Dear Professor Sara Jacobson

Hello! My name is Juan Valentin, currently a full-time production engineer for A&E Networks and a part-time student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. It hasn’t been a direct road to where I am today; however, I can say it’s an intriguing one.

It all started when I was a freshman at the New York City College of Technology, getting used to college life. Classes and the professor weren’t the part that I was struggling in. I was introduced to a big world of paperwork, from applying for financial aid to signing up for classes. As I submitted all my forms of financial assistance, I felt a sigh of relief when the Financial Aid Counselor told me that everything had checked out. As my first year ended, I prepared myself for the upcoming paperwork I must deal with again. Trying to beat the rush, I submitted my paperwork to enroll with the next set of classes I wanted to take. With a great shock to me, the registrar’s office denied me registering, saying that there was an outstanding balance on my account. Being confused, I went to the financial aid to ask them what was going on. The financial Aid Counselor stated that my financial aid fell through, and I’ll have to pay the year of tuition and then I can re-enroll.

After working in retail for some time, I got an opportunity to work in time warner cable as a level one technician.  I was able to pass the entrance training with ease. Soon a year has passed, I started to do certifications to get promoted through the ranks. Five years later, I achieved my goal to become a plant engineer by successfully passing ten different certifications. One would think that I would feel a sense of accomplishment. However, I felt a sense of needing more. I thought about going back to school to finish my electrical engineering degree; my schedule didn’t permit it.

It was the year 2017 when everything changed; Spectrum communications just bought out time warner cable. Soon after the union’s contract with them was under negotiations.  This lasted for six months to no avail. Next thing, I was part of my first strike. I felt Like everything I worked for was taken away, and I knew that I had to make changes in my life. As I was walking the picket line, I realized that it was not too late to achieve my goal and become an electrical engineer. So the next day, I went to school to re-enroll and schedule my classes.

As time went on, I knew we were fighting a never-ending battle. So, I did whatever everybody else would have done I started applying for other jobs. Application after application, I filled out thinking what would be next in this journey we call life until I got an email from A&E networks for an AV/cable engineering position. During the interview, my director vocalized how it was so hard to find someone with the certifications I had and asked whether I would be interested in completing my bachelor’s degree since the position requires it. Of course, I responded that I was already enrolled and taking classes at the moment. The following day to my surprise, I was offered the position.

At the beginning of 2020, covid-19 changed everything. My office was closed and working from home was the new norm. Part of my responsibilities as AV (Audio and video) engineer were put on hold without being in the office. My director noticed that I have experience working with servers and media libraries and asked me to assist with production with a couple of projects. Next thing I know I was offered a new position as a production engineer.

Sincerely yours,

Juan Valentin

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.