After Graduation

Written by Josiah Birchard

“Did you graduate? Are you still in school? What’s next for you? Where are you going to work?”

These are all questions I was asked after graduating from Oakland University in December with my bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. It’s a new chapter in my life now. No more juggling school with a full slate of classes, it’s time to fully concentrate on my job. I’ve interned at Mettle Ops since December of 2020, now transitioning to a full-time engineering position. It’s totally different, not worrying about homework or studying when I get home. But with that positive comes a lot of unknowns. School was consistent. Throughout my years at Oakland that’s all I knew. It was school, work, back to school, study, and repeat. It may not have been a fun schedule but there was structure.

Now I can’t lean on Oakland for that structure. It leads back to the fact that graduating closed one chapter and work life opened another. In the past couple months, since graduation, I’ve seen it as an even more important responsibility to use my new free time wisely. Will all this extra free time, it wouldn’t be fair to myself to not put it to good use. I’m challenging myself to not waste it and find new hobbies. It’s important not to forget what got me to the point I’m at now though. I need to keep my mind sharp and the engineering juices flowing.