The future in a photograph!
I’m Gerta! The daughter of a French language professor and an Albanian language teacher and the sister of a polyglot. As you can expect, we have a huge library filled with a wide variety of books at home. My parents used to buy me English-language novels when I was 12 years old, as I recall. My father would tell me to underline any unknown words and look them up in the dictionary. This is how I first began to learn English after all. On the other hand, it was my mother who would always encourage me to be bold, independent, and try new things because the most wonderful things in life are on the other side of fear.
“The American Dream” … as a child I didn’t understand much of what it meant; I just knew that apparently dreams come true in this country, so my vision board on my bedroom wall was full of “Brooklyn Bridge”, “Statue of Liberty”, “Grand Canyon” – pictures and a Michael Jackson – poster. I heard a lot of different stories while I was growing up, and each one is so distinctive and personal in terms of how people perceive “The American Dream.” But why this place? Why isn’t there such a saying for another country?
Well, I guess this was my dilemma to solve and understand by myself, so this, is my story.
Coffee is one of my favorite things to do after a long, exhausting day, so I decided to catch up with my best friend at our favorite coffee place in Tirana a year ago. Having a new working experience abroad came up during our discussion. That’s when she informed me about “MIP Program” which she saw in a social media post. I thought, maybe this is an opportunity to work in a different environment than what I was used to and see how I will perceive “The American Dream”. I was quite anxious about the application and interview processes, but now I realize that it was all a part of the wonderful experience I was about to live.
Today, after 16 years from when I first began learning English and adding pictures to my vision board, I’m in Boston, Massachusetts. My experience has been really fulfilling so far, both professionally and personally.
Professionally – I have the chance to work with great professionals in the fields of mechanical, electrical and software engineering at Altaeros. Along with all the challenges that come my way, I’m developing my skills on taking bigger risks, as well as critical and analytical thinking. I’m happy to say that these are the exact skills I wanted to improve when I was asked in the MIP application. My supervisor, Beth, is the best mentor I could have. She’s taught me so much when it comes to managing IT project and the how complex it is to manage people by sharing parts from her 30 years of experience and the risks and decisions she had to make. An important event in the MIP Program is the “Enrichment trip” which this year took place in Little Rock, Arkansas. This small town, about which I had never heard much before, was like a hidden gem. I found myself at a location I never anticipated going to, which added to the beauty of the whole experience. I had the opportunity to meet wonderful people rich in knowledge in the fields of medicine, law, business, information technology, marketing, and art. Expanding my professional network is very important because we never know where life will take us or with whom we will need to collaborate but most importantly I made some new friends.
Personally – I’ve developed the ability to be more patient with myself and the things I do. Not everything has to be perfect, in fact it doesn’t even need to be. You just must take the first step and the path will become clear. The company I work in as an intern, best exemplifies the value of patience and hard work combined. It began as a startup company, ten years ago and is today one of the most innovative businesses. Every day, I watch as my coworkers put a milestone in the next big thing, which gives me motivation to go even further. I’m also putting more time and energy on my hobby, photography. I’m capturing moments that will remain long in my memories. On the second week of my stay, I visited New York, the “big apple” as the locals call it. I was listening to Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind” and as she says in her song “there’s nothing you can’t do. Now you’re in New York” the city gave the exact same feeling. I caught myself taking a picture of “Brooklyn Bridge”, at the same spot as the picture I had on my vision board when I was a child. Little did I know, I realized the pictures on my board were the ones I would take by myself in the future.
How do I see “The American Dream”? On my point of view this country gives you the opportunity to be your own boss regardless of your occupation. Everyone matters and everyone plays an important role in the society, and you are free to do things your own way! It is not as easy as it may sound, but hey… opportunities are limitless and when something is difficult, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible!
Gerta Doçi
MIP Internship Fellow, 2023
Boston, Massachusetts
