OUR STORY

Like most entrepreneurial ideas, Perspectiv arose from a pain point I personally experienced and hope to solve for others who are struggling with the same problem. For me, as I’m sure is the case for many people, choosing a career path after high school was essentially a shot in the dark. After dropping out of Ohio State with a declared major in aerospace engineering, I chose a very arbitrary path: film. After almost a decade of working on big-budget movies in Hollywood, I came to realize that this was not my life’s passion nor was I fulfilled by the work I was doing. I decided to go back to college and finish my engineering degree. 

 

While applying to schools, I had the great (and likely life-altering) fortune of speaking with an aerospace engineer whose story was similar to my own. Dina had recently completed her degree at Georgia Tech and was now working full-time as an engineer – she hated it. Working in a cubicle from 9 to 5, interacting with very few people and being prohibited from speaking about her work was not at all what she’d envisioned when she decided to pursue this career. 

 

That’s when it hit me: I was about to set out on this enormous, life-changing journey, go into debt again, spend at least three more years in college, yet I had no idea what an aerospace engineer actually does. Of course, everyone has a general idea, but there were so many questions I hadn’t asked. I’d simply romanticized the job in my mind and imagined it would be everything that I felt was missing in my movie career.

​

How many people have dedicated years of their lives and accrued insurmountable debt pursuing a dream job that ends up being nothing like they'd expected? How many people are then unable to make a career change because they have a growing family to support, a mortgage, or both? How many people are so discontented with the work they do that it negatively affects their mood, their lives, and the lives of those around them (usually the ones they care for most)? My mission with Perspectiv is to help as many people as possible avoid what I believe to be one of life’s greatest traps. 

 

I realize Dina’s story is unique and her experience is neither representative of every aerospace engineer nor of every aerospace company. My dream is that Perspectiv will eventually tell the stories of dozens of engineers (and all other professions) so anyone considering a particular path can form their own opinion based on the honest experiences of those who walked before them. In the future, we hope to incorporate an “Ask a Professional” app, a live Q & A feature, and much more. The overarching goal of our company will always be to help more people live meaningful, impactful, and happy lives.