<Begin Segment 20>

SY: And then when you graduated from Poly, what did you, where did you end up?

GN: I went to L.A. Trade Tech and took up radio and TV servicing.

SY: Now why was that? That was a particular interest of yours?

GN: Yes. It's, technology was something that was being, it was getting bigger and bigger, in terms of electronics, and so my intent at that time was to open up my own radio and TV repair shop. So it's a two-year curriculum and I went through that and finally got a job at a radio and TV repair shop in Hollywood, and I worked there for about six months, and then that's when we... well, one of the things that I found, what I encountered, is that I look awfully young and so when a customer would come in they think you're a little bit too young to be repairing things, so I had to deal with that. But after about six months there, that's when we moved to Gardena, and I didn't feel like driving all the way to Hollywood from Gardena for a job, so I quit. And in the meantime, I had heard about a position at Hughes Aircraft, and Hughes Aircraft doesn't make aircraft. They do avionics, whether it's a radar system or missile control system or fighter aircraft, and this friend of mine, his brother-in-law also had gone to L.A. Trade Tech and took up radio and TV servicing and was working in the R & D lab side by side with graduate engineers, and it sounded so interesting that, and he told me what I should do if I want to go to work there. "Go back to your TV instructor because he knows the, one of the managers, and he'll set up an interview for you," and so that's what I did. And so they ask you the theory of how TV works, from the radio signal that's radiating from a transmitter to the receiver and how it works within the receiver. And then at least you get the sense of whether you know your subject matter or not, and then you had to take an electronic test, which I did. So then about two or three weeks later I got a telegram with a job offer, and --

SY: It was quite an honor, I guess you might say.

GN: Yeah. So now I was working side by side with the graduate engineers, and they're the ones who encouraged me to go back to school to get a degree.

SY: And it, they wanted you to get an advanced degree in what subject?

GN: Engineering.

SY: In engineering.

GN: Yeah, so I started off with that, but then I had also interest in terms of having impact on society, and I felt that one of the ways to do that would be to become a teacher. So I changed from engineering major to a math major, and that's when I was going to El Camino College. So first two semesters there were spent on making up the prerequisites that I would normally take in high school, when you go to college, so that's what I did, and so during summer I would go back to work at, I would take a leave of absence from Hughes. I worked there full time for one year and then what I did is took a leave of absence to go to school, and this way I could come back to Hughes to work during the summer, so that's what I did, and then take a leave again for the regular semester. So at El Camino College I completed my lower division requirements as a math major.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.