{"id":24532,"date":"2019-09-14T10:56:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T15:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=24532"},"modified":"2019-09-30T17:25:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T22:25:15","slug":"career-pathways-its-okay-to-be-unsure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2019\/09\/14\/career-pathways-its-okay-to-be-unsure\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Pathways: It\u2019s Okay to Be Unsure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPursue your passions.\u201d This is the mantra repeated by college admission counselors, parents, and high school upperclassmen alike when advising others on how to spend a high school career. Yet, even as these formative years provide numerous opportunities for teenagers to discover their future professions, this simple directive holds much greater complexity. How does one identify their passion? Is it necessary, or even beneficial, to commit oneself to a lifelong career? <\/span>The Acronym <\/span>aims to provide insight into these questions by examining the academic and career pathways of IMSA alumni and industry experts. Through interviews with leading computer scientists to healthcare innovators alike, we aim to examine how pursuing one\u2019s passions is a dynamic and continuous process that will extend to one\u2019s collegiate years and beyond. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

As a project manager at IQVIA Biotech, Amanda Potocky evaluates cutting-edge drugs for the treatment of cancer.  Yet, her position in the pharmaceutical industry did not arrive from long-term pursuit. If you would have told her younger self about her current profession, she would have struggled to believe you. <\/span><\/p>\n

Potocky originally hails from Carbondale, a small college town in Southern Illinois. \u201cI wasn\u2019t the smartest person in the class, but relatively smart,\u201d she recalls. \u201cBut I was a very small fish at IMSA.\u201d While the rigor of her new high school initially shocked her, she gradually found a place for herself in the tight-knit community. Academically, she immersed herself in classes that allowed her to work with numbers, and she remembers her extracurriculars fondly. She was involved in band and the Scholastic Bowl team, which went to state. Ms. McCarthy, IMSA\u2019s current band director, became a close mentor and friend as a residential counselor. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite her positive residential experience, she found herself caught up in the competitive, college-oriented mentality among other students, many of whom equated educational prestige with success. Academically-focused students boasted about orienting their career trajectory around distinguished four-year institutions and graduate schools, frequently for what Potocky perceived as superficial reasons. \u201cI call it \u2018intellectual snobbery\u2019,\u201d says Potocky, who felt the pressure of adapting her peers\u2019 expectations throughout her three years at IMSA. The aftermath of the experience would linger throughout her college years.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Wake Forest University, Potocky double majored in mathematics and physics. However, after graduation, she quickly realized that neither field was her calling. \u201cI had absolutely no desire to do theoretical research,\u201d she says, quickly changing to biomedical engineering for her graduate school studies. After earning her Master\u2019s degree, she fell into another pothole in the job market. For a year, she worked at Barnes and Nobles, organizing books and assisting customers at the register \u2013 a far cry from her career goals throughout high school and college.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was then that her brother, an employee at a drug company, came with exciting news about a nearby job opportunity. Quintiles, now known as IQVIA, was seeking a data specialist for their clinical projects. Attracted by the possibility of working with numbers and analyzing datasets, Potocky applied and became immersed in data management for the next six years. She then transitioned into project management, where she remains today,  working on clinical trials and acting as a direct connection between researchers and pharmaceutical companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through her years of job experience, she learned that the IMSA\u2019s student\u2019s \u201cintellectual snobbery\u201d didn\u2019t always translate into high workplace performance. She met many people with different skill sets and levels of education, who flourished in their respective industries. \u201cThe best weren\u2019t necessary at the top of their school,\u201d Potocky says. \u201cBut they were able to take criticism and learn in the workplace.\u201d She realized she needed to develop her public speaking skills in order to effectively navigate her environment. Now, her career is rooted in one of her greatest former weaknesses and enables her to continually strive for improvement. <\/span><\/p>\n

To high school students just beginning to enter into higher education, she advises them to not lock themselves in too early. \u201cDon\u2019t get so focused on one path that you don\u2019t think of others,\u201d she says. \u201cI knew a whole lot of people thinking they\u2019ll be premed, and I\u2019m not sure if any of them are physicians now.\u201d When reflecting about her own experience and the many pivots within her own career, she notes that her open mindset allowed for her satisfaction in her current job. \u201cThe more you go on, the more you find out about things you didn\u2019t know existed. For me, I had to stop and look around. I would rather change and find something new than get bored.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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