As someone who spends way too much time thinking about universal laws, I find myself struggling to call anything a law. You can always find an exception that violates your model. This is especially true when it comes to people (OMG comparatively atoms are so much easier). But here it is. My Law: “We want people who are EAGER!”

I’d like to say that “We want people to who say YES”. But that isn’t true at all. I want people to question decisions. I want people that take care of their health and the health of the people around them. I want people to be safe. I want people to adhere to their ethical system. So I also want people to say NO.

That comes back to the word EAGER! I want people that are hungry to grow. I want people who want to dive in deeper. I want people that want their teammates to grow. I want people who want to learn. I want people to look at a problem and say, let’s fix this.

Today in E&M was wonderful. Typically about once a semester, I drop the notes and just do the life discussion. I just answer any questions that come up. Again, once a semester this is wonderful. I loved the questions the students were asking. What should be their next career step? What is graduate school like? How to get a job in this or that field? What skills do I need to be successful? But they were missing the point. The future is so dynamic, this or that skill only matters for a short time. Then we will be onto something else. I mean how many programming languages do I know that aren’t used to today? Jython any one?

The point is we need to be eager to dive in and learn. We need to demonstrate to our professors (those writing letters of recommendations for us) that we are eager to make a difference. Once people know how eager you are they will be looking for ways to get you opportunities. Of course, you will only need to rely on them in an emergency because your eagerness will have already created opportunities for yourself.

BE EAGER!