Friday, October 31, 2008

PC Motivation

So why would I give up a good, relatively stable engineering job to go join the Peace Corps? I'm sure lots of people think I'm crazy, but have been too polite to say so to my face. It's been a long decision process for me, though.

When I graduated from college, I had two things in mind that I wanted to shoot for, either immediately or in a couple of years. The first one was the Peace Corps, and the second was getting an MBA. These are pretty different options, but they do share similarities that I liked. They would open up opportunities to work internationally, and both would be great personal growth opportunities.

Last year, I started thinking about the MBA. I knew a lot of people from college and work who were getting their MBAs, either part-time, full-time, or executive MBAs. Going to a top-tier school would have opened countless doors, and I could have probably had any type of career path that I wanted (not that getting in would have been easy). I currently do a lot of volunteering outside of work, and I really wanted to make service-to-others part of my post-MBA career (my current career is more service-based than a job in industry, it's just not very personal...I can't go out and talk to someone about how I improved his/her life). The first step for me was just taking the GMAT, and after some studying, I scored well enough that no school could use my score against me. I then started researching MBA programs around the world. It would have just been amazing to go to school abroad for two years and really learn about the global economy while living in another culture, but I started filtering schools out because of various mismatches with my personal goals. Most of the schools that I whittled off my list were not strong in the areas relating to social responsibility or non-profit management. I wanted a program where I could focus on giving back to the community and creating a career out of that. My list in hand (finally down to 4-5 schools, all in the US), I actually started writing draft application essays. Topics can change from year to year, but some core questions always remain the same (why our school, why an MBA, etc.). I even went so far as to talk with current students, find out about student groups I wanted to join, etc.--the whole nine yards!

So this took me to about April of 2008. At this point I had started a couple of the why an MBA essays, and I had focused my post-B-school plans more. All of my plans revolved around a desire to do good for other people, whether it be part of a corporate social responsibility group, managing a non-profit, or working with the developing world. This trend made me think back to my other goal, the Peace Corps. I just felt that B-school wasn't quite what I really wanted at this time--great experience, but it felt like I would be going with the expected norm and not following the path that would be right for me. With my work, leadership, and cross-cultural experiences, I probably could have gotten into a decent school. But I stopped. And thought. Hard. About what I really wanted in life. I still think a B-school experience would be invaluable for the soft-skills that I would learn, but I felt like PC would do a better job of combining my current desires of living in another culture and helping people. The timing also pointed more towards PC, since I felt like it would be harder to do PC later in life with a family, kids, house, etc., than go to B-school. So began my PC application adventure.

The thought process I went through would result in different answers for different people. There is no right answer. But, I do firmly believe in going with choices that I won't regret, and I think for me, PC over an MBA is the right choice at this point in my life. 30 years from now, I could probably still go back and get an MBA if they let me in, but I don't want to regret not doing PC when I could.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Hablo un poco espanol

So, one thing that everyone asks me after they hear that I am going to Mexico is if I know Spanish. Oddly enough, I know next to nothing. In middle / high school, I took 5 years of Latin, not exactly a widely spoken language. However, Spanish is a Romance language based off of Latin, so the Latin training seems to be helping. I am currently enrolled in a beginner's class at a place called Instituto Cervantes. One of my coworkers recommended it over the local university, and I am really glad he did. I love the class! Our teacher is from Spain, and she is hilarious. The entire class is a riot. I am somewhere in the middle of the pack--I understand the technical stuff (like verb conjugations--thank you, Latin!), but I can't hold a conversation worth anything. I just can't think fast enough to keep up, and that's just for the present tense! I will definitely need a lot more practice before I can even imagine conjugating in all the other tenses. But, at least I understand the fundamentals. Actually studying in my not-so-free time would probably also help, to expand my vocabulary if nothing else.

From the Yahoo PeaceCorps2 group, I had read that PC sometimes will give you access to Rosetta Stone before staging, to help you start learning the language. When I called DC to accept my invitation, I asked about this. The story I got was that it had been a pilot program for the last class of invitees, and PC was going to evaluate effectiveness before deciding whether or not to extend it to my group. Given the current budget issues with PC, continuing resolution for the entire federal budget, etc., I'm not holding out any hope that my Spanish skills will get that added boost.

At work the other day a couple of native Spanish speakers were talking about the local Spanish slang compared to other regional slangs. This quickly turned into one of those hilarious conversations about miscommunication, where people think you're talking about some vulgar body part but you think you're talking about some normal thing, like food. Can't wait until the first time I do that and get funny looks from people. Don't worry, I'll be sure to share.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

What I will be doing in Mexico

So what does a Peace Corps volunteer do in Mexico? Mexico is just south of the border, so why does it need PCVs?

To see the history of PC Mexico, you can check the Peace Corps Wiki article on it.

My specific volunteer description (I will be a Generic Engineer, working with CONACYT, pronounced con-ya-seet, I think):
  1. Providing technical assistance and advice to center clients on projects as necessary
  2. Helping develop new clients and business for the center
  3. Providing technical advice to engineering staff
  4. Providing technical support to manufacturing, sales and marketing units
  5. Identifying and evaluating new opportunities
  6. Evaluating materials and processes for products that must meet specialized design and performance
  7. Helping develop instructional and promotional materials as necessary
  8. Providing leadership to unit in meeting objectives
  9. Traveling to meet with industry and other center representatives as necessary
  10. Teaching, mentoring and/or training technicians, engineering and post graduate students
  11. Participate in strategic planning and problem-solving exercises
So far, sounds like work! Except it will be in Spanish...and my understanding is that I'm not really supposed to be an "employee" (i.e. I would not have a unique, defined role in a project), but rather that I am to be a partner (i.e. I work with a host country partner as a team / advisor). I'm not really clear on those details, though, and I probably won't find out until I arrive in country.

Friday, October 17, 2008

PC Timeline

Below is my timeline for application to the Peace Corps:

May 19, 2008: Submitted online application.
May 20, 2008: Submitted online Health Status Review.
June 24, 2008: Receive an e-mail from the Mexico country office (the one in Mexico, not DC) asking for a short bio. I am slightly confused, since I haven't even interviewed yet, but I send them something.
June 25, 2008: My actual interview with the local recruiter. It appears she knows the Mexico program expressed interest in me, they just jumped the gun in contacting me.
July 3, 2008: Phone interview with the Mexico Country Director and one of the program administrators.
July 7, 2008: I am officially nominated for the PC Mexico program (yes, a lot of things happened out of synch for me).
July 14, 2008: I receive my medical packet via FedEx.
August 2, 2008: I mail back all of my medical, dental, and eyeglass forms.
August 15, 2008: I receive Dental Clearance.
August 16, 2008: My medical packet has officially arrived in DC.
August 29, 2008: I get an e-mail from my medical officer that my doctor filled out one line in my packet incorrectly (I challenge any PC person to guess what line it was). Emergency stop by my doctor's office, then off to what was formerly known as FedEx Kinko's to use their fax machine solves the problem. I love my doctor!
September 3, 2008: I receive Medical Clearance.
September 29, 2008: I receive unofficial notice from the Mexico office that I will soon be invited. DC is still mum.
October 4, 2008: I am invited (so says the Toolkit)!
October 9, 2008: I finally pick up my FedEx package in my apartment complex office (it arrived yesterday). In it is a ton of paperwork, all enclosed in a big, blue envelope / folder. I am pretty excited and relieved that I finally have my invite in writing and know exactly when I will be leaving. Staging is about a month earlier than I had expected--for some reason, I had March 26, 2009 in my head, but it is actually March 3, 2009.
October 14, 2008: I call DC to accept the invitation. I tell my boss at work that I will be leaving at the end of the calendar year.

Total time: 149 days (~4 months, 26 days)

As you may have noticed, a lot of things happened for me in reverse order than normal. I think this was a unique situation because I had a direct line to the Mexico office in country, and I think there is a normal lag between the DC office and "real time information". From what I heard from my recruiter, something like this probably would not happen in the future, as the process between the Mexico office and DC was changed shortly after I applied.

PC Mexico

When I first heard about the Mexico program before nomination, I couldn't find a lot of information about it online. It is one of the newest programs, and it is fairly small. I put up some links on the right to the current PC Mexico blogs that I am aware of--I am always interested in learning about others!

I am currently a PC Mexico invitee, and staging is on March 3, 2009! I plan on using this blog to stay in touch with family and friends, and to chronicle my adventure in Mexico.

As my free time allows before staging, I will post some additional information about my timeline (a popular topic) and other PC related adventures.

Time in México City, México: