Answered #NASA career questions for an intern this morning, note none of my advice was to take more math classes <THREAD>
1/ If you aren't learning and your job has become routine, it is time to do something new (could be new task, new position, or new company entirely).
2/ Leadership includes two things: initiative and communication. Get things done that need doing, make sure everyone knows what needs to get done and what got done
3/ In order to be promoted/be able to take on new work, always be training your replacement/mentoring those junior to you. this is not a competition
4/ You are responsible for your career. The company/agency/org you work for is beholden to their bottom line and not you.
5/ Much can be learned through observation, being able to see how different people approach problems is more valuable than classroom work. This is available to you for free every day.
6/ Your best future job/career/position does not exist yet. When I started neither the program I work on nor position existed, focus on learning and 'getting things done' and opportunity is what happens after that
7/ Learning to see/recognize what needs to get done and then doing it is a skill in itself. you can't teach this in a classroom.
8/ Leadership occurs at all levels, you are never too junior to work on your leadership skills
9/ Find good people to work for. See #4 above. A good job with bad leadership is worse than a so-so job with good leadership.
10/ My advice to my younger self: have patience. Getting where I am required all that came before. /end
PS/ just remembered another answer: PhDs are #totallynotrequired, they train for research in academia (which is great if that's what you want), but most engineers learn/advance on the job from BS (pun intended)
