After working as a technician at Siemens, an international information technology company headquartered in Munich. Hee Dong Na wanted a challenge, took a risk and decided to change his career path completely.
Na is 31-years-old and a graduate student at Cal State Long Beach.
“Once, I dreamed about being a pharmacist,” Na said. “Due to my personal reason, I changed my path to engineering.”
Even before Na immigrated to the U.S., he was pursuing engineering.
When his family decided to move, he dropped out of college.
Between 2000 and 2002, Na worked on applying to colleges. In 2002, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in biochemistry. Na said he chose biochemistry as a major since he thought the best way to survive in America is to be a specialize. His closest friend suggested the change to become a pharmacist.
After he graduated from UCLA, he got a job at Siemens. He worked as a technician at a lab and did research and development.
However, the branch that was located in California, where he worked, relocated to England. It was then that Na decided to question his career path.
“Scientist is the highest position that a researcher could reach,” he said.
As a scientist, Na could only reach a certain level of income. Na’s friends, who were already engineers, encouraged him to make the switch.
“My friends, who are working at engineering companies, actually suggested to me to study engineering again,” Na said. “Since I have seen how to succeed in that field, I decided to challenge myself again.”
Na originally applied to graduate school at UCLA and CSULB but felt encouraged when he heard positive responses from counselors at CSULB.
“A friend who suggested to me to go study engineering was attending CSULB at that time,” Na said. “So I called a counselor at this school and they only gave me the positive answers. That time, I decided to apply to this college.”
From the time he decided to immigrate to the U.S., Na risked everything to choose a better life and to succeed. Now, he has a deep knowledge of both fields, biochemistry and engineering, and is planning to graduate in spring 2013.
“I am still searching my aptitude for my future job,” Na said. “I am thinking of environmental engineering or working in chemistry reaction, but we will see.”