Ashley Hamilton-Ross
Chevron
San Ramon, CA USA
"You'd be really surprised at how well you can perform when you push yourself-because you don't know that you're not good at it…you don't necessarily have to be the straight-A student, you don't have to be perfect all the time…be human, be yourself and a lot of the time that's more than sufficient."
Career Roadmap
Ashley's work combines: Engineering, Numbers, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Chemical Engineering
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
When she was in middle school, her dad made her draw up a résumé, make a plan for her future.
2.
Thought she had a set path, but hit a few bumps: left University of Washington for financial reasons, didn't like her chemical engineering major.
3.
Got an internship at Chevron that reignited her interest, pushed her through her education.
4.
Says she had difficulty learning theory in college, but once she got a job, put theories into practice, it all fell into place.
5.
Recommends college students take physical science/math classes, says the analytical thinking aids you in any career.
6.
Stresses importance of finding a job you enjoy, where you can have fun with your work colleagues.
7.
Her family didn't fully understand her major or her job, but saw it made her happy and stayed supportive.
8.
Says she's encountered sexism-people tell her engineering "is for guys"-but she refuses to let those comments "get her down."
Defining Moments
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My family unfortunately didn't have the funding for me to go to college, so that was a really big hurdle for myself. One thing that helped me was that I went in and spoke with some of the counselors on campus to figure out how to get scholarships and funding.
I did have some interesting reactions from my family, like 'Oh, chemical engineering, I thought that was only for guys.' Well, that's not true.