My trip to South Korea has been a great professional experience for me. I learned a lot about business during the site visits that I otherwise would not have experienced within the engineering school. This post is a reflection on some of the things that I took away from the trip that pertain to my intended career path of industrial engineering.

In Industrial Engineering, the main goal is to optimize a process or facility as much as possible. An ethical issue that sometimes arises in the field is the sacrifice of safety as a means to increase production. This was a topic we discussed during our visit to Trainor Korea. In South Korea, there is a safety problem in factories as a result of this exact situation. During our visit, we learned about the new training programs offered by Trainor Korea that factory workers complete to learn how to stay safe at work and remain productive without jeopardize their safety. This is something I will be sure to apply to my future job, so that no ethical issues will occur.

Another important takeaway I had from this program was the need to have a breadth of understanding. It is not enough to just know the technical side of a project, because every decision that you will make will also have effects on the business side of the project. This is especially important to me as an Industrial Engineer, because many people with an IE degree often move into business management later in their career. So, now I know that as I begin my career, I will be sure to learn as much as I can about the business side of my projects, because it will be important to me later in life.

Tying into this, I learned that it is important to always continue to learn, even after leaving college. I am currently planning on getting a master’s in Business Administration at some point in my life, because I know it will help to continue and elevate my career. Also, I realized that I learned so many new things while traveling abroad on this trip, and those things were not topics that I would learn about in the US. Therefore, I have decided that I want to travel more throughout my life, because not only will it be fun and expand my perspective, it will increase my educational breadth and make me a better employee in my future job. My hope is that I will be in a position at my place of employment that requires travel.

In South Korea, the social side of business is almost as important as the business side itself. Company representatives often meet outside of work at dinners and such to discuss ideas and to just meet in general. Making a good impression at these meetings is very important, because it will be where the other representative decides if they want to work with your company or not. If you are well-composed, polite, and intellectual, it will increase your standing with your colleagues. This is something that I am glad to have learned sooner rather than later, because now I will be sure to make a good impression from the start.

Finally, this trip gave me my first experience of multi-disciplinary teams. My group had three engineers and three business students, which may be similar to teams I have in my future job. Each of the two groups had their specific areas of knowledge, given their different majors, so they were able to complement each other well. This allowed for the teams to be very effective when we gave our final presentations. However, I also learned that it is important for there to be some overlap. I don’t want to be clueless when the business majors are talking, so it is important for me to know some of the basics, and I got a lot of experience with that on this trip. If I do go on to earn a Master’s in Business Administration, that will be an effective solution to this problem.  

Overall, this trip was an excellent experience and I am very glad that I chose to go. It has inspired me to travel more later in my life. I also learned loads on the company visits that I otherwise would not have learned in a classroom setting. The things that I learned will not always benefit me right this moment, but I now have a lot of wisdom and experience ready to go for when I finally begin my career, thanks to the professional education and development that I received during this trip.