Ready to become an Aggie Engineer?
Learn about the Texas A&M University College of Engineering programs to find what makes receiving an education in Aggieland so special!
![Akku.feature A team dressed in uniform gathered on green grass with a blue sky in the background, smiling and all wearing the same shirts.](https://ingenium.engr.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Akku.feature.png)
Society often celebrates those who seem to be really good at one thing. Whether it’s Stephen Curry having another stellar basketball season or Taylor Swift releasing another chart-topper, there is no doubt that success comes from being very dedicated to something specific over a long period of time. However, fully forming your life around one activity without time or energy for anything else could actually be a bad thing. After reading Range by David Brooks, I would like to share my thoughts on how you could become a better engineer and person by diversifying your interests.
Drawing Analogies
Have you ever tried something totally new and intuitively grasped it without much effort? Have you ever seen those people who can pick up any sport or instrument with ease? Whether consciously or subconsciously, we constantly draw analogies between our past experiences and our current challenges to help us solve them. Interestingly, past experiences could have seemingly nothing to do with the current situation and could still help you face it! Thus, a diverse set of past experiences gives you more tools in your figurative toolbox to solve problems in a wide variety of topics.
Expansive Networks
In college, it is really easy to pigeonhole yourself into a certain network of people. The most common tactic I see is joining organizations, hanging out with groups, and registering for classes composed of people who are primarily in your major. The benefit of diversifying your network, though, is that you end up meeting people who are completely different than you! Though this sounds obvious, it can also be really scary at first. However, as you begin to do it more and more, you begin to realize that you may be able to help solve someone else’s problems since they do not have the skillset you do. Similarly, you can get help on problems that require a skill set you do not yet have.
Finding New Interests
Though this is an extremely hot take, I think the idea behind the Entry-To-A-Major process is excellent. I mean, at 18 or 19 years old, how can you really know what you want to do for the rest of your life based on your very limited past experience? In the same way, in all the other things you do, how do you really know that there isn’t something else out there if you don’t try new activities? Though I don’t believe that you should try something for a week and then quit because it is “boring” or “difficult,” I also think that knowing when to quit and trying something new is incredibly powerful. Quitting can be a great thing if you use it to try something that you think will help you further reach your goals.
Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Though it is a cliche, being comfortable with being uncomfortable is a very valuable skill, especially as it pertains to being okay with being the worst in the room at something. When you are on your journey of trying new activities, you will inevitably find things that you are just naturally not great at, and it is very obvious to everyone else as well. That’s okay! If you can learn to remain steadfast and be humble enough to ask for help, then you will find that you get better a lot quicker than if you just tried to figure it out yourself. As these types of experiences stack up, you will find trying new things easier and easier. Like anything else in life that you want to improve, it is all about practice.
Change your self to change the world
As the problems in our world become more complex, it is up to a new generation of engineers to work to solve these problems with a broad understanding of the world and the factors that our decisions can affect. We are blessed beyond belief to live in a world where knowledge is at our fingertips; do not be afraid to use it! No matter how old you are, what situation you are in, or what type of person you “think” you are, you can change yourself for the better. Only then can you change the world.
![akku-kumar-author-thumbnail Akku Kumar illustration](https://ingenium.engr.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/akku-kumar-author-thumbnail.jpg)
Aerospace Engineering, Class of 2024
If you found this blog post interesting, you may consider reading “How I Pulled Off an Internship, Travel and Two Classes in One Summer” and “Fight Life’s Autopilot Trap.”