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Mar 18, 2008 So… what do you do?I was recently in a car with a consultant and a woman who works at the Harvard School of Public Health. They were asking me questions about my graduate program. I told them I would be here AT LEAST another 2.5 - 3.5 years and they were shocked. “But what will take so long? Just your research?” the consultant asked. “Well… yeah.” “But why? What do you do?” In these sorts of conversations, here is where I sigh and give a smile that says, “Are you sure you want to ask that question?” You have to know your audience when you answer these types of questions. If I’m talking to fellow engineers, I can tell them that I fabricate and characterize diodes. If I’m talking to non-engineers, I usually sum it up with, “I make computers work faster.” Most non-engineers say, “Oh wow, cool,” and that’s the end of that. Sometimes, though, you get someone who really wants to know more. I was once traveling with a law student friend of mine. Our flight from Atlanta to Boston was delayed for two hours, so we plopped down in some airport seats, put our feet up, and he asked, “So what do you do?” He’s a smart cookie, so as I explained, he asked more questions. I spent the entire delay and the entire flight back to Boston explaining transistors, diodes, and strain. At one point, I found myself sketching energy band diagrams on the airplane tray table, trying to explain crystal momentum. I didn’t go quite as in depth with the consultant and public health worker, mostly because I didn’t have the time and I was trying to navigate my car through Boston traffic in rush hour. We reached our destination and they commented that what I do seems very technical. Usually, that’s code for, “I don’t have a clue what you just said.” The look on my face must have betrayed that interpretation, because they followed it up with, “But you explained it so well!” I gave myself a high-five for that. I’m pretty sure they won’t be rushing off to apply to engineering graduate school, but maybe their computers don’t seem quite as mystifying anymore.
8 Responses To This Entry:Post A Response
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LOL! I know that feeling. Though, I usually get that reaction whenever my mother asks me what I do.
Posted by: ninja on March 18th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I tried to explain photoresist and masks to my mother and ended up using a sewing analogy.
Posted by: ndilello on March 18th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
“I work with technical stuff…”
Posted by: Szymon on March 19th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
i keep intending to throw a ‘carreer’ party, where i invite all my friends for dinner and each has to give a 5min ppt presentation explaining to all our friends what they actually DO all day, in layman’s terms… nerdy, i know, but wouldn’t it be fun to actually know what these people you spend so much time with do in their real life?
Posted by: Laura on March 31st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Laura, that’s hilarious. I’ve had friends ask me, “So when you say that you, ‘Go to lab,’ what does that mean?”
Posted by: ndilello on April 1st, 2008 at 10:07 am
I am a student of China,and student here also meet the same quesition like “Can you say something about what are you learning at the university”.
Posted by: wang on April 12th, 2008 at 4:11 am
sorry,there’s a mistake above .”question”
Posted by: wang on April 12th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Wang, sometimes I want to tell them, “Sure, how long do you have?”
Posted by: ndilello on April 14th, 2008 at 12:41 pm