College Experiences That Helped A Business Owner At Precision Construction Services Succeed
Erik, a Principal/Business Owner at Precision Construction Services, emphasizes the importance of "real world experience" during college, noting that internships and mentorship provided an "amazing soundboard" to inform academic choices and enhance learning. This practical application, Erik suggests, differentiated academic success from career success.
Career Exploration, Networking, Real-World Experience, Mentorship, Internships
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Erik Wright
Principal / Business Owner
Precision Construction Services
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo / Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
Design & Construction
Architecture, Construction & Design
Business Strategy
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Engage with fellow students and faculty, and be curious about what the university offers.
2. Gain real-world experience through internships and mentorships to better understand your chosen field.
3. Use real-world experience as a soundboard to engage more deeply with classroom learning and debates.
Transcript
What did you do in undergrad to set you up for success in your career?
I followed a lot of the typical good advice, and I do think it's good advice. You're working hard, you're engaging with your fellow students and your faculty, being curious, and really engaging with what the university has to offer. I definitely participated in all of those.
I adhere to that advice, but the one thing that I think really stands out as more meaningful to what I took away was getting a lot of real-world experience while I was in college in my career path of choice. That made a night-and-day difference.
By the time you're in college, you're pretty good at passing your tests and getting through school. You're good at the game of academics, but it's much harder when you have all that information thrown at you to really be able to pick and choose what you want to retain and what you want to dig deeper into.
Having that real-world experience became such an amazing soundboard. I gravitated more, engaged, and even debated in the classroom from my perspective as someone who has experienced a lot of this.
Finding internships, finding mentors in your field, maintaining those relationships, and continuing to work at them to better understand what you're getting into is incredibly helpful as you navigate college to really make the most of it while you're there.