I am a naturally nosy person. It’s actually a good trait for a writer to have since nosiness leads to great stories (but also restraining orders). As a naturally nosy person, I’m always interested in what other people do for a living. Yes, I understand that you’re a hand model, but what does that actually mean or, to quote one of my favorite Office Space lines, “What would you say you do here?”
With that in mind, we periodically reach out to engineers to find out exactly they do. Engineering covers such a wide range of sins/career options, that it’s always interesting to see what your colleagues are working on, or in this case, how they ended up where they are. With that in mind, meet Jenna Rock.
Rock, currently working at Honeywell, took an interesting route to her current position. In fact, Honeywell didn’t want to bring her on as an intern, because while she had an Associate’s Degree in electrical engineering, she had yet to receive her her high school diploma.
Rock completed her high school and college degrees concurrently, so Honeywell wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. The company eventually offered her an agreement for a full-time position upon her graduation from college.
Rock received her BSEE in June 2011 and her MSEE in 2013.
Kasey Panetta, Editor: Hi Jenna, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. Most people do high school and THEN college, but you did it a little differently. Tell me about that.
Jenna Rock: I attended a high school called Colorado Springs Early Colleges (CSEC). CSEC allowed me to take college courses on their dime and counted those courses as high school credits. I was able to fulfill all of my high school credits through my college courses except PE and language. This allowed me to focus on my college degree and courses that were fun and a challenge to me. I started CSEC at 16, before that I was home schooled. Upon learning of this opportunity my mom “flunked” me at my request so I could start CSEC as a freshman. I was on the high school campus, taking college courses, for a year a half.
Then I transitioned to taking all my courses through Colorado Technical University (CTU). CTU is on a quarter system versus a traditional semester system which allowed me to take more courses per year without being overwhelmed. Because of this, I was at school all year with no breaks/summers. Most quarters I took four classes. My last two quarters I was able to relax and only take three classes each. I graduated from CSEC with my high school diploma in May of 2011. Three weeks later, I graduated from CTU with my Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in June 2011.
Panetta: Why did you pick electrical engineering?
Rock: Because I was so young–16–my parents encouraged me to pick a degree and stay focused on that goal instead of just taking random classes that could lead nowhere. I did not know what I wanted to do but I did know that I enjoyed math. So I went down to the college and looked at all of the degrees. I found the one that required the most math credits and picked that one. It happened to be Electrical Engineering (EE). My dad is an EE and my mom also works with computers, so I figured that I should be able to handle it and could go to them with questions as needed. After my first two introductory engineering classes, I was hooked. I had so much fun playing with circuits that it did not feel like school.
Watch more: How do we get more students into STEM?
Panetta: Did you end up encountering any math or physics you hadn’t learned in high school?
Rock: Absolutely. Every college class also counted as a high school credit. So instead of taking Algebra 1 and 2, and then Trigonometry; I took College Algebra, Calculus 1 and 2, Differential Equations, and more. I never took high school physics, but I took college-level Physics 1 and 2. It was like I skipped high school, but upon completing my college degree also got credit for completing high school.
Panetta: What was the biggest challenge?
Rock: No one had done this before, so [it was challenging] working with everyone to figure out the paperwork, or how to get access to the CTU student portal. I was 17 by the time I was full-time on the CTU campus, and CTU is geared mostly for adults going back to school for their degrees.
So how do I, a 17 year old, work with adults? How do I convince the teachers that I can keep up with all of their normal students and not be a burden? There were several years where I went to school in business dress just to give the impression that I was older than I was and that I was a professional. Since the CTU classes are smaller, I started taking classes with the same group of students and we all worked together really well and soon my age was not an issue. In fact, I became the go-to person for homework help since school was my full time job and I had more time to study.
Panetta: What was the biggest benefit?
Rock: Getting to skip high school. I only say that cause of my personality. I do not think I could have survived a normal high school. I really enjoyed studying with my fellow CTU classmates. We were all focused on getting our degrees without goofing off.
For biggest benefit, I would have to say it was the help with college tuition. CSEC was like a guaranteed scholarship; all I had to do was put in the work. CSEC paid the tuition and book fees. Shortly before high school graduation, the CSEC principal helped me work with the CTU folks and got me a 50% scholarship to complete my MSEE at CTU as well.
Panetta: What did you do for post-bachelor study?
Rock: Well I took one quarter off after completing my BSEE and started in the fall of 2011. I again attended CTU due to the scholarship. I went ahead and pursued a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering. I went full time, which was two classes a quarter. I completed my MSEE while working full time. So I was working during the day and taking night classes for my masters. I completed my MSEE in March of 2013.
Panetta: How did you get the job at Honeywell?
Rock: In March 2011, I was approaching the end of high school and college so I was trying to figure out what was next. I was becoming an engineer, so I figured that looking for an internship would be a good start. My dad, Joe Rock, worked for Honeywell and he said that they were looking for interns. My dad took my resume into Honeywell, and they had me come in for an interview.
They liked me and said that they would like to bring me on as an intern. However, when they went to start pushing the paperwork through, Human Resources (HR) would not let them hire me, because I did not have my high school diploma. I had my associates degree at that point, but apparently that still did not fit the process. This frustrated the manager who wanted to hire me, so instead they gave me an offer letter of full time employment upon graduation of college. I accepted the offer. I figured if they were willing to give a high school/college graduate a chance that would work for me. It would also allow me to gain some experience and grow up a bit.
Panetta: What are you working on now?
Rock: I am still working at Honeywell. However, I have not been able to use my EE degree. We keep trying to move me to the hardware department, but it has not worked out. So I have learned a lot about security and patching systems. I have also learned about scripting, which is one of the methods used to apply patches and the security updates to the systems I work on. I have also gotten to learn about establishing process and standards and the importance of them. I help our team keep our processes documented and audit processes to make them more efficient. I have kind of become the “Jack of all trades” on our team.
Panetta: What’s your advice for students who want to go into engineering?
Rock: Do not be afraid to ask questions and desire to go above and beyond. Since I was a full time student and had nothing else to do, I would often complete the assigned lab and then go “what else can I make it do” or “now that I know how to do this, how do I apply this to this other project”. My teachers and my dad would give me extra projects to work on. I learned so much more than the basics. Also, know your resources; using the school library tutors was a life saver.
Panetta: What’s your advice for women who want to go into engineering?
Rock: I do not know that I have any advice in this department. I have never had any issues with this. My advisor on the CTU side was a woman and she was an awesome encourager. I also just treated all of my fellow classmates (men) with respect and maintained a professional attitude. I guess be willing to work hard. Engineering is fun. It is just problem solving.
Panetta: Well that’s good to hear. Thanks for joining us and good luck!
Are you an engineer? Do you have an interesting job? Do you never shut up about it? Would you like to be featured on ECN? Email me at kasey.panetta@advantagemedia.com