What is Job Shadowing?
It isn't easy to decide what you want to do for a living! Job shadowing helps by letting you observe professionals at work in a field that interests you. Through job shadowing you can begin to answer some important questions: Is the field as interesting as I thought? Would it hold my interest? Do I like the work environment? How do people interact in this work setting? Can I see myself doing this job?
Some important points about UW Bioengineering Job Shadowing:
- It is observational, not hands-on. You will be able to spend half a day watching and speaking with people working in a research area that interests you, but you will not be participating in research yourself.
- During your job-shadowing experience, you may encounter any combination of faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and research scientists in the laboratory.
- The researchers you meet at UW will be able to answer questions about scientific discoveries, the research process, what it takes to study bioengineering, and what it is like to conduct research within an academic setting. They may not be able to answer questions about job opportunities in bioengineering or what it is like to work in an industrial setting.
To get the most of your job shadowing experience, come prepared with a list of questions. Identify the 3 or 4 questions that are most important to you, and look for opportunities to ask them during your job shadowing time. When your job shadow is over, think about the most important things you learned. Were there any surprises, anything you didn't expect?