《財富》雜志的Entry/Level專欄專門為尋找初級崗位以及目前從事初級崗位人們開設。我們采訪初級崗位的員工,了解工作情況,如何入職以及下一步想做什么等等。為行文清晰起見,主人公的回答經過編輯。 2018年5月杰西卡·沈畢業于弗吉尼亞理工大學電氣工程專業。現在,她正在通用汽車的兩年輪崗計劃TRACK中從事軟件開發工作。畢業后,她從弗吉尼亞州阿靈頓的家鄉搬到底特律,同年9月開始工作。 以下是沈的介紹: 通用汽車的輪崗計劃: 跟其他許多大公司一樣,通用汽車也有畢業生輪崗計劃。輪崗對我來說很有吸引力,因為剛畢業找工作,一下就確定自己想從事的領域很困難。通用汽車的輪崗計劃名為“TRACK”,是Technical Rotation and Career Knowledge(技術輪崗和職業知識)的縮寫,通常要經過兩年,期間輪崗三次,每次八個月,也可以輪崗一年或四個月,取決于具體的工作任務。如果你不喜歡某個崗位,可以早點換。如果找到了真心喜歡的崗位,也有留下來不繼續輪崗的情況。 目前的崗位: 我現在是第一次輪崗,已經快滿8個月,7月換到下個崗位。我是軟件工程師,負責開發汽車信息娛樂軟件,特別是卡車和SUV的拖車應用。我們在為2022年的車型開發,很可能等我完成輪崗項目以后很長時間都完不成。但這項工作還是挺酷的,因為在幾年之后能夠見到實際應用。 日常生活: 部門里的每個人都在早上9點或9點半左右上班,下午5點過一點下班,有時候要到6點,工作氛圍挺輕松。我每天早上8點左右起床,能睡個好覺。早上9點半,開會同步工作進度。部門里有塊信息板,每個人寫上自己正在負責的工作,然后在辦公室里討論昨天做了什么和今天的計劃,明確每個人的職責,同步會大約要開15分鐘。辦公室布局是開放式的,但我們都坐在自己的辦公桌旁,不會經常走動,因為屋里有一堆測試設備。辦公桌上都有車的零件,測試軟件時不必用真車,在辦公桌上測試就行了。我主要負責修復小的軟件缺陷,多數時候都坐在辦公桌前寫代碼,也有一部分工作內容是車輛測試。我們有一批2019年款測試車,能開出去,里面安裝了新開發的軟件。 沒有經驗: 我在軟件崗位上幾乎沒有什么經驗,因為電氣工程專業不太涉及寫代碼。所以我特別怕自己作不出多少貢獻,但團隊一直都非常理解我,也常幫助我。每當我遇到問題,他們都會毫不猶豫地坐下來幫我解決。這是輪崗中非常有價值的收獲。 輪崗崗位: 幾乎每個輪崗周期都有一個小型招聘會。在換崗的幾個月以前,可以跟不同部門的經理交談,尋找感興趣的崗位。還會有一項調查幫著找合適的工作。 在通用汽車的下一個崗位: 雖然軟件工程很酷,但我當然希望接觸更多跟電氣有關的工作,比如硬件和布線等,因為我的專業就是電氣工程。所以,我在關注叫“創新電氣”的崗位,職責是開發概念車或很酷的新創意之類,然后提供給其他部門開發,就像個創業公司。這個團隊負責開發概念和原型,迅速構建模型,然后向其他部門解釋概念。如果公司里其他人看好某個創意,就會拿過來應用在生產中,也會繼續開發。聽上去真的很酷,而且與眾不同,因為其他大多數輪崗更多關于生產或典型制造周期什么的。我喜歡開發新東西,哪怕可能不會實際生產。我感興趣的另一項工作是系統工程,主要負責Wi-Fi、藍牙和網絡連接。很多此類技術并不是為汽車開發,而是用在電視和電腦上,所以要做很多修改。另一個記下的崗位是車輛測試,我感覺這個崗位的職責是監測通話質量,看看在車里用藍牙通話時,有沒有通話質量很糟糕、有回聲或類似問題。 對意料之外的事情持開放態度: 老實說,我原來沒有太考慮過通用汽車,都沒怎么留意過。 當時學校舉行了大型的工程領域招聘會,我排著隊想跟實習過的一家公司談談,只是想打個招呼,跟招聘人員聊兩句。說完話離開時,我路過通用汽車的展臺,他們有一大批招聘人員,其中一位跟我說話,后來變成我去找他們。他拿了我的簡歷,當場給了我面試機會,這對我來說很重要,因為我在招聘會上運氣向來不太好,現場環境令人焦慮,所有人都在互相競爭。通用汽車的展臺非常友好,讓人很放松。 面試過程: 校園招聘會結束后的第二天,我去參加了面試,只是為了大致了解我。幾星期后,我收到了一份現場面試邀請,然后我飛去底特律,面試過程很棒,開了一堆車,非常有趣。 接受工作: 幾個星期以后,我拿到了聘用通知書,通用汽車給了我兩周的答復時間。快到答復最后期限我才決定接受,因為之前我從來沒想過搬去密歇根州,也沒想過要做汽車行業,感覺怪怪的,心里不是很肯定。 大四剛開始就找到工作的感覺: 說實話,感覺有點怪。我認識許多很快找到工作的人,整個學年里都非常輕松,我卻受到媽媽和許多好友的質疑。媽媽不希望我搬到底特律,她想讓我去西雅圖或舊金山之類的科技大城市。所以剛開始的時候感覺不是太好。我的很多朋友都要去科技大城市工作,每次別人問“畢業后你要去哪”,都有點尷尬。我一說“密歇根”,對方經常立刻說,“哦,那里太冷了”或是“你為什么要去那?”我在腦子里很滿意自己的決定,覺得通用汽車是值得我去工作的好公司,但聽到很多人的質疑后,我不是很舒服。 人們慢慢開始接受: 到最后,大家還是開始慢慢地接受了,但我自己花了大半年時間才覺得決定沒錯。我感覺向媽媽詳細解釋項目安排后,她才終于滿意了。現在我來到這里,跟她分享和同事們的故事,她開始認為我在這有可能成功,不一定非得去個大城市。不過我是實際搬過來,感覺做的事確實很酷之后,才開始放下心結。 找到住處: 我的室友于去年7月開始在通用汽車工作,他也是從弗吉尼亞理工大學畢業的。我們來這里的時候,他就快要入職,于是我們四處找房子。他媽媽研究了很多周邊社區和住哪比較合適的信息,然后我們根據信息看了幾個地方,然后簽了租約。我住在斯特林高地,離市區大概10英里(16公里)。住處離工作的地方很近,早上開車10分鐘就能到。我們租的是一棟聯排別墅,總租金為1550美元,每人分攤775美元,屋里空間非常大,足夠住了。 搬家: 搬家過程很順利,通用汽車給了我一大筆搬家費,直接把車運過來,還能租輛搬家卡車。我想,如果當時我要求請搬運工,他們也會同意。但是,自己開車搬家有三四百美元的獎金,所以我還是選擇自己開車。搬家費要到發工資時才會給,我想盡快拿到那筆錢。 底特律: 從小到大,我總是聽說底特律非常可怕和危險。因此我一直以來的印象都是,底特律不適合年輕專業人士居住。但我搬來以后才發現,這里其實氛圍很積極,有各種有趣的社區活動,讓我很驚喜。 關于薪酬: 我的工資肯定夠花了,手頭的錢挺充裕,而且以我的生活方式也花不了多少錢。我花的錢大部分都是搭飛機回家看媽媽,我經常回家。不過我還是存了很多錢,因為現在花不了太多。 公司文化: 我非常喜歡通用汽車的公司文化,輪崗的人有很多社交活動。所以,輪換到新崗位時不會有什么不適。之前我最害怕的事情是搬來以后會交不上朋友,但其實真的很容易,年紀長一些的同事們都超級友好。能與同事和睦相處是很重要的,哪怕我在通用汽車或其他公司找到了夢寐以求的工作,如果跟同事相處不愉快也會很無趣。 跟上司的關系: 我的直屬經理負責管大約18個人,所以我不太常見到他。他不是喜歡坐下來長篇大論的人,所以多數時候只會說上兩三句話。他也不怎么發郵件,不是很容易溝通,但他是個好人。還有我的組長,嚴格來說他跟我的級別差不多,但他實際負責安排開發拖車應用時每個組員的任務。我和他之間的關系很輕松,可以大大方方地向他提出需求,或者向他求助。他也很忙,所以通常不會直接回答,但會給我指明正確的方向。如果我想請一天病假或是休假的話,也需要向他申請。 輪崗計劃結束后,她想不想繼續留在通用汽車: 我覺得應該會留下來。對我而言,這一點還很難說,主要看有沒有找到喜歡的崗位。是的,我現在就是這么想的,這是個重大決定。 工作中遇到最大的難題: 做這份工作之前我沒怎么寫過代碼,所以剛開始幾個月很艱難。在工作和業余時間,我花了很多時間在線學習免費的計算機科學課程,想盡快地掌握工作需要的知識。我花了兩個半還是三個月才真正做到獨立工作。過渡階段有點難熬,因為有太多東西要學,而且不知道從哪入手。 工作最令人喜歡的部分: 車輛測試。我坐在辦公桌前寫代碼時總感覺有點脫節,因為我從來沒有開過卡車,也沒有拖過什么東西。有時候很難憑空想象。當我真正坐在卡車里觀察車輛工作時感覺真的很酷,理論終于結合了實際。 通用汽車的內部折扣: 有員工折扣,還有基于績效的折扣。每年都會做一次績效評估,然后根據績效給出具體的金額,這是標準的員工折扣之外的額外折扣。每種車的折扣大概都不一樣。對我們來說,某些型號的車會更優惠一些。 從前和現在的業余活動: 我加入了少數族裔工程師組織,亞洲科學家和工程師協會(Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers)。加入協會之后,我覺得為很多工作和生活上的事情做好了準備。協會的目標是教育亞裔學生,現在我明白了領導力的價值,因為領導崗位上的亞裔很少。 關于長期計劃: 我將來肯定會從事技術工程工作。我知道很多人最終會進入管理層,但我肯定不想走那條路。 對從前的自己有何忠告: 不要自我設限。我覺得在大學里找工作時經常自我否定,還沒有申請就先退縮了。我求職過程中不敢向某些公司投簡歷,因為感覺沒有機會,這種態度太消極了。如果不去申請就永遠不會知道結果,對吧?打開思路努力尋找機會,不要被動地等機會上門。(財富中文網) 譯者:艾倫 審校:夏林 |
Fortune’s Entry/Level column is dedicated to people looking for and working in entry-level positions—read the full series here. We interview entry-levelers about their jobs, how they got them, what they want to do next, and more. The subject’s answers are edited for clarity. Jessica Shen graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in May 2018. Now, she’s trying her hand at software development in GM‘s two-year rotational program, TRACK. She relocated from her hometown of Arlington, VA to Detroit to begin working at the automaker the September after graduation. Here’s what Shen has to say about… GM’s rotational program: GM, like a lot of other big companies, has a new-graduate rotational program. That’s really what drew me in because it’s kind of hard to apply for a job and go in straight from college and know that’s where you want to work. GM’s program is called TRACK—it stands for Technical Rotation and Career Knowledge. Typically, you would do two years, three rotations of eight months each. But you can also have a year-long rotation or a four-month-long rotation, and it just depends on what your assignment is. If you don’t like it, you can exit early. Or if you have rotation you really like, there’s also been cases of people staying and not rotating anymore. Her current role: Right now I’m in my first rotation, and I’ve been here for about 8 months. I’m going to be moving in July. I’m a software engineer, working on infotainment in the car, specifically the trailering app for trucks and SUVs. Right now we’re working on the model year ’22. None of my stuff will be out until probably long after I’m done with the rotation program. But it’s still pretty cool because I can see them come to life in a few years. Her day-to-day: Everyone in department comes in around 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m., and then works until a little past 5 p.m., maybe 6 p.m. some days. It’s pretty relaxed. I wake up around 8 every morning, which is pretty comfortable. We have a daily sync-up at 9:30. We have a board where everyone writes what they’re working on, then we go around the room and talk about what we did yesterday and what your plan is for today. It gives everyone accountability. That meeting is about 15 minutes. We have an open office layout, but we do stay at our desks. We don’t move around much because there’s a bunch of testing equipment. We have components of a car in our desks so if you’re testing software you don’t have to go to a car, you can just test it at your desk. I work mostly on doing little software defect-fixes. Most of the time, I’m sitting at my desk coding. But there are parts of my job where I get to go vehicle-testing. We have a bunch of model year ’19 vehicle systems that we’re allowed to drive out in public, but with our newer software installed inside. Being inexperienced: In this software role, I came in with little experience because as an electrical engineer, there’s not much coding involved. So I was really nervous I wouldn’t be able to contribute much, but my team has been super understanding and helpful. Anytime I have any questions, people have no hesitation to sit down and walk me through it. That’s been a really valuable part of the experience. Rotating roles: There’s a mini-career fair almost every rotation cycle. It’s a few months before the rotation date, and you talk to different managers to figure out what you want. And then there’s a survey to get you matched with a role. Her next job at GM: While software engineering is pretty cool, I definitely want to see more of the electrical side, like hardware and wiring and stuff, because I studied electrical engineering in college. So I was looking into this role called innovation electrical. They’re working on more of the concept cars or cool new ideas that they can give to other departments to flesh out. It’s almost start-up-like. They take concepts, prototype things, quickly mock up something, and then explain the concept to someone else. And if someone else at GM thinks it’s a good idea, then they’ll take it and run with it, and continue to develop. That sounds really cool to me. It’s different because most of the other rotations are more production-based or typical manufacturing cycle stuff. I like the idea of working on something new, and maybe something that wouldn’t be produced. Another job I was interested in was systems engineering, which would be working with wi-fi and bluetooth, and connectivity. Because a lot of those technologies weren’t developed to work with a car, but with TVs and computers. There are a lot of modifications that need to be done. And then I the other role I put down was vehicle testing. I think the specific role was to monitor the phone call quality if you make a bluetooth call in your car, just to see if it was horrible or echoey or that kind of thing. Being open to something unexpected: To be honest, I wasn’t really considering GM, it wasn’t really ever on my radar. At my school’s big engineering career fair, I was waiting in line to talk to the company that I had interned with, just to say hi and catch up with the recruiter. I ended up passing by the GM Booth as I was leaving, and they had a ton of recruiters hanging out. One of them started a conversation and I ended up talking to them instead. He took my resume and gave me an interview on the spot, which was a big deal for me because I had never really had much luck with career fairs, because it’s kind of an anxious environment. Everyone is competing with each other. The GM Booth was very friendly and super-relaxed. The interview process: I got an interview the day after the career fair on campus at our career center. That one was just a get-to-know-me, and a few weeks later, I got an onsite interview invitation. So I flew out to Detroit and the interview was great. They let us drive a bunch of cars, it was really fun. Accepting the job: A few weeks later, I got the job offer. GM gave me two weeks to respond. I accepted at the end of that period because I was a little unsure, since it was a little of a weird move for me because I was never expecting to move to Michigan or to work on cars. Having a job at the beginning of senior year: To be honest, it was a little weird. I know a lot of people who got hired right away were super-relaxed throughout the school year. But I actually faced a lot of non-acceptance from my mom and a lot of my closer friends. My mom didn’t like the idea of moving me to Detroit. She wanted me to move to some big tech city like Seattle or San Francisco. So it didn’t really feel that positive right away. A lot of my friends were moving to big tech cities like that. So I felt super out of place when people asked, “Where are you going after graduation?” And I would say, “Michigan.” The first response was usually like, “oh, it’s so cold,” or, “why are you going there?” In my head, I felt comfortable with the decision, and I thought it was a good company to work for, but I didn’t feel that good for a lot of it, too. Coming to terms with other people’s expectations: Eventually, people started accepting it. But it took a good part of the year for me to feel like I was making the right choice. I think my mom eventually got comfortable with it when I explained to her the program I’m getting into. And now that I’m here, I share with her the stories of other people that are working with me, and she’s starting to see you can be successful here. It doesn’t have to be a big city. But it really took until I moved here and started to have that closure because I felt like I’m actually working on cool stuff. Finding a place: My roommate started at GM in July and also graduated from Virginia Tech. We came here right before his start date, and then we just looked around. His mom had done a lot of research on neighborhoods and where to live. So we just kind of went from there, found a few places to check out, and signed. I live in Sterling Heights, like 10 miles from the city. Our place is really close to where I work, really just a 10 minute drive every morning. Our combined rent is $1,550, so $775 each for a townhouse with a lot of space. It’s way more space than we need. Moving in: The moving process was super nice. GM gave me a pretty big sum for relocation expenses. They also paid directly for the shipment of my car here, and for me to rent a moving truck. And I think if I had asked for movers, they would have given them to me as well. But there was like a self-drive reward, that was $300 or $400, so since I drove myself, I got that. The relocation money came later in our paycheck, and I wanted that bonus right away. Detroit: Growing up, I had always heard Detroit’s really scary and dangerous. So I always had this impression that it’s not a good place for a young professional to live. But I moved here and it’s actually a really up-and-coming area. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by all the fun community events that I’ve been going to. What she’s paid: I definitely make enough money. I have more money than I need, and for my lifestyle, I don’t really spend much. Most of my spending money ends up being for flights home. I fly home to see my mom every so often, stuff like that. But otherwise, I’ve just been saving a lot because I don’t really need to spend that much right now. The company culture: I like the company culture a lot. There’s a lot of social events for the rotation people. So it’s pretty comfortable when we transition into a job. The thing I was most scared of, moving here, was not meeting friends. But it’s been really easy and my older coworkers are all super-friendly. The people that I’m working with matter because even if I get my dream job, at GM or elsewhere, if you’re working with people you don’t like, it’s no fun. Her relationship with her boss: I don’t really see my direct manager often because he’s in charge of like 18 people. He’s not the type to sit down and talk, so a lot of our conversations have been maybe three sentences. He also doesn’t email very much. So he’s kind of hard to communicate with, but he’s a nice person. But there’s also my team leader, who’s technically the same level as me, but he’s really the person in charge of planning what everyone’s doing within our trailering app. My relationship with him is pretty relaxed. I feel comfortable asking him whatever I need or letting him know if I need help. He doesn’t usually directly answer because he’s also pretty busy, but he’ll point me in the right direction. He’s also the one I’ll ask if I need to take a sick day or if I’m going away on vacation. If she wants to stay at GM after her rotational program: I think so. It’s kind of hard for me to say since it really depends on if I find a role that I feel like, yes, this is for me because that’s a hard decision to make. The hardest part of her job: I hadn’t coded much before this job. So the first few months were pretty rough. I was spending a lot of time at and outside of work taking free online computer science courses, just trying to learn everything as fast as possible. Getting to the point where I could work on something independently took a whole two and a half, three months. That transition was a little hard, just because there’s so much to learn, and it was kind of hard to figure out where to start. Her favorite part of the job: Vehicle testing. I feel kind of disconnected when I’m sitting at my desk coding, especially because I never owned a truck or had the need to tow something. Sometimes it’s hard for me to visualize. It’s really cool when I get to sit in a truck and see it working and make that connection. GM discounts: There’s an employee discount, and then there’s also a performance-based discount. Every year, we do a performance evaluation and then there’s a numerical translation of how well you’re doing into some sum of money. That’s on top of our standard employee discount. I think it’s different for every car. Certain models are cheaper than others for us. Her extracurriculars then and now: I’ve been really involved in this minority engineering organization, the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE). That’s a big reason I feel I’m prepared for a lot of the work-life stuff. The goal is educating Asian students, so I know the value of leadership, because a lot of Asians are very underrepresented in leadership roles. Her long-term plans: I definitely see myself doing a technical engineering role in the future. I know a lot of people end up in management, but I definitely don’t want to go that route. Advice to her younger self: Don’t limit yourself. I think I spent a lot of time in my job search in college saying no before I even applied. In my application process, I wouldn’t apply to certain companies because I thought they wouldn’t take me. But that’s going into it with a negative attitude. You’ll never know if you don’t apply to it, right? Go in more open-minded and really look for opportunities instead of waiting for them to come to you. |