Senior Advice

This is my last semester as a Boilermaker. I am glad to be so close to moving on the the next phase of my life, but I will still try to experience all that I can during my time at Purdue. One big thing I am reminding myself throughout this semester is that I won’t be able to see all my friends in such a small area and have as much free time to spend with them in the future. Especially once I start my career. So make the most of the time you have here and do spontaneous stuff. Don’t get too focused on your schedule and your list of things to do at college. 

Some advice I have for the career fair is to not think your only options for internships or work are with purely agronomy companies. I recently had an internship with Trimble Inc. who does auto-steer, grade control, machine control, construction, design software, and farm management software, etc. That is just within their Ag division. I have found  that even though companies like Trimble are technology companies, they still use agronomy principles  in these tech products they create. Agronomy allows them to understand how this helps the farm improve their crop or soil management and they need input from people with agronomy experience to improve these products. I met a large amount of people with Agronomy degrees at this company who are now product managers, salesmen, testers, etc. Experience with Ag tech will make you more valuable anywhere you go, even if you are a practicing agronomist. This technology is becoming more and more integrated into all farm operations, and I highly recommend exploring it. 

Have a great semester, 

Andrew Thurman