Planning Ahead

So far in the couple weeks, there has been some organizational restructuring at work. This led to my transition from being an Engineer on second shift to first shift. It has been a bit hectic since I still wear the navy blue clean room gown which indicates that I am part of the Maintenance department. However, most don’t know that I have been doing Engineering work for over 3 years now. Soon that will change as I get handed off to my Laser Scientist that I worked closely with since I started. He got promoted to Engineering Manager while I was out on FMLA. When I am under him, I will be switched to the white clean room gown uniform for Engineers, indicating that I have been released from my ties to Maintenance duties.

After transitioning to first shift, I am slowly building up a new work ethic where I priotize programming over all else. This doesn’t mean I dropped my other responsibilities, I just need to priotize gaining skills for Software Development to ease a potential job change in the future. I need to prove myself to the Software Engineering Mananger who allowed me to start assisting with Software Development for Laser Diode applications at the company.

If I plan well, my goal is to become an Automation Engineer by title and transition fully onto his team. This will be my final step at the company in my opinion, based on my long 5 year tenure at the company, I do not see myself able to gain any upward movement beyond this title.

This is where I gained a fantastic idea. Recently, I filled out some forms for my wife to get Tuition Reimbursement at the company. Visually remembering the form, I noticed there was a checkbox for the type of courses the company reimbursed which included Graduate level courses. If you see where I’m going with this now, you bet it is what you think it is.

I have decided that I will pursue a Masters Degree in Computer Science next year. The school must be online and must be competitive as well. In order to progress in my career and open new doors as I already am gaining industry experience. I will try and attend Georgia Tech’s Online Masters for Computer Science (OMSCS).

The goal right now is to gain acceptance at the University and attend Fall 2026.

Best,
Johnny