1. Kyle Kyker
Focus Assignment
My top five career choices were focused more on creating something or the use of
creativity to solve complex problems. Mechanical Engineer was the first, which would allow me
to work in large scale project groups to develop virtually anything from a wide variety of fields.
Software Engineer was the second, and is based on developing code for companies. Construction
Manager is one that would put me in a managerial position overseeing the construction of
buildings and managing the budget of jobs. Lawyer was one that fit, allowing me to use my wit
and competitive nature to find solutions in the law field. I would assume I would be a liability
lawyer for engineering projects that have failed. The last was Architect, which would allow me
to work with programs like AutoCAD to develop and build structures. This would allow me to
use my creativity and ingenuity.
My own career choices line up similarly to the chosen ones for me, especially in the
engineering fields. I want to work where I can use my creativity and be in a team to develop and
design new things. My own personal career choices that I would have picked would have been
mechanical engineer, wind turbine engineering, and computer software developer, so I feel the
test quite accurately depicted my fields of interest. Some choices that I hadn’t considered were
architect or lawyer, which also seem like fun and interesting job options that I hadn’t considered.
I don’t currently have the education for either of these, but if I had taken this exam before my
senior year of college, then I might have considered those options.
I like how the options presented for me all were jobs that had a large amount of financial
security, and were jobs I could be proud of. While there are jobs that I would enjoy outside of

2. those picked for me, they do not meet with my personal requirements of job security, pay rate, or
rate of growth in the company. If I was to be talented and hard working in any of the five fields
picked, I would have my work noticed, recognized, and I would progress up the company ladder
quickly. My work would be with a team, under most of the selected options, and that would
either allow me to be a team leader, or team member that could add something special to a group
they might not have had beforehand.
I feel I will pursue the first two career options, mechanical and software engineer, the
most. If I am unable to find work in those two fields, then I perhaps can start looking in the field
of construction management, although this would not be my first pick by any stretch of the
imagination. I would love to work in the field of wind energy as well, reworking the current
system from the ground up to make wind turbines more cost effective. This would again be a
managerial position that would place me over several other employees, and give me the option to
work with my creativity. It is important to me that my work actually matter, and that I can see
tangible results of my work. The fruits of my labor would be a huge driving factor for me, and I
feel the assessment was able to accurately find jobs for me that would fit my interests.
I like how my choices were all something I already had some interest in or work with.
While the fields of engineering are close, lawyering and architect are not as close to those same
fields, although I have had experience in debate, which I loved, and several hours of work with
AutoCAD, which would transition well for architecture.
My three areas of concentration are mechanical engineering, math and integrated
studies. These three concentrations relate quite well with most of my top five choices.
Obviously the choice of mechanical engineer is rather fitting, but computer engineer is one

3. where you have to have working knowledge of computers and math; both of which I have
learned through my concentrations. Construction Manager has to work with budgets, team
management, and work with long term goals. The budget I can easily work with thanks to my
work in the math concentration and team management and goal orientation are both things we
had to work for in our mechanical engineering teams.
The choice of lawyer doesn’t seem like a choice tied with the three concentrations, but if
I was doing law practice for failure analyses of projects or other liability related law work, my
concentrations could then be applicable. One of our courses in mechanical engineering focused
heavily on failure analysis and stress strain analysis. We worked to assess when and where
things would break, and programs like Autodesk Inventor allowed us to make 3D models to test
the effectives of stress on specimens. We learned about factors of safety, and what can cause a
part to yield earlier than it is supposed to, and companies or project managers that refuse to
recognize the factors and choice to ignore them to try and increase profits are liable for any
damages done. While I might not be the one doing the actual debating, I could easily be a private
consulter for a law firm, such as working with my sister in her law office.
Architecture firms normally won’t hire someone without an actual architecture degree;
although they will again hire private consulters for a litany of things. If their current project isn’t
working for some reason, a firm might hire someone to assess what is happening on the
nanomaterial level. Nanomaterials is something that I have found to be quite interesting in the
engineering field, and micro void coalescence can be the reason for a large amount of failed
architectural projects. Another thing they might hire a private consulter for would be cost
benefit analysis for different materials selection. Choices between steel, aluminum, or titanium
would vastly change a project’s structural integrity, but also vastly change the price of the

4. project’s completion. Another thing that could happen is an architect and a civil engineering are
not able to work with one another, so the company would hire a mediator such as an
interdisciplinary study major, to come in and work with both to resolve any issues that would
arise.
In conclusion, this focus evaluation reiterated what I knew in some fields and opened by
eyes to the possibilities of those. I hadn’t considered being a private consultant for different
firms, but that is now a viable option thanks to my interdisciplinary degree path. I still intend to
finish my mechanical engineering degree path at another university, and hopefully work at a
company such as L3, Raytheon or possibly work with the military on defense contracting, but
having other options never hurt. I found this evaluation helpful as it showed me things that I was
interested in, or might be interested in, based on the things I felt to be most important, such as
project management, teamwork, career stability and financial security. For my careers and future
plans, I can list my strengths found through this assessment, and show potential employers what
I can bring to their company.