Friday, October 19, 2012

Why I was Chosen to Go to Indonesia

Quite a few people have reacted with some surprise that I am going to Indonesia. After all, the more exotic trips are typically reserved for those people with more than two years of experience. Plus, I don't feel like the hardest worker or the most effective employee. However, there are a few things about me that do stand out.

  1. I volunteered for the last five trips and was rejected. There is something significant to be said for persistence.
  2. I did analysis work related to four problems/improvements of this specific customer. No one else (in the world) has as much failure analysis experience with this customer's issues as I do. That sounds more impressive than it is. In two days someone could be brought up to speed.
  3. Pakistan and Costa Rica are not two places that most of my coworkers have spent time. I have experience traveling in the developing world. That is a rare skill in Iowa, and the United States to be honest.
  4. Strangely enough, I am one of the more experienced people involved in this product line. There are quite a few 2011 and 2012 graduates with only a bachelors degree in this product line. Once they have more experience, I might not get this chance again.
  5. The least tangible reason, employee engagement. This does not stand out about me, but applies to me. What employee engagement means is that the employees are excited to go to work. One rather simple way to keep people excited is change the task, even just temporarily. Doing nearly the same thing every weekday for several years may lead to the feeling that no development is happening. This topic is worthy of it's own article.
Lest this exciting situation seem out of the blue there are the reasons. When one goes through the list it actually makes a lot of sense. I am actually the perfect person to go. I can honestly say that no one has my particular skill set. Similarly, I really do not do much with engines so I will not get the chance to do altitude testing anytime soon. 

One week to go!

4 comments:

  1. You really need to stop bragging about yourself. Maybe you should look deep inside and entertain the idea that maybe this is one of the reasons that you have not been able to find a girlfriend.

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  2. Whoever the above person is is bogus as hell... on a side note "I have a certain skill set that makes it...." I couldnt help my self but to comment that haha.

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  3. I worked in a factory. Every day they changed who worked each job. We had the best morale & factory in the town.

    I like your comment David! Isaiah is a qualified worker on this project!

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  4. Thank you all for your comments! To the first Anonymous, the point of this article was to point out that while I was a good fit for this assignment, there is nothing special about me. Almost any American could have had this opportunity, had that person decided in high school to do as well as possible, get an engineering degree, join an engineering company, and look for foreign opportunities. All it takes is 12 years of work. As for the girlfriend comment, many influential people throughout history, like Mother Teresa, have not had significant others. There is more to life than a girlfriend.

    David, thank you!

    The second Anonymous, thank you! I also think you have a very good point, it is good to learn everyone else's job because the variety keeps your engagement. In other words, I'm getting to do a job not directly related to my normal daily work, and it has my full attention!

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