit, a sleeve to cover the exposed wire, and extra wire to make up for the length that was lost during the securement process.

The ability to analyze a situation and produce solutions promptly is important for any situation. In my capacity as a learning assistant, my students and I run into problems all the time. Sometimes the computers at UCF do not allow them to log on and their laptops will not connect to the Wi-Fi. In those moments, I have the students check Canvas on their phones, use their laptops to at least take notes in an offline notepad, and use my laptop to search for any information we may need during the session. I will also make a note in my session log letting the advisor know the student may need to reach out to IT if the problem persists. In the field of education, it is important that people can think on their feet and address problems as they arise.

As someone who wants to create and implement curricula, there could be situations where my teachers are missing the resources they need to successfully teach a subject. For example, if an objective is meant to be taught alongside a documentary but the projector is not working, I need to be able to produce ways to teach the objective through different mediums. I could have the teachers role-play the most important parts and turn the classroom into an interactive environment Instead. Regardless of how I choose to go about it, being able to solve problems promptly without ruining quality will be an important asset to any organization.