89: Mechanical Engineer – From Sales to STEM Ambassador – Jay Flores

STEM on FIRE

Jay Flores earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is heavily involved in STEM advocacy.

[0:0] Started out in Sales at Rockwell Automation but over the last 3 to 4 years has been an ambassador for STEM. Jay is very passionate about helping kids find passion in STEM.

[1:20] Why Jay chose to go directly into sales out of college – through his internship’s he got clarity and what is strengths were from the book “Strength Finders” by Tom Rath. He also took on some side projects within the sales organization. (This goes into the concept of architecting your own career).

[3:20] Are you wasting your STEM degree by going into Sales? – Many of these jobs require a lot of technical aptitude, so no you are not “wasting” your STEM degree by going into sales. You can have tremendous impact in many industries. We always talk about the good things, one of the challenges with sales, especially when you are in an manufacturing side, is if your products fails and the plant stops manufacturing, customer can get very upset during this time.

[8:40] Very important to grow your skills in other areas that may interest you.

[10:40] What is a STEM ambassador? Follow Jay on Instagram (@jayfloresinspires) and Twitter (@jayflores2032)

[13:10] Getting through college successfully – he knew he wanted to do engineering but did not do a lot of research. He was able to eliminate some classes and was only thinking about graduating early vs doing what he really loved.

[19:10] What has Jay fired up today – 40,000 people showed up for the FIRST Robotics competition in Houston, TX.

[21:00] Parting piece of Guidance – Kids are not driven by money at an early age, need to find the area of STEM where the student is already interested in and bridge that gap between interest and STEM.

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