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36 The PCB Design Magazine • May 2017 garding the events that happened on January 15, 2009, when Captain Chesley Sullenberger's plane, US Airways Flight 1549, made an un- planned water landing on the Hudson River. Sully's wife Lorrie and his first officer Jeff Skiles talked about how he spent time making sure that he was always prepared for any even- tuality while flying. Lorrie related a story about being a passenger in a small plane that Sully was piloting. She was not happy about being in a puddle-jumper, but Sully calmed her by telling her that during their entire trip, he always had in sight different spots that he had picked out for a forced landing if something had gone wrong. Skiles talked about how Sully would update the destination flight computer weather re- port at the 56-minute point of each hour, even though that information wasn't needed until shortly before landing. No one had ever considered the possibil- ity of a dual engine failure at only 3,000 feet caused by simultaneous bird strikes, followed immediately by a forced water landing due to a complete loss of power. And there certainly weren't any simulations, training, or procedures for such an event. But because of Captain Sul- lenberger's habit of rehearsing and thinking through different possible emergency scenarios, he was prepared to calmly deal with this new problem when it occurred. Lorrie said that he doesn't just fly an airplane. He "clothes" him- self with the plane so that piloting it isn't just what he does; it's part of who he is. Do you remember the biblical story of Da- vid and Goliath? The giant Goliath had been daring anyone to come out and face him alone in battle, which no one was eager to do. David, who was not a soldier, decided to take up that challenge himself. The soldiers did their best to help him by loaning him their armor, but David declined, saying that he wasn't used to it and it would only slow him down. David refused to change into something that he wasn't, and told them all that it would be better for him to rely on the skills that he had been perfecting for years as a shepherd tending his father's sheep. When any predator tried to take one of his flock, he would kill it to rescue the sheep. As a result, David had become quite skilled in using the sling to launch a softball- sized stone with deadly accuracy, a point which Goliath would soon find out the hard way. Sully saved the lives of everyone aboard his airplane because he was prepared. David took on the challenge of battling a giant because he, too, was prepared. Sully didn't wait until the emergency was upon him to suddenly bone up on his emergency procedures; he had been preparing for something like this his whole life. David refused to try to become something that he wasn't in order to succeed, but instead relied on his years of training and experiences to be victorious. I am not saying that we shouldn't be dili- gent about learning new skills and adding to our education in order to grow in our respective fields of employment—of course we should. In- stead, my point is to encourage you to go into the interview process confident in the skills that you already possess. The things that are impor- tant to you now and the skills and abilities that you have been perfecting and achieving suc- cess with are the talking points that are going to highlight your abilities during the interview process. So, stop worrying about who you aren't, and focus more on who you are. Are you a designer with years of experience in different designs? Then don't spend time trying to apologize for areas that you know nothing about, but instead confidently paint a glowing picture of what it is that you have done and how that experience will be a benefit to the new position. Remember PROPELLED BY PREPARATION " No one had ever considered the possibility of a dual engine failure at only 3,000 feet caused by simultaneous bird strikes, followed immediately by a forced water landing due to a complete loss of power. "