“What’s Next”?

For all those young people currently enrolled in college studying day and night tirelessly for every exam, attending classes in the fall, winter, spring, and even summer daily, and working numerous hours on tons of assignments thrown at you from different classes all at the same time in order to obtain that degree you’ll so graciously feel you deserve, have you ever stopped to wonder, “What’s next?” You must be wondering what do I mean by “What’s next?” Well, I mean what happens after college? What happens after you have given your mind and soul to college, dedicated thousands of hours all throughout a 4 plus year academic career and you’re finally ready to work a full time job, “What’s next?” Well, I for one being an Electrical Engineering student in my 2nd year at the City College of New York have already found the answer to “What’s next?” for my post academic career. The solution to this question was simple, all it took were the wise words of an individual who has provided a first hand perspective of “What’s next?” for me once I earn my degree and have the opportunity to face the world. I had the honorary privilege of interviewing Mr. Daniel Carrozzi, a building and systems engineer specialists at the UPS location in 601 W 43rd Street, New York. Mr. Carrozzi is one of my brother’s closest friends all throughout college who majored in both Mechanical and Electrical engineering, so I took the initiative and contacted him for an interview. I felt that he was the ideal man to interview and I believe I have acquired the most knowledge for what’s in store for me when I start a career job in the near future from my interview with him. 

Mr. Daniel Carrozzi is a graduate of Fordham University and is currently pursuing his masters in Electrical engineering at Manhattan College. During his 4 years at Fordham he majored in Engineering Physics. Mr. Carrozzi was first inspired to pursue a career in the engineering field during high school when he grew a passion for working with electronics and felt he could take his passion to new heights. All throughout his life, he was infatuated with all kinds of electrical devices both at home and at school and from a young age knew he wanted to work with electronics. He enjoys the creative thinking aspect of the job which also played a role in inspiring him to pursue this career.  From that moment on, he dedicated countless hours to his studies in order to master all the aspects required in the field of engineering. 

I was able to sit down with Mr. Carrozzi and ask him questions I had about a typical day at work for him and any additional information regarding what he does for a living that would be essential for me to know when assuming a role in a similar job. I started off my interview by asking Mr. Carrozzi about his work experiences prior to his current job and how he first applied to the job. Mr. Carrozzi claimed to have never taken part in an internship prior to his current job and first found out about the job through “word of mouth”. 

I then began to ask him questions about his current occupation and what he does on a daily basis. To start off, Mr. Carrozzi stated he’d been working in this current facility located in midtown manhattan since November 2018 and began as a part time employer. His hours were originally from 6 am to 12 pm, however after transitioning into a full time employer his hours changed to 7 am to 3:30 pm and now works Monday through Friday. When asked about his daily tasks, he told me does the maintenance of the facility and sorts equipment on a daily basis. He then added on by specifying that “I organize our in house mechanics and outside vendors to fix or install a variety of shit”. He excels in the knowledge of simple circuits and inspects conduits for damage. He describes his specific tasks as “more of how many amps and where do you want the outlet” when working with circuits and conduits and states how “in automated facilities like the one I work in, there’s a lot of photo eyes and code but it’s more of does it work or not than the design. Mr. Carrozzi openly admits he spends about 3 hours working with hands on activities daily. In those 3 hours, he claims to dispatch work for mechanics and repair anything that breaks during the day. When asked about his work environment, Mr. Carrozzi describes it to be “crazy, but open minded and a strong communication of on going jobs and status of other work orders”. I finished the typical day at the job part of the interview with a question about how much on average would the starting salary of an electrical engineer acquiring a similar role in the job would make and he told me on average the starting salary would be 55k-60k. 

In the next part of the interview, I asked Mr. Carrozzi about the writing he does at job and how much time he spends on it. Mr. Carrozzi writes reports about circuits he fixes on a daily basis and is required to send each report back to his supervisor by the end of the day. He is also required to look at many blueprints when repairing certain circuits and conduits and is obligated to edit any discrepancies he finds. I proceeded to ask Mr. Carrozzi about any other communications he takes part in. He followed up by revealing “I take part in weekly meetings and am present in every mandatory annual presentations for projects.” I concluded this part of the interview by asking him how often he has to work with other people and he claims to work together with other people in groups on a daily basis.

Finally, I concluded the interview with any professional advice he’d like to give to any young electrical engineering student like myself in order to attain success in a job like his own. Mr. Carrozzi said to “take as many internship opportunities as possible, whether it be in the electrical or mechanical field in order to gain experience” in these types of work environments like his own. He followed up by telling me to continuously update my resume and when I’m ready to publish my resume to big companies so that they can familiarize themselves with my working skills and qualities. From my interview with Mr. Carrozzi, I learned about what I expect when assuming the role as an Electrical engineer for a big money company. Although, my experiences will be different from his, I learned the basis of a typical work day and what is often expected of me when working at a job similar to his own. With that being said, I was able to finally find out, “What’s next?” for me after I obtain my degree and are ready to work and face the world.

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