A PATH WITH MANY TURNS

Nicole Jackson didn't immediately go to college after obtaining her GED. Instead she joined the military, taking time to learn about herself, and then went to college to pursue a degree tightly connected to her workforce experience focusing on criminal justice and criminology at the University of Toledo.

While in college, Nicole found herself taking a logic and philosophy course that made her question her path. In an effort to further explore different fields of interest, Nicole was pulled towards a political science class where she found many overlapping concepts from the logic course.

What she never anticipated was how philosophy and logic could impact computer science. 

SEEKER OF INFORMATION

Nicole outlined her twisting journey with confidence, describing how it ultimately led her to where she is today. Nicole doesn't think it makes sense to study just one thing. In her experience she found many overlaps between her interests and that they never aligned with one particular path of study.

“Everything you do impacts something else. Don't emotionally couple yourself to a degree... learn to learn.”

Nicole explains that as young professionals, we will have many paths - that's a good thing! Nicole enthusiastically implores that we pursue many interests at one time, aiming for a generalist style of learning and getting a broad exposure within our education.

A NEW ROLE

For Nicole’s individual path, she relayed an unexpected story to me. Soon after graduating from the University of Toledo, Nicole found herself interviewing with a company. Her interviewers, the office manager and the CEO of the company, offered her a position as a business analyst which was a completely different role than what she had gone into the interview for. Clearly, The CEO had other ideas about where she would best fit and wanted Nicole to pursue such an unprecedented career path. 

So Nicole took the leap and became the company’s BA and eventually took on many management-related tasks including communicating to her team, ensuring that milestones were met, and that the end product was produced on time. She found great joy in this position that she had not originally planned. Her career escalated into release and product management, her favorite aspect of being a manager is the opportunity to see projects come to fruition and understand the entire process from start to finish. 

After moving around in a variety of companies and gaining experience, Nicole understood that she fit best in the start-up environment as opposed to the corporate life. She prefers the start-up environment as she is able to move in and out of roles, constantly learning new concepts from her co-workers. Nicole shared that even though she was working as a business analyst and release manager, she was able to pick up data modeling from the data architects on her team. Such collaboration among her co-workers is what helped Nicole to continually grow into new and exciting roles. 

Above all, Nicole was passionate about leading teams and education. While she had hands-on, technical experience, she knew in her core that she wanted to improve on her leadership abilities of effective communication, teaching, and inspiring.

“How can I cultivate the best out of people?”

WAKING UP TO WHO YOU WANT TO BE

Nicole and myself share a common passion for emotional intelligence: We are driven to understand the intricacies of human behavior and how to bring out the best in others.

Nicole found herself at a crossroads. She was faced with a difficult choice between pursuing either a PhD or an EdD. Although she knew that the PhD would give her a stronger technical foundation and applicable skills, she chose the EdD at Drexel University for one simple reason: it felt right in her body. She knew this decision would be more emotionally fulfilling and answer this important question...

 “What is going to make me feel better about myself when I wake up each morning?”

Nicole further elaborated on this by explaining that whenever she is faced with a difficult decision, she simply asks herself who she wants to be when she wakes up in the morning. 

MUST HAVE 10 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Sometimes making the right decision means making the more uncomfortable decision. Nicole explained that as she rose in her career, the lonelier she became as a woman and as a “technical leader with no technical degree.” At this point she often battled with imposter syndrome and found herself being questioned by others on her intelligence or authority. She explained how she had to remain strong and confident in her knowledge while also accepting the fact that she doesn't know it all… and no one does.

THE WORLD IS CHANGING FAST… YOU BETTER KEEP UP 

If you haven't heard of the 10 year rule it basically suggests that a person is not proficient enough until 10 years of experience.

Nicole and I ripped this theory apart as we identified the fact that our world is changing much faster than every 10 years. As mirrored within the tech world, Nicole explained that so many of the digital products that we are building today haven't even existed for 10 years (blockchain, machine learning, and more.)! 

The conclusion we came to is that we should worry less about if we are the perfectly qualified candidate, and instead chase after our curiosities while learning to be adaptable.

Excellent examples of companies keeping up with this fast-paced and innovative world are  start-ups. Nicole, having worked in both corporate and start-up environments, detailed that start-ups, though they don't have the assurance of bigger companies, are able to pivot rapidly and meet the needs of the consumer. 

“The startup world is the Wild West. You may put on two or three hats in a day!”

Nicole currently works with Duet Health, the leading patient engagement software that transforms the way healthcare providers communicate. Nicole explained that their company functions like a start-up in that they tend to work lean and shuffle people between projects to enhance collaboration and creativity, while also maintaining corporate clients and influence. 

“At Duet Health, there's freedom to create and move between roles to explore and find your best fit.”

LEAD BY CURIOSITY, NOT THE FLOWCHART

Nicole and I also share a passion for education and a fiery frustration for its linear layout and production of factory workers. Our schools quite literally lay out flowcharts instructing us which classes to take instead of allowing students to follow genuine interests, fostering emotionally aware, curious individuals. 

“Let something pique your interest and be okay to pursue that...it may lead to opportunities.”

Nicole elaborated on this idea, suggesting that young professionals make an effort to educate themselves outside of simply depending on coursework to fill in the gaps.

“Add people on LinkedIn, take online courses, read books, get curious and ask questions!”

I have to agree with Nicole on all of that. I’ve spent my whole summer devoted to learning more about my instinctual interests that I’ve put on hold for far too long since they do not perfectly align with Cal Poly’s architecture flowchart. I’ve also learned a great deal from books and asking questions.

**One quirky, fun fact I learned about Nicole is that she only reads parts of books and then, if it strikes her curiosity, will she read the entire book. 

As a well-trained and habitual student, I’ve never thought to question reading the entirety of any book that is placed in front of me. That's how we did it in school! I love how she suggests the idea of picking and choosing what we WANT to do!

AN INTERESTING CHALLENGE…

One major takeaway from Nicole is to focus on the bigger picture of life. She posed an interesting challenge to me, that I am now asking of you. If you are a student, look at other degrees and majors that your peers study, and examine the bigger picture of how they connect to what you do. What words can you pick out from the outline of your job description at work that are the same as the description in another role or department at your company? For myself, I’m studying Architecture, and Nicole works with Data Architects. Could there be some similarities between what I do and what data architects do? (The answer is YES!) Find your own dots to connect. 

Nicole described that for her, seeing the bigger vision will help her to figure out where she wants to be. By paying attention to the same descriptors attached to different positions, she can see the overlapping pieces.

“It's usually a bunch of fancy words that all mean the same thing.”

Nicole further emphasized the importance of doing the research and then mustering the bravery and trust in pursuing unconventional applications. Similar to the previous example of breaking into the tech world, Nicole assured me that you don't have to grow up building computers and studying computer science at a top university.

“A tech company is only as good as its ideas…when you have great ideas and you know how to build a team...you can do technology.” 

END WITH LEADING

Nicole used to think that leadership revolved around giving instructions and enforcing them. Through her own journey within tech and education, she realized that leadership is actually about bringing people together towards a common goal and helping her teammates in understanding themselves emotionally, while placing them in roles that best suit their strengths.

“Build people off their strengths first instead of micromanaging their weaknesses.”

I’m incredibly grateful to have had a conversation fueled with such passion and inspiration for claiming our own education instead of receiving what we are handed without question. Nicole has shown me the true meaning of leadership, as well as how to always keep creativity at the forefront in getting to the next place you want to be.

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