Before I came to California, my family and I only had a little money. Me and my dad lived in Saipan as he worked in his one low-paying job, while my mom was working in the U.S. We struggled for many years but eventually, we were able to build up money to afford our own house and many other things. The future can be a stressful road for many as we struggle to save money for the years to come. Many people wonder, “Why can’t I manage money, why is it hard to afford these things?” 

My name is Jade Ivan Miranda and my dream is to work and commit to hardware engineering so I can learn about technologies and explore them as they evolve, achieve financial flexibility, and have the ability to save more than enough for me and my family’s future. 

I can’t imagine what it would be like to live poor, not having enough money to afford daily necessities. I want a job that I can be flexible with and do a lot of things like promote tech, and find opportunities at research laboratories. I could also start a repair business for computer systems that I would promote.

Many people avoid the steps and wing the process when it comes to their dreams, but we all start somewhere. The steps I need to take to achieve my dream are to learn about my job. I underestimated the amount of knowledge I needed for this job, so I could find books to build the basic foundation of engineering. Next is to graduate from high school. Very simple step, but all the small things that can kick start my adulthood will help provide for my college life. The next step is to start college. Do whatever I can to learn about my major and obtain a bachelor's degree. Next is to find help from pros, friends, family members, people with similar interests, and people who will overall support me and maybe I can collaborate with a few of them. An example is I could watch videos made about my major/ dream job and learn about what I should expect going into this industry. Later, I will try to find work as a hardware engineer while pursuing a business with partners who can help me.

Help that I would need to find my success as a hardware engineer is help from pros, friends, family, and people who I could find to support my path along with theirs. An example is I could join online communities and forums where hardware engineers discuss their problems, and get help from other fellow hardware engineers. 

From a financial point of view, money is unavoidable to spend. Many may think, “Engineering is hard, you need to be good at math, and engineering looks complicated.” Regardless of hardware engineering might be a difficult job, you can always learn. Admitting the work will be tiring is what makes you weak. Taking in all the information and growing from it is what makes a good worker, a good coach, a good anything. All I need is to obtain the discipline to budget my money. I’ll calculate all the money I need monthly for bills, daily needs, and gifts, and have the extra towards savings and free money.

Hardware engineering may be an interesting job for many, as it is not very common in comparison to software engineering. In my opinion, I’ve always had a passion for technology and how all the components work together to create something new. I want to be able to repair, build, and share technology, and hardware, and expand my knowledge to be part of something possibly bigger in the future while being able to provide for my family. Even if hardware engineering requires 100% of my brain power, I will put 150% effort towards my dream, the step to wanting this dream is 70% of my road. 30% is making the dream happen. The extra 50% is the discipline and love I need to put in for the opportunities ahead of me.