Hello, I am Ryan Riebe, Chief Marketing Officer for Rodapa. How I ended up in this position is quite frankly simple, but considering my background, peculiar. I graduated from Loyola Marymount in the spring, with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I have been applying to entry level Mechanical Engineering jobs for over a year, but I have not been able to get a job within that discipline. I have applied to many more open job positions compared to internships during my college years, but I have had a very low success rate of hearing back whatsoever. Yes, there is currently a worldwide pandemic going on that is negatively affecting the economy in various different ways, but I have still been surprised that my applications have gone nowhere for basically any job that I have applied to.

For a while during the beginning of the pandemic in the spring, I was able to keep myself mentally in check and hopeful. I kept applying to various different jobs while I finished up my degree. I figured that my time would eventually come if I was patient. I mainly kept applying towards only my main interests for a “comfortable” job at large companies. I found it odd that my applications netted nothing, but I figured that it was just a sign of the times. If I continued being patient, something would come along eventually, right? 

As summer went on, I continued to have absolutely no luck, and my mental state began to wane. Why am I hearing nothing back? Is my application getting automatically weeded out by every single place that I apply to? How come the exact same companies who showed interest in me for open internship positions now seem to not even look at my application? Is there something wrong with my resume, even though it has been helped by a number of qualified individuals? Is there something that I have no idea about that they reject me for? These open but likely never to ever be directly answered questions had lingered in my mind nearly every day, and I reached a breaking point. 

I stopped applying to jobs for a while. I felt unproductive, and totally lost on what I wanted to do with my life. I have many dreams, but without an engineering job to continue learning, improving, and earning some sort of an income, all of my goals short and long term are not at all possible. I felt like I wasted so much time. I had nothing to prove to others, but most importantly, myself. Other personal things that happened during that time period did not help with my motivation either. 

In the fall, Rudy Hill, a great friend that I made at Regis Jesuit High School, approached me about working for a business he started with his Dad. We decided that with my minimal technical software construction experience along with my personal side goals, it was best that I assume the role of being a Marketing Officer. I can eventually transition and work on other more technical projects as I gain experience, but taking this marketing role is something that I could start on immediately. I have grown a lot so far, and have been doing a lot of learning. I have started the “Learning about Databases and SQL Series” also that is within the SQL subsection of this blog. I am very thankful for this opportunity, as it has allowed me to start exploring new passions I would not have otherwise. Beginning to help create something new (with some very knowledgeable people), while studying various different concepts such as databases has helped me make other realizations within my life. 

With all that time spent applying to jobs, I had not spent nearly enough time optimizing and noting my own “data” that was important. Yes, my initial job applications have the basic information necessary, but there are other files that I could have ready to go to initially submit, give in an interview, or immediately hand over if asked. I needed to remake my resume into a format that was modernized and eye-catching. My short and long term goals did not have specific steps for attaining them, which are absolutely necessary as they will not just come with time. My physical health was lacking since I had not been working out consistently. My mental health was of course going to deteriorate with all of these aspects and a few others not being managed properly. I am very thankful to have close friends (such as Rudy) and family to help support me continuously, but I know I was letting myself down not keeping track of my own “data”, both literally and figuratively.

Everyone at Rodapa is fulfilling a part of their own unique journey, but we all have the common goal of trying to help others and their businesses achieve solutions that simplify the summarization and sharing of data. Always feel free to reach out if your company needs any assistance, and stay tuned for more information on our powerful integrated platform that can help manage and visualize data from various different sources. We are very proud of its capabilities. We also know it will be incredibly useful to many businesses who are willing to try it out. 

Anyways, I encourage anyone who reads this to reflect on your own “data”, and make sure to continue to manage it. I hope you continue to have a happy holiday season, and are able to continue to spend it connected to the important ones in your life in whatever way you can.