In this blog post, we will introduce how to convincingly convey your childhood curiosity and experiences with machines in your cover letter as authenticity and suitability for an engineering job.

 

Background

When I was a child, my father would fill the shed behind our house with all kinds of machines and parts and spend hours repairing them. My mother was tired of my father, who worked as a machine repairman, bringing such things home even on his days off, but I was just a child who couldn’t follow him to work, so every weekend, I would secretly watch my father skillfully repair machines, admiring him in my heart. My father’s skills were recognized throughout the village, and almost every day, neighbors would come to ask him to repair something. Even when the work was quite difficult, my father would often agree, saying that it was valuable experience, and in return, we would receive freshly caught chickens from the chicken coop or vegetables and fruits from the fields.
My mother would nag my father, telling him to find a job that would bring in money, but in reality, she was his most loyal customer, entrusting him with all the repairs in our house. She would joke that she didn’t know why she had married such a poor man, but she was proud of him because he was so skilled at fixing things, and she was amazed at how he could make all the appliances and machines in our house work again. The sight of my father silently repairing things in the barn, where only an old fan was spinning, left a strong impression on me as a child and naturally led me to choose a career related to engineering. Even though my mother used to joke that we were a family of mechanics for two generations.

 

School life

My father gave me a small set of tools that fit my hands when I was young, and I spent my days busily trying my hand at anything I could do. Most of the time, I would just unscrew screws and look at the parts inside, clean the dusty parts, and carefully preserve the original shape without touching the core parts as much as possible. However, once I used tools like my father to disassemble machines and repair them in my own way, I felt proud as if I had already become a great engineer. And someday, I wanted to stop just feeling good about myself and actually become a talented person who could make a difference. Just like my father, who always worked quietly without showing off his skills.
I often brought tools to school and actively offered to repair my friends’ broken items. My friends didn’t take my efforts seriously, wondering what I could possibly do, but as the number of items I repaired increased, they began to recognize my enthusiasm and abilities, at least a little. Although I couldn’t guarantee a 100% success rate, and often had to face the tragedy of seeing a beloved item cross the river Styx, I didn’t give up. Instead, I used my failures as a stepping stone to improve myself, and I worked hard. My father, who was already a highly skilled technician, also failed from time to time, so I realized that no one is perfect and learned to face reality as it is.

 

Personality

I believe that consistent experience determines a person’s life and abilities. We often perceive and recognize insights gained through direct experience more sensitively than knowledge acquired through the mind. The human existence requires a proper balance between the physical and mental aspects, and by increasing the number of practical experiences that enable cooperation between the two, I was able to expand my practical experience, which is difficult to acquire just by sitting at a desk and studying. Just as memorization becomes much more efficient when combined with handwriting, I believe that practical experience is more effective than theoretical knowledge. In addition, rather than learning abstract social rules, I believe that experiences that are strongly imprinted in the mind through mistakes are more effective. Memories accumulated not only in the mind but also in the body can be an important factor in determining a person’s life.
This has served as a stepping stone for me to boldly take on any challenge, even difficult and laborious work, as a valuable experience, rather than backing down or focusing only on tasks that are easy for me.

 

Life philosophy

Just like my father’s back, which fascinated me so much when I was a child, I want to grow up to be an adult who can give off the same presence as my father by doing my best in my work. This is because only people who participate in their work with a unique passion and interest, rather than just mechanically performing their duties, can captivate the hearts of those around them, just like my father did back then.
This has been a source of motivation for me. Even when I feel tired and exhausted and am tempted to look for another job, I remember my father, whom I admired so much and wanted to be like, and I am able to refocus my ambitions and do my best to achieve my goals. This is because I inherited from my father the passion to never give up and to get back up again, even when faced with rough crises and hardships that sometimes make me want to collapse from exhaustion.

 

Motivation for applying and aspirations

When I was a child, my father spent most of his time at work operating and repairing machines, and every weekend, he would struggle with machines at our house and in the village. Whenever I saw him, I wondered if that was what it was like when a person’s aptitude and interests were perfectly aligned. Even though it was commonly believed that it was very difficult for people to realize their dreams and that they had no choice but to compromise with reality, my father had a deep interest and attachment to his job and was fascinated by spending time with machines.
Whenever I saw my father working on repairs with a childlike look of joy on his face, I too wanted to combine what I loved with what I had to do, just like him. As the saying goes, “You can’t beat someone who enjoys what they do,” the power to increase all of my work efficiency and productivity comes from that same “fun” and “passion.” I decided to apply because I believe that this will create even more synergy at your company, which has established various internal rules and systems so that employees can work with enthusiasm rather than just a sense of duty.