>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Alyssa: I'm gonna be traveling with Marcus and Tara.

We've never met before.

We don't know each other.

We're all strangers.

>> Marcus: Three random people are going on a 34 foot RV to travel the west coast and kind of find ourselves.

>> Tara: I don't want to use the term lost per se, but frankly, I'm still uncertain about exactly what I want to do.

>> Alyssa: I just graduated college so I'm still trying to figure out like what field of computer science I want to get into.

So we're going to be interviewing different people in the microelectronics fields.

>> Tara: Microelectronics are basically what we think of as chips, they're in everything these days.

>> Marcus: So like your smartphones or smart TVs, fridges and stuff like that.

They're in cars, hospital equipment, anything that is considered to be smart.

>> Tara: They're everywhere, it's basically the foundation of our society.

But at the same time, it's also an industry that not many people know about.

>> Marcus: So yeah, I kind of want to go on the road trip to just talk to people that are in A growing career field, and kind of see where I can fit myself into that.

And kind of be able to give me an insight and if I really want to do this.

>> Alyssa: I kind of just want to get just like life experience like life advice for struggles, did they ever doubt themselves.

>> Tara: At the end of the day, I would like my life to contribute towards helping people.

I think that's what a lot of people want.

And we're all finding different ways to reach that goal.

>> Alyssa: The tech field is predominantly white men.

So, it is really cool for us to interview people that don't like fit the mold of your typical software dev.

>> Tara: This trip it is an unconventional opportunity, but a one in a life time opportunity.

>> Marcus: Let's do it.

[LAUGH] >> [MUSIC] >> Tara: All right, I think we're rolling.

Okay, so right now I am continuing on my research for the interviews and the broader industry before getting on the road trip.

>> Alyssa: My game plan right now is kind of like fields and then either subfields or companies in that field and then individuals on who I would want to interview.

>> Marcus: Talking to people who I feel like are in positions of power, people that have probably gone through some stuff that we're feeling.

I am kind of nervous.

The route is Austin to San Diego to San Francisco to Portland.

We're traveling for three weeks with three people.

I mean, we've done Zoom calls before but it's like starting school all over again.

You get to meet new people and stuff like that, like going to college and meeting your roommate for the first time.

>> Tara: All right.

Before we get too into the nitty gritty of packing, let's get some socks in there, shirts.

I have a lot of tie dye shirts, that's a thing I like, I do love tie dye shirts.

I'm Tara, I'm 22 years old, I'm from Arizona and I'm now in Austin, Texas.

Good morning.

I am outside my apartment and I'm about to start planting some date seeds, they've just sprouted, see there.

I did undergrad for math and stats, and now I'm in grad school pursuing a master's for energy and Earth resources.

Which is basically an applied Earth studies program, and I currently intern for TEL which is a semiconductor company in Austin.

My parents are both in the semiconductor industry and so I grew up hearing a lot about the industry from them as well as opportunities within it.

All right, riding my bike onto campus, University of Texas, Austin.

My interests always been in STEM as well as had personal interest in environmentalism and justice.

I wanna work at the intersection of that.

So right now I am researching companies and/or individuals that I would like to interview along the road trip.

I have a lot of uncertainty about the future.

When people say you need to have passion, that's one that gets me, do something you're passionate about.

I mean, I get it of course you want to like what you're doing, but I'm not passionate to work.

Nobody is passionate to do work.

It may be worth it, I think that's a better way of looking at it.

Coming on this road trip, I really appreciate the opportunities to speak directly with professionals about how they have worked their interest in with their life.

So we have had some pre trip meetings to go over the details of the trip.

I'm excited to meet them but definitely nervous.

Be a good boy, I'm gonna miss you.

>> Alyssa: I'm excited.

I haven't been up to Northern California or Portland, Oregon, I haven't been to a lot of places in the United States.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: I've never been inside of an RV actually, it looks huge.

>> Tara: We're here.

>> Alyssa: My name is Alyssa, I grew up in Virginia and I went to school in Florida.

I studied computer science and I got my bachelor's degree.

I'm currently living in Denver, Colorado and working as a software engineer.

I just graduated college in December so I'm still trying to figure out like what field of computer science I want to get into.

And it's kind of overwhelming too because there's so many different like subfields.

So this road trip is is really going to help me like get to talk to people in different areas in microelectronics.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: I don't think I was really into computers and math and stuff as a kid just because I didn't really get those opportunities.

Not really because I wasn't interested in them.

I would say I definitely struggled with not doing well in high school and not having a plan setup.

And having parents that could be role models for an engineering student.

My parents have been divorced since I was like a baby.

My mom was a single mom.

I didn't know what I wanted to do, I didn't know I even wanted to go to college.

I barely went to high school to be honest so it was a pretty bad situation.

I hat to start at a community college and take all these classes just to make up for not doing well in high school.

And I studied a pretty hard field, computer science and engineering.

In college I definitely fell in love with math and computer science.

You have to be like a certain kind of person and like wired a certain way.

But once you figure out a really hard problem and it works and you get the output that you're intending to get, it's an amazing feeling.

It's like free serotonin.

I struggle with imposter syndrome a lot, even as a full-time software engineer, it hasn't gone away.

Even though I did get my degree.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: I'm always like doubting myself and asking why did I get the job and not someone else.

Even though I have the requirements and I'm doing a good job.

Looking at somebody else that's successful, it's hard to see like if they did struggle or not.

I kind of just wanna get a feeling of their upbringing.

And how they even decided that they wanted to get into microelectronics or engineering fields.

>> Tara: Where is Marcus?

>> Alyssa: He's probably gonna be here tonight unfortunately.

I don't think he's had a very good day of traveling.

>> [MUSIC] >> Marcus: Kind of twisted my hair.

>> Tara: It looks nice.

>> Marcus: Oh, man, cameras everywhere.

Where do I sleep?

My name is Marcus Knight and I'm 23 years old and I'm from Douglasville, Georgia.

As a kid, my dad bought me a Playstation and then I started just playing games majority of the day.

From there it just kinda took off as gaming.

But, my mom didn't really want me to play games.

She was kind of just, do your homework, do your stuff.

In high school, they had me in the engineering pathway doing like coding, building robots, and stuff like that.

So that's kind of where I got into technology.

Here's my game.

My little setup here.

Elden Ring going.

When I got to college, I was an engineering major, and I was kind of doing bad.

In the back of my mind there's always, I don't feel like doing this, I don't wanna do it.

I'm sitting here at college, basically a 9 to 4 doing classes, schoolwork.

I'm not able to cover my bills.

I hate having to rely on my mom to buy me things.

And I'm like, as a 23 year old, I don't like that.

That kind of prompted me to leave college.

So I did a three month program, it's called Per Scholas.

Basically it was like an IT boot camp where they taught you all the entry level basics that you needed to get started in IT.

And then at the end they give you vouchers to take your A plus certification, which is kinda the entry level step to get in.

It's Sunday, I'm probably gonna apply for a couple of jobs.

So it's about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve jobs I'm probably gonna apply to today.

The struggle of finding a job because you hate your old one.

Most companies that you wanna work for, they want you have a college degree.

So, right now everything is kinda rolling, but it's really rolling slow.

Trying to weigh my options and things like that, like should I go back to school?

My future is kind of foggy, and I hope going on this road trip, I'll be able to take a step back and try to develop myself and learn more.

>> Alyssa: I'm excited to get our different viewpoints.

We all have different areas of microelectronics.

I'm computer science and math, Tara's like stats and math, and then Marcus is IT and electrical engineering as well.

>> Tara: They seem very relaxed and easygoing, which I appreciate.

But yeah, I'm excited.

>> Alyssa: I'm nervous about the interviews a little bit.

>> Marcus: I am kind of nervous talking to random people.

But I mean, at the end of the day it's just a conversation.

It's very out of my comfort zone to be with new people out of nowhere and then staying with them and things like that, so.

That's why I feel like Roadtrip is really trying to help us out, trying to open us up really.

>> [MUSIC] >> Tara: This morning we will be interviewing Jessica Heerboth at Nvidia.

Nvidia designs and manufactures chips or GPUs typically used in gaming or electronic display.

>> Marcus: Gaming, that's what I do.

I'm a gamer, and I know if I worked for a gaming company or anything like that, I would come in there every day dedicated to my job.

>> Jessica: I studied electrical and computer engineering.

While I was in school I had an internship with Nvidia.

They hired me out full time after that.

And right now I'm currently a software engineer for their driver team.

And what drivers do, is they interface the high level software to the low level hardware.

What I'm excited about about that is that it requires kind of like an artistic component to coding to get things to work the most optimally.

Certain things that you code have different implications for different types of hardware.

So I'm really excited to be able to bridge that gap.

Cuz if you're working on the lowest level, right, and that's what everything builds off of, your performance impacts can really ring out loudly.

>> Tara: What led you to software and computer engineering?

>> Jessica: When I was a kid, I really enjoyed video games a lot.

Probably more than I should.

Really liked computers, found them really interesting.

But there was a point there for a while where I wasn't sure if I was gonna do computer engineering, cuz I was also a hardcore band nerd.

And so, I really wanted to do music education as well.

So it wasn't like super clear cut for me.

I ended up choosing to go the computer engineering route because I felt like if I was going to school to learn something, I wanted to learn something that's going to be advancing with time and continuously pushing the edge.

Which is why I ended up going towards a technology field.

>> Marcus: Who kinda helped you?

Did you have anybody help you make that decision?

>> Jessica: I mean, your parents always have an opinion.

[LAUGH] But nobody really helped me make the decision.

>> Marcus: I got you.

>> Jessica: Cuz it's kind of like there's no right answer.

So it's a very personal thing that you have to reflect a lot on and what kind of happiness will this bring me in the future?

What are the tradeoffs?

>> Tara: Absolutely, and was pay something important to you in selecting a job straight out of undergrad?

>> Jessica: I mean, yes and no, right?

So, yes, pay is important because you need to be able to live.

[LAUGH] I think that it is one factor out of many.

You can't just choose the highest paying job because a lot of the time they pay you so much to be able to push you to the point of grinding.

>> Alyssa: I feel like particularly in engineering fields like mathematics fields, it's really competitive, and a lot of the students are really toxic to themselves.

And they create a toxic environment where nobody takes care of themselves.

And then you feel like you need to compete with them and then like [CROSSTALK].

>> Jessica: That's the hardest part honestly.

>> Alyssa: For me too, definitely.

>> Jessica: Because you see all these people seemingly thriving, kinda like, what's wrong with me?

[LAUGH] I think the word grinding is actually really important to think about.

We call it grinding, where we're trying to work so hard that we are meeting physical resistance, right?

That's what grinding kind of implies, is you're pushing too far, you are meeting physical resistance.

Your body is not wanting to do this.

And yet it's celebrated, like grinding instead of like, well, listen to yourself, are you actually doing okay?

And sometimes you do have to push yourself for specific deadlines, specific projects.

But if this is a regular thing, your body isn't meant to be under regular stress.

>> Alyssa: And you're gonna burn out really quick.

>> Jessica: And a lot of people do.

So surely it's better to pace yourself.

The most important, in my opinion, is the job.

Is this what you want to do, or what you wanna try if you don't know what you want?

What's the next thing you wanna try?

And weigh the pay, weigh the corporate culture, but really focus on what's the best for you.

And I think everybody's perspective is different, because money is more important to different people depending on who you ask.

So is corporate culture, and so is the job.

So it's a very unique personal reflection period where you have to like, okay, what is important to me?

>> [MUSIC] >> Tara: It was a nice message to hear, you have a job, you have to work.

And you're not gonna love working all the time.

But there's those periods where you push and then there's also those periods where you rest.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: It's good to try to accomplish your goals and be a hard worker, but at the same time it's more important to take care of yourself.

Because, obviously, if you don't take care of yourself, you're not gonna be in a good state of mind to accomplish those goals anyway.

>> Marcus: After the interview with Jessica, I did my first paddle boarding thing.

I feel like I got a little stronger.

>> Alyssa: It was my first time too.

We gonna bump.

>> Marcus: That was an experience.

We kinda went under the bat bridge a little bit, and you could hear him like [SOUND].

It was kinda, I don't know, maybe they'll fall out on us or whatever but it was chill.

>> Alyssa: It was really fun.

It was hot up there so I jumped in the water like a few times.

>> Tara: We got a nice view of downtown on the paddle boards.

>> Alyssa: I don't think I've ever been in water where I could see the skyline.

It was really, really cool.

>> Tara: So this afternoon we will be meeting with AJ Rivero from Torc.

Torc is a company within the smart mobility space, working to create automated freight trucks or 18 wheelers.

>> A.J.

: The product is extremely fascinating to me.

It's something that's never been done before.

And I think that's the most exciting part.

What I do on a daily basis is I review scenarios where our truck may have not behaved as software engineers intended it to behave.

So after a test, we develop these event tickets, where I'm able to analyze the situation that the truck was in and why they behaved the way they did rather than what was originally intended.

>> Marcus: Does it kind of bother you when you don't know?

>> A.J.

: Yeah, it does.

Yes, it did.

I guess, I originally thought that someone was going to be able to understand the whole software stack.

But that is not the case.

You just can't, it's really difficult.

And that's why we have so many teams and so many engineers.

But I have gotten comfortable with asking questions, but it's a learning curve for sure, every day it's like one step closer to being able to roll out these vehicles.

It's one of those things where in our lifetime, I hope we can see it, an autonomous level for a truck on the road.

And it would be very exciting to see because first and foremost, it would save lives.

So it would minimize the number of accidents occurred on the road and on the highways.

So the social impact there is huge.

>> Tara: It's kind of like collecting more data in these interviews.

It's definitely made the industry more exciting hearing that work is cutting edge or this is what helps progress technology and therefore society and culture in many ways.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: So today we're gonna be going to Austin Community College and speaking with Laura Marmolejo.

>> Tara: She worked as an electrical engineer in semiconductors and after some industry experience she moved towards education.

So what made you pursue electrical engineering?

>> Laura: Well, the truth is, when I was in high school, they recruited me for a summer Women in Engineering program, didn't know what that was.

Even after the program, I still didn't know what that was, but what I did know is they made lots of money and so that was it, it got my attention.

>> Alyssa: Did either of your parents study engineering or did you have a mentor?

>> Laura: No, actually to be honest, I was raised by a single mom.

She didn't go to college and in fact when I grew up I didn't know a single person who had a college education.

>> Alyssa: Yeah, so how would you push yourself through that then because I feel like it's way more difficult being like a first generation student.

>> Laura: It is, right, and being a woman is also very challenging in engineering.

It took longer, and I didn't get out in four years.

It took almost six years because I had to stumble along the way and make mistakes.

And it wasn't until really when I was a sophomore going into my junior year and I got an opportunity to do an internship with a company that the light went on.

And I finally understood the goal.

Once I got super focused on that, it was much easier.

>> Tara: And so what sparked your decision to enter education or academia?

>> Laura: I realized how you can impact people.

And if someone hadn't impacted me, I wouldn't be here today.

So it felt like the value that I could bring to the table was more significant here than it would've been working on machinery or products.

So I'm the department chair for manufacturing.

This department's sort of new, it's about three years old.

And the goal for me is, because we partner with a lot of companies and they need all levels of skill sets, and there are people who need a job first before an education.

So we try to align their opportunities from the minute they come in, if they need a job first and there's a short eight week program that they can immediately get into manufacturing.

Or they can continue on all the way to an associate's degree and for me that's important because you're serving their needs, right?

>> Marcus: That's kind of the same route I took like this three month boot camp for IT to get my A plus certification.

And it kind of just taught me like you said, the baseline knowledge of everything to build computers, software, hardware, all of that.

So I feel like it was kind of, it definitely prepared me.

>> Laura: Right.

Plus having that experience, I mean, like for me, that's what changed everything is once I had that job and I saw what I could do, what the future could be.

And so there's no disadvantage of going to work first, you will be even more engaged in the process.

And like I said, we try to find ways to make it easy for them to come back.

Even if it's one class at a time, you might as well because I mean a lot of students have parents who are grooming them to go to college and that's wonderful.

They will succeed, they'll make it through university.

But what about the rest of us, you know, I was one of those others and that's why it took so long.

And so the majority I think a large portion of the population needs that smaller classroom, more personal mentoring, the things that a community college is awesome at.

And some people just need enough to get a job.

Not everybody has to have a four year degree.

I've learned that even in the workplace the technicians often made more than the engineers because they got paid overtime.

And I learned from being here that there's more than one way to have a successful career and not everybody has to take one path.

>> Alyssa: What final advice would you give us just for the future?

>> Laura: I would say that y'all are young, which is great.

Take advantage of every opportunity.

Get as much of your education out the way so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor so to speak.

And then maybe you should consider paying it forward when you're older, like my age, and teaching about what you've learned because everyone has something to share and students need to learn from us that have experience and gives them a little insight.

So learn everything you can and then think about how you can share that with the next generation.

>> Alyssa: That's how I feel too.

I wanna be a professor one day, get my PhD, but like in the future [LAUGH] like a while in the future.

>> Tara: Yeah.

>> Alyssa: Laura is also a first generation student and she grew up with a single mom which I can relate to, my mom was a single mom as well.

It's really amazing that she did go to college and that she's created this environment where she can help people that were in her situation and try to give them opportunities that they wouldn't have.

>> Tara: She wanted to be able to open doors for other students that may have had similar challenges and ensure that they had the possibility of getting a degree.

>> [MUSIC] >> Tara: This is the last day in Austin, Texas, so we had a mini cookout.

A very summer activity.

>> [MUSIC] >> Marcus: That's her corn.

>> Tara: It's our corn.

>> Alyssa: It's community corn.

>> Marcus: Community corn.

Alyssa grilled shrimp.

Tara kind of showed me how to make a spring roll.

>> Tara: But you don't have to put everything on but kinda what you want.

>> Marcus: It was dope, I had a good time.

>> Alyssa: I like hanging out with them, it's cool.

It's good to like surround yourself with people that are motivated and trying to chase their own goals.

>> Marcus: I'm opening up a lot more.

I'm kinda stepping into another form of myself really.

>> Tara: The shrimp's good.

I'm looking forward to future interviews.

Everyone has just gotten better and better and we're kind of building up a lot of momentum.

>> Marcus: So, the route is Austin to San Diego.

>> Tara: And from there heading up north to the Bay Area.

>> Alyssa: I'm really excited for these next few cities.

>> [MUSIC] >> Alyssa: So we're about halfway through the trip right now.

We started in Austin, Texas, and now we're in San Diego.

>>Tara We've been able to get very different perspectives.

I think it's much more inspiring to see somebody in person who is doing the work.

>> Naeiri: I grew up not knowing any women engineers.

I was like, okay, I think that's something important I can do.

I can become one.

>> Marcus: Now I feel like I have more like a guided way.

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