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- Year Of Graduation: 2021
- College/University: Xavier University
- Major: Biology
What do you do for a living, or how are you supporting yourself right now? Can you share what a typical day in your life/at work looks like?
I work in quality control at a medical equipment manufacturing company. My day is basically collecting samples and inspecting the samples we get, making sure they meet our procedures, making sure they’re the right size and that they can be tested appropriately, things like that. I also ship out samples if we have any external testing. For any external samples that come to us, I inspect them, receive them, and delegate them to the appropriate tests for our testing team.
Quality control is essentially about making sure testing procedures guarantee that the product we’re making is produced in a quality way, meaning it does what it says it’s going to do. We’re able to back it up with data and show that what we’re making performs the way we claim it does.
Can you tell me about your experience finding a job after graduation? How has a biology degree translated practically?
Most of the people I knew were focused on a nursing or pre-med path, or something like that. They already knew what they were working toward. So it wasn’t really like they graduated and didn’t know what to do. They had to look for a job, of course, but they already had a plan in place, which made it easier.
With a biology degree, it can be hard to figure out what else you’re suitable for if you don’t get a job where you directly use biology. You might think the skills you learn in a biology class don’t transfer to something like being a bank teller or working in criminal justice. It doesn’t seem like it aligns.
But what I’ve learned is that there are soft skills and there are more technical skills, and biology gives you a lot of strong skills. It gives you data analysis, attention to detail, pattern recognition, and the ability to think through experiments. When I reflect on the skills I have and what I’m proficient in, those are the things I see. And those are all marketable.
Why did you choose your undergrad major?
My high school was a dual enrollment program. The first two years were more high school class focused, and the last two years were primarily me taking college classes at the community college. Our focus was more health sciences oriented. We took biology, chemistry, anatomy, all of that.
So, I already had a background in biology. That’s why I felt like if I was going to go to a four-year institution, I would probably prefer to major in biology because I already had so many credits that would transfer into it anyway. I didn’t want to waste all the time I had already spent studying biology and go into something completely different.
Do you think AI is impacting your role and/or industry, or will start impacting it in a meaningful way?
I’ve used AI primarily for wording things. If I have an idea and I know what I need to write it out but I’m not sure exactly how I want to phrase it, I’ll type in something similar and see what it comes up with. That helps get the wheels turning in my head and gives me direction. I don’t really use AI to answer questions unless it’s similar to Googling something. I usually want help brainstorming more than I want it to actually do it for me or draft something entirely.
In quality control, there’s a lot of testing, document review, and process improvement. There are a lot of things AI can’t really do, at least not right now. I’ve mostly worked with language model AI. I don’t know if there are more specific systems, but when I worked at a previous job, they were working on something that used AI for drug design. It would pull from existing data to help determine whether a design was plausible or structurally sound.
In terms of generating ideas, I think AI is great and really useful. But when it comes to the fine motor skills involved in purifying something, injecting something, or physically handling materials, I don’t think AI can do that right now. Maybe in the future, but not currently. I don’t feel threatened. I’m not worried about AI taking my job.
What I do like is that AI can pull from large amounts of data that aren’t easily accessible. In biology, you’re constantly reviewing scientific journals to gather data for experiments or writing. It’s normal for science majors to look at other people’s work, take inspiration, and use that information to support a hypothesis or determine whether a hypothesis is even viable.
So in that sense, I like AI as an easier way to access data. That’s how I prefer to use it.
What does purpose mean to you? Do you think you’re living a purpose-driven life?
I think purpose is something you don’t do for anyone else’s approval, and when you look back on it, or even while you’re working toward it, you feel a sense of satisfaction. You feel like what you’re doing is making an impact. It doesn’t have to have an impact on other people. It could be something simple, like laying a foundation for something bigger down the line. Something where you’re content knowing someone will benefit from it, and you’re happy that you did it.
I’m still figuring out if I’m living a purposeful life. The past four or five months, I feel like I’ve changed a lot as a person. Last year, 2025, was definitely a hard year for me. The beginning of the year was very rough emotionally. I feel like I spent most of the year not really doing anything productive. I went to work and paid my bills and everything, but I didn’t feel like I was growing.
Then in the later half of 2025, around September, something kind of motivated me and gave me the push I needed to try something new and develop myself in some way. I’ve been more outgoing. I’ve been more excited to go out and do things. 2025 was also when I started taking medication, like antidepressants, and going to therapy, and trying to eat better, just doing different things to put myself in a state where I can actually feel happy and have energy.
Up until then, I would say I was not living a very purposeful life. I was doing what I thought was right, but I can’t say I was doing things I truly wanted to do or felt passionate about. As of now, I’m still learning about myself, but I do think I’m living a more purposeful life than I was before.
What’s your biggest struggle right now? What led to it, and how are you moving forward?
Discipline, for sure. I have a bad habit of being very hard on myself, and that’s carried with me my entire life. I’m trying to get better at it, but it’s hard.
Right now, with me trying to eat better, eat more consistently, and reach my calorie goals, it’s difficult. There are days where I don’t hit the goal I want, and I think, if I’m not doing it perfectly, maybe I should just give up. Then I have to stop myself and say, no, you ate more than you did the day before. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
One of my friends, at my job who has since moved away, used to go to the gym with me. There were times I’d get frustrated because I couldn’t lift as much as he could. He’s been going to the gym for years, and I’m going maybe two or three times a week. I’d get frustrated not being able to lift what he could, and he’d say, “Don’t worry about it. Every little bit helps. Even if you’re just lifting for 30 minutes, it’s better than doing nothing.” He always says something is better than nothing.
That’s the mindset I’ve been trying to incorporate. I’m still learning. I’m still trying new things. I’m not going to get it right or perfect every time, but something is better than nothing.
How do you define being a successful person?
I would define success as when you feel confident. I would say you know you’re successful, or at least getting closer to success, when you’re confident in your ability to do your job and you’re able to teach or explain it to someone else. Or, if not explain it, at the very least you can learn something from someone else and adapt that information into your own life and incorporate it.
I don’t think there’s ever a point where you’re successful and can just stop. I think success is being able to overcome challenges continuously. That’s how I’ve been thinking about it.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what do you want to achieve? What would you hope has changed?
I hope to see myself living in DC. That’s a goal I’m working toward right now. Living in DC and having a job related to economics in some way, because I enjoy analyzing data and using data to predict things. I want to be in a role where I can do that.
And in three years, I’d love to have my car paid off. I’m pretty sure I’ll pay it off by next year or the year after, but just having my car paid off would be great!
What’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known earlier?
Most things are a marathon and not a sprint. I’m learning more and more every day that things take time, especially when you’re doing new things, and that’s okay.
The human brain and the way we approach things are much more effective and much more persistent when you take it piece by piece, step by step, instead of trying to do everything at once. It helps you get accustomed to certain behaviors as you’re learning. It gives you the opportunity to look back and see what’s working and what’s not because you’re taking your time instead of overwhelming yourself.
When you go step by step, you get a better idea of what you actually want to work toward. You’re not taking everything in at once. You’re not trying to do everything and burning yourself out. You’re taking your time.
I think taking your time is much more important than I used to think it was. You see everyone succeeding or doing things and you wish you were there already, but I’m sure they took time to get there. Taking your time to get there is just as important.
Connect With Joshua
- Instagram: @BixBiteBat
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