Back in October, I was one of the lucky students who helped lead team Texas A&M during the $2009 Grassroots Challenge. I had an absolute blast during the weekend and am looking forward to returning on my own. I took many things from the competition, like the overall comradeship and bliss of budget building. However the real world lay waiting at the end of the that semester and little did I know GRM had a bit more to give.
I graduated in December in one of the worst job markets for entry level engineers. During the first 2 months, nearly every job posting I could find came up dry. With some prospective jobs in the air, I ran out of money so I needed a temporary job to support my wife and son (who was actually born the first day of my last semester, making those last 4 months very interesting). While working as a car salesman for a Chevy dealership, I heard of an immediate job opening through a fellow employee and I was able to get an interview. This engineering position had certain technical requirements and conveying my expertise beyond my degree has been difficult since there is no resume section for driveway tinkering or helping out a friend. I brought my copy of the $2009 challenge coverage to show each interviewer, explained my position in Team Texas A&M, and what our build process was like. Afterwords, I found out that each interviewer had skipped every designated question that dealt with technical experience, problem solving, or overall knowledge because the challenge and my description had displayed it all with flying colors. The following week I was offered the job.
I relayed this same message to fellow Ag's back in College Station to show them that this challenge has added benefits beyond the awesome competition and school. They are working hard to get ready for this year's challenge, and now that I'll have some more money and time on my hands, I have a chance to return as well. So thank you GRM for putting on such a clever event because it may very well have pushed me through the hardest door in a tough time. For now I got to iron some shirts, the new job starts Monday...
