The Value of an Organization
A recap of my time at IEEE UC San Diego
Joining an organization is, in my opinion, essential to every engineer’s career. International groups like IEEE, ACM, AIAA, SWE, and WiC are great professional networks and can connect you to thousands of people.
However, they also receive a lot of flak. Many professionals don’t see the point. To many, their relationship with their organization is limited to weekly spam emails and a monthly magazine that gets tossed straight into the trash. To an extent, they’re right. But in my past two years of being a part of IEEE, I’ve found tremendous value in ways that many haven’t. It takes a shift in mindset.
Finding an organization
After my first year of college, I realized that I wasn’t making the best use of my time at UC San Diego. Not a lot of people realize this about me, but I didn’t even have a resume by my second year of college. I had no hands-on experience and I had practically no technical skills so there was little point in spending the time making one. I sought to change this and I figured a great start would be by joining a pre-professional organization.
I explored numerous options on my campus, and actually received rejections from some of them. Of course, I ended up choosing to get involved with IEEE. The organization offered so many opportunities to develop my skills. I could volunteer at its community outreach activities or attend its workshops. There were so many projects to join from its autonomous vehicles teams to its quarter long project competitions (I go to a UC so we operate on 10 week long quarters instead of semesters).
Finding a home
So, I not only signed up for IEEE, I signed up for everything it offered! I was soon participating in two projects and attending a wide variety of events.
One of the two projects, was for the aforementioned quarter long project competition, or QP for short. I participated in QP with two complete strangers on my team. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing. The other two members had little to no hands-on experience, much like myself. We struggled to even cut wood much less put together circuits or code an Arduino. I didn’t even know what an Arduino was. But in the end, I couldn’t have asked for a better set of teammates. We met up multiple times each week and wherever we lacked in knowledge, we made up for in time and effort. By the end of the first quarter, we won first place in the competition!
After that had ended, the three of us made the decision to attend IEEE Rising Stars together in Las Vegas. This was my first-ever conference. This was one aspect of IEEE that distinguished itself from other organizations at UC San Diego. IEEE, internationally, hosts 1900 conferences every single year. These conferences serve as a means to connect with members outside of your local community. It was here that I began realizing that I was a part of something greater than just UC San Diego. I was suddenly in the same room as a Vice President from Facebook and an Engineering Director at Google. And yet everyone talked to each other as if there was no gap in experience. Despite being in the presence of giants, I felt like I belonged.
Coming back to IEEE UC San Diego, I had a change in mindset. As cool as projects and workshops are, I started to feel the need to give back to my community. With the encouragement of IEEE’s Vice Chair External at the time, I started volunteering at a lot more events. Instead of attending and learning from IEEE’s technical workshop leads (Technical Chairs as we call them), I was volunteering to help them run workshops. I also became tremendously active with the club’s community outreach program. I shadowed the Outreach Chairs, who ended up becoming my closest mentors. Alongside them, I helped run robotics competitions, taught Boy Scouts circuitry so that they could earn their merit badges, and introduced young girls to STEM by helping them make their first websites. The two of them not only served as my mentors within IEEE however, but also as my mentors in life. They would provide me guidance and support in not only my activities in IEEE but they also encouraged me to pursue opportunities outside of the organization. With their encouragement and support, I ended up securing my first summer internship. This was a major milestone considering that I didn’t even know what an internship was at the beginning of the year.
By the end of the year, I had volunteered at the majority of IEEE UC San Diego’s events, completed two quarterly projects, and made a valiant (but failed) attempt at completing one of its autonomous robotics competitions. At the end of the year, one of my teammates from QP and I were given the position of Technical Chairs for the 2018–2019 school year. It was now no longer our turn to just attend or volunteer at workshops. It was our time to serve as leaders in this organization.
Finding more
Going into my term as Technical Chair, my partner and I wanted to push the boundaries of what we could do. We met twice a week during the summer and planned out as many workshops as we could. We taught a wide variety of skills, from soldering to Arduino. One of the most notable ones, and one of my proudest accomplishments to date, is the workshop we hosted at SD Hacks 2018. We collaborated with our sister organization, HKN, and made a few amazing new friends. It was a great opportunity and definitely impacted a lot of people (Some first year students we helped out even won a prize!)
However, my term as Technical Chair didn’t last for long. The position of Vice Chair External opened up in IEEE and someone needed to step up and fulfill it. The person in the role the year prior was, and is to this day, my greatest role model. As previously mentioned, she was the person who encouraged me to get more involved with the organization. But she did a lot more than that too. During the summer, she had spent a day with me and gave me valuable advice which lead me to develop a lot of confidence. In high school, I was the person who was too shy to speak in class. With her help, I became the person who could stand in front of hundreds of people and say what’s on my mind without fear. I knew that I eventually wanted to end up being a role model to other people much like she was to me and I figured a good first step would be to assume the position that she used to be in. However, before I did, it was essential that I reflected on why I was one of IEEE’s officers in the first place. Why did I feel the need to give back to this community?
The need came from the people who preceded me. The Technical Chairs and the Outreach Chairs had devoted their hearts to helping other people succeed. The Vice Chair External always went out of her way to approach me at every event. They pushed relentlessly in order to grow their community and never ceased to be the friendliest, most welcoming people I had ever met.
It was also the minor details that made me feel valuable. In the year prior, I volunteered at the first Outreach event of the year, a sumo robot competition. Months later, I came back to volunteer again at the second Outreach event - another competition, this time revolved around VEX IQ robotics kits. A significant amount of time had passed and I had only attended a single event. Yet, when I was at the VEX IQ competition, the Outreach Chairs and the Vice Chair External hadn’t forgotten my name. In this organization with around 700 members, they cared enough to remember who I was. It made me feel important.
I took on the role of Vice Chair External and my term definitely had its ups and downs. I was not on top of logistics, I was inconsistent with my responses, and I burnt out several times from overwork. But it was because I had one goal in mind. As wonderful as hosting more and more events with larger and larger crowds is, it’s pointless if you forget the names of your members. I sought to develop personal relationships with as many of them as I could. Instead of just technical workshops and projects, we also filled our year in IEEE with spontaneous boba runs and random memes. I spent my time not only teaching our members how to run workshops but also how to run marathons (Although we’re probably going to die because we’re still out of shape for our upcoming race). We were way more silly and playful than we were professional at this point. But to me, it wasn’t about the number of events we hosted or the quality of our projects (Don’t worry, we kept both of those high anyways). It was about the friendships that we made and the community that we were building.
In my year as an IEEE Officer, I hardly improved on my technical skills. What I improved upon was something much more intangible yet also much more meaningful. I grew in my ability to develop relationships with other people. In this one year, I made some of the best friends I could have ever asked for.
Finding value
I previously mentioned that I wanted to join a student organization to develop my resume. I’ve grown to the point where IEEE projects no longer supplement the bulk of my resume space. In fact, despite the enormous amount of time I’ve put into IEEE, my experience here only takes up a single line on my resume.
However, the rest of my resume is still made possible through IEEE. Not through the organization, but through its people. So many alumni and former officers served as mentors to me. One of my mentors who stayed within the organization constantly made sure my team and I were on top of our work, and when we weren’t, he covered for us without a second thought. Another mentor had pushed me to pursue side projects and internships that I would have previously lacked the courage to have attempted. Another mentor constantly comes back to give me valuable advice on how to manage a team and decide on the direction of my leadership. And my greatest mentor and role model taught me the importance of developing meaningful relationships.
But aside from my mentors, there were plenty of other important people who had a tremendous impact on my growth. My co-officers constantly gave me guidance to my actions and acknowledgement for my work. The team that worked alongside me taught me how to lead effectively. We made IEEE’s events happen and learned how to deal with so many obstacles. I witnessed each and every single one of them grow tremendously and I feel blessed to have been able to grow alongside them.
My college first year friends taught me how to inspire and mentor other people. Many of them were my first mentees and I hope that I managed to guide them towards better futures. In any case, I’m proud of how much they’ve grown in this past year and I love every single one of them.
My former Co-Technical Chair, who did QP with me two years ago, is one of my best friends to this day. In fact, most of my best friends are, or have been, a part of IEEE. I can’t thank the organization enough for all the people I’ve met and I think through them, I’ve found the value of being a part of an organization.
Why join an organization?
It would be typical at this point to go say, “You’re missing out on IEEE because you’re not trying hard enough. Go out there and get involved!” However, I think it’s definitely possible to devote yourself to an organization and gain little value from it. I’ve watched many sink hours upon hours into their work only for them to come out unsatisfied at the end. You need to have the right mindset, realizing the reason for the existence of organizations.
If you join an organization thinking it will look like good experience, you’re better off working in the industry. I won’t deny that being a part of IEEE has helped me through some of my job interviews. But the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours I’ve put into IEEE does not yield nearly as good of a response from hiring managers as the personal projects I’ve made in 24 hours.
If you join an organization wanting technical skills, you’re better off going to school or self studying in your free time. Reading that IEEE journal is not going to teach you many hands-on skills and workshops only serve as introductions; they rarely teach you a skill well enough to use practically.
One of my favorite people on this earth (You know who you are) has always told me “It’s about the people”. Organizations are, by definition, groups of people bounded by similar interests. So, join organizations for the sake of its people, not for its events or its accomplishments or its name value. Through IEEE, I’ve learned from some of the best mentors I could have ever asked for. I’ve mentored some of the best mentees I could have ever asked for. Most importantly, I’ve made some of the best friends I could have ever asked for.
A lot of people say not to mix your personal life and your professional life. I think they’re wrong. I think organizations are where your personal life and your professional life combine to connect you with some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet.
A member forever
Despite my love and passion for IEEE UC San Diego, I realized at an earlier point this year that I needed to move on to something else. I need to continue growing as a person, pursuing opportunities that are riskier but more rewarding. I want to increase the amount of impact that I could do for the UC San Diego community and I want IEEE to grow independently of me. And so I made the decision not to reapply for its officer board.
That doesn’t mean that my time with IEEE is coming to an end, however. I think it’s only beginning. The best thing about being part of an organization that surpasses the boundaries of your college campus is that it’ll stick with you everywhere you go. I’ve made friends from other states like Texas and New York as well as other countries like Korea and India, all through being a part of this organization. IEEE is a global community with hundreds of thousands of members. This means that there’s still a massive network to tap into and plenty of amazing souls that I still need to meet.
And so, while I may no longer be leading at IEEE UC San Diego, I fully intend on remaining a part of the greater IEEE community. There’s so much that I have yet to do for the organization. I intend on continuing to attend IEEE conferences around the world in order to meet more wonderful people. Once I graduate, I plan on joining conference planning committees, volunteer groups, and the IEEE Young Professionals network in order to continue giving back to the organization that’s given me everything.
Thank you.
The value of an organization lies in its people.
You can learn knowledge in school and you can gain experience at companies.
But an organization is built with the intent of connecting people.
I want to say thank you to all the people I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with thus far through IEEE. It’s bittersweet moving on from this chapter in my life but I’m excited to begin writing the next one, A Chapter Made by the values instilled upon me through all of the people I’ve met. I will forever cherish the memories we’ve shared and you’ve all made an enormous impact on my life. Thank you.
