RF Design Engineer
Raytheon
Please provide a summary of your job or research. What is an average day like? What are some duties performed?
As a RF engineer, we study radio frequency (higher frequency ranges). As a design engineer, it is my responsibility to create the RF portion of a system. An average day is filled with teamwork, communication and dedication to the project. It is important to show up and be ready to solve problems, whether in the design phase or testing phase! It is fun to see your design come to fruition when you were only given a list of requirements to design to.
What is your educational background and what prompted you to go this direction?
Math has always been my favorite subject. I’m not the best at it, but there was joy in numbers and basic mathematics. I began loving math in the 3rd grade, where my teacher (who I am friends with today!) introduced Edheads to the classroom. She made sure we knew our pulleys, wheels and axles, levers, etc. by playing Edheads: Simple Machines games while in class and sometimes quizzes. It helped us relate STEM in everyday life and it’s important for us to know the basics of how the world works. Later in life she expressed how engineering was her true passion, but the elder’s considered women in engineering to be “non-traditional” and it discouraged her from pursing her dreams of being an engineer.
I told my mom while in middle school “I want to build robots” and she pushed me to make sure that happened. There were advanced mathematic classes that introduced coding and CADD design that launched my interest in critical thinking and problem solving. From this point, I consciously chose to indulge in learning web design and C++ while in high school. I found out I am not the best at coding and that’s okay! My favorite part of learning C++ was controlling a robot for a project. I may have missed while shooting for the stars, but I am grateful my mom encouraged me to at least shot my bow and arrow to the sky. Shooting this arrow helped me achieve a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Capitol Technology University.
What have you struggled with or overcome in your educational path or life path to get to this point?
I’ve struggled with finding a career I truly enjoyed. I am still very young in my career, and it’s normal to change directions within your career often (EE has a very wide spectrum of disciplines). The best way to get through your path is to try any and everything! There are so many opportunities available for whatever you want to do. Pick your favorite title, the world is your oyster!
What is the best part of your job/research?
The best part of the job is creating, because as a minority (black woman) our wants and needs are not always considered. As a design engineer you have full control over what the final product can look like. My first design was bright pink with glitter (only one person thought it was unprofessional, which is progress overall for a team of ~10)!
What is the worst part?
Engineering is still a male dominated field, and you can tell just by how we interact as colleagues. There’s no color, room for expression or bad days- just expectations of schedule and budget. This can be a good/bad thing, because there is always room for improvement! Including consciousness in schedule and budget has more positive outcomes and less “burnout” on the employees who produce the work (engineers!). We all need each other to make the world go around.
What’s the most exciting part of your job?
Learning more is always the exciting part of the job. I enjoy engineering because there is always something new to learn. After a while things become routine, so being able to find joy in something new every so often is refreshing. For example, I have an interest in Quantum Physics and there are already resources and pathways available for me to begin diving into it without interrupting my work schedule.
What has changed about your profession in the past ten years?
In the past 10 years, diversity has changed so much and it is amazing! Thank you to those who are involved in the DE&I programs. It’s such a refreshing feeling to be representing in all aspects of a company. It reminds me that struggles are temporary, and we can do anything we put our minds to!
What do you think will change in the next ten?
I believe in the next 10 years we will change almost everything about engineering. We are learning quantum computing and AI to get ready for our next wave of technology.
