My Boeing Days  – Campus Interview 

 Blog 2 of 10

Photo: Interior of Boeing factory, Photo credit details at the end of the blog

Summary

This blog tells two different stories about people facing career challenges.

The first story is about a graduate student who suddenly lost their research funding. It talks about how tough this was for him. The student continued to get rejections in job interviews and felt low after every rejection.  Finally, he had to make some hard choices, giving up things he liked. The story shows how he learned to be flexible, accepting the new situation and finding ways to move forward.

The second story is about an engineer dealing with job rejections. Unlike the first student, this person kept a positive attitude. Even though he didn't get the jobs he interviewed for, it didn't let it shake his confidence. The engineer held onto his self-respect and stayed optimistic.

By sharing these two stories side by side, the blog shows different ways people can react to setbacks in their careers. It's interesting to see how one person had to adapt and make big changes, while the other focused on staying positive and confident. Both stories give something to think about when one faces career challenges. 

A New Beginning

The elections were over. The results were out. The new government was in full action. One of the first policy changes included budget cuts as a measure of controlling inflation. It was late January 1981. I was a student at the University of Washington with only one thing in mind, and that was to pursue my research towards a PhD. I was working in the Bioengineering field, in the electrical engineering department. The news came that our research funding from the NIH would not be approved. My advisor called me into his office and told me the news. He suggested that I was better off attending interviews on campus and trying to get a job.

I had not appeared for any interviews on the campus since I was determined to do research at the University. Reluctantly, I went to the placement center on campus. I looked at some of the notice boards to find out the companies visiting the campus in the next one or two months. My attention was caught by the openings at the Lincoln MIT Labs and the Stanford Research Institute. I applied to both places and some more research labs in the US. One by one they came, I interviewed, and they told me that they hired only PhDs. None of the research labs was interested in hiring a candidate with only a master's degree. I was very disappointed.

I sent job applications to some small to medium-sized companies, but still, it was tough to get a job in control systems. Then there was an ad from Boeing. They were looking for control systems engineers. I applied and got a call for an interview.

On the day of the interview, I went to the placement center on the campus early. I was looking at various magazines. There was one Time magazine issue with a picture of the Boeing company's CEO, T.A. Wilson, on the cover page. It was an old issue full of information about Boeing as well as the CEO. I hurriedly browsed through it to get glimpses of the CEO's personality. There was not enough time, and sure enough, I was next.

 Boeing Interview

Two Boeing managers were sitting in the conference room. After exchanging pleasantries, they started looking at my resume. After seeing references to Bioengineering in several places, one manager tried to clarify to me. He said, "I want to let you know that we do not work in the Bioengineering area. Are you aware of that?" I had expected this question. I also had an answer ready for it. The answer was: It just depends on where 'I' go. I can be in the fourth place to make it 'Boe'i'ng' or I can be in the second place and make it 'B'i'oeng', short for bioengineering. It doesn't matter for me. But I thought that I could get labeled as a smart aleck. I just said, "Yes, I am." 

The next question was also as expected. "So, tell me about why you want to work for Boeing?", one of the managers said. I quickly decided to answer based on what I had read in Time magazine about T.A. Wilson. I said, "I read the interview of Boeing CEO, T.A. Wilson, in the Time magazine. His picture was on the cover page of the magazine. Mr. Wilson started as an engineer in the company and rose through the ranks. What impressed me about T.A. Wilson was his simplicity. He still lives in the same small house that he used to live in years ago. He still uses a small, 15-year-old car. It is very impressive. I would like to work for the management that is built by such simple people and learn from them."

Needless to say, I got the job offer in 3 days. There was just a weekend between the receipt of the letter and my joining date.

'The Company Values My Worth' 

Around the time I joined Boeing, there were 3 to 4 other engineers who joined too. One of them, Ed, became my lifelong friend. We shared many things as fresh engineers. Even today we are good friends. I remember one of our early conversations on the Boeing flight line. We were waiting for the airplane to get ready for take-off. It was late at night. We started sharing how our college days were. Then came our favorite topic of how we did in campus interviews. 

I told Ed how badly I wanted to join the research labs and I could not get in. Then I casually mentioned that after many interviews and rejections, the Boeing team came on the campus. I further told him how the interview was pretty simple and how I could easily convince the interviewers. Ed looked at me and said, "There were many companies that came to our campus. After every rejection, I said to myself that that company did not recognize my worth. It's their loss. Then came Boeing. They selected me, and I said to myself that this was the right company that deserved me. The company values my worth; I will show them that they were right." I was speechless. There was a north and south difference between what I thought and what Ed thought. Ed had a confident mindset. Ed had self-respect, confidence, and eagerness to work hard to show his worth. I was very impressed with Ed's way of thinking. It all happened 40-plus years ago. Ed certainly devoted his talent to Boeing and was a Designated Engineering Representative, a highly honored and respectable position between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Photo: Interior of Boeing factory, Photo Credit: Meutia Chaerani / Indradi Soemardjan http://www.indrani.net, Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Boeing_Factory_2002.jpg/640px-Boeing_Factory_2002.jpg

 

My Boeing Days – Prologue

Blog1 of 10 

This series of blogs is about people: people who built airplanes at Boeing, and people who dreamt and built the largest commercial airplane. They made the 747 a grand success, dominating the skies for over 50 years. The series highlights employees' dedication to Boeing, their openness, transparency, and honesty. From the management side, they laid down values, gave freedom to dream, and supported employees in turning their dreams into reality. They provided safety nets in case of failure and demonstrated compassion, forgiveness, and camaraderie as fellow Boeing employees. The late former Boeing CEO, Frank Shrontz, aptly put it during his interview with the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2015: “There was a lot of pride among the people. It was kind of a family feeling, a feeling you don’t find at modern companies…”

 

I joined Boeing in 1981 in Seattle, fresh out of college and passionate about learning and advancing my technical knowledge and skills. I had little knowledge of various management functions, let alone debating the role management should play in advancing employee skills, building their career plans, and ensuring their success to advance the company. The Boeing style of management seemed typical to me, practiced in other companies as well. Needless to say, I learned all my management lessons and people skills on the job at Boeing. My bosses were role models in every respect. I worked at Boeing for 15 years, achieving the rank of Technical Fellow, also known as senior principal scientist, the highest technical rank at Boeing.

 

Reflecting on the exemplary managers and engineers I worked with, I sought to find out their whereabouts today. Sadly, many of them are no longer alive. This is truly indicative of the golden era that has become part of history—a piece of history from which many can learn.

 

Today, it is disheartening to witness the incidents that have occurred involving Boeing airplanes. I grew up with the slogan ‘I am not going if it is not Boeing,’ reflecting the pride we had in Boeing airplanes. Recently, I was saddened to see an article in a magazine twist it to ‘If it is Boeing, I am not going.’ Such a dramatic change in my lifetime is painful to witness. However, I strongly believe that a turnaround for Boeing is not only possible but inevitable. This series of blogs intends to offer a glimpse into the golden days, allowing readers to compare and contrast with today's environment. A new blog will be posted every 15 days for over 4 months. I hope this series will inspire the younger generation to restore the company to its former glory and beyond. I have faith in the spirit of Boeing employees—they will turn Boeing around. I know I am not alone in wishing for this turnaround.