Hi, Welcome back to my blog! For my past PGP project, I had the opportunity to explore a career I’ve always been curious about—marine biology. The project required us to go through several steps to create a full podcast episode. Since I already have a love for the ocean and animals, I thought Marine Biology would be a good career path for me. Obviously I am not set on this career option for life, but I was interested in learning more about it. 

Smart Brevity note: In order to start the project, we each created our own smart brevity note based off of the career we chose. A smart brevity note is a note taking method that makes a lot of information concise and easy to read. With one topic and a few subtitles, you then create bullet points that come from them. This was just a grasp and even deeper understanding of the career before we got into interviewing someone, which comes later. This is my smart brevity note.

 

 

Interview: Next, we had to find some connection with someone who is in this field, and shadow them for a day and also interview them. For me, this was to gain deeper insight into what a marine biologist’s day-to-day work involves. Since my interviewee lives far away, I was not able to shadow them for a day which was a little bit sad. I was able to do an online FaceTime and extract /record the audio which worked just fine. She explained all about an average day in her life, the importance of what she does for the environment and ecosystems, to some tips and tricks she would recommend to someone who is just starting up in this career path. This interview was super important and useful. This helped me se more of the realities of being a marine biologist.

Audio Outline: Creating my audio outline, or script was pretty easy for me. This was a crucial step as it helped me organize structure the podcast and decide which aspects of our conversation to highlight, making sure the final product would be both informative and engaging.

It helped me figure out what to say and when to say it. I had to take snip-it’s of information out of my interview. My entire interview was about 20 minutes and it was supposed to be 4-7 minutes long.

Recording my Podcast: Finally, I recorded the podcast, using my outline to guide me through the process. I edited the audio on GarageBand which was quite challenging for me because it isn’t an app I am familiar with but I got help from my peers and finally after a few revisions, I finished with something I was happy and proud of. Here is what the process looked a bit like.

“How can learning from others’ career journeys help us shape our own?”: The experience of creating a podcast was both challenging and rewarding, giving me the opportunity to learn more about marine biology while developing my communication and technical skills. Learning from others’ career journeys can provide valuable insights that help us shape our own paths. By hearing about the challenges, successes, and decisions others have made in their careers, we gain a clearer understanding of what different fields truly involve. This allows us to identify what aligns with our own interests and values, and what might not be the right fit. My interview with a marine biologist, gave me a firsthand look at the practical aspects of her career. Understanding someone else’s journey can inspire us, offer guidance on potential obstacles, and help us make more informed decisions about our future careers.