Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Big Opportunities. Big Plans.

Photos and story by James Hill

A year or two after she arrived in America from Vietnam, Tuyet-le Voiculescu, who goes by Le, was working as an assembler at Tektronix. She soon found herself wondering about how the instruments she was putting together worked, and when she would ask questions it was clear that neither her co-workers nor her supervisor really knew.

“I didn’t want to spend my life putting together a device that I didn’t even understand,” Le says, “so I talked with my manager, and she was fine with me going to school to learn more.”

Which is how Le found herself in the Electronic Engineering Technology program at PCC.

“It was a great experience,” she says, “because I was learning theory and discovering practical things in the lab at the same time. PCC provided me the basic knowledge to get into my career.”

Le did it the hard way, working full-time at Tek while going to PCC. “It was a heavy load,” she says, “but it can be done!”

Just five short years after coming to a new country, learning a new language and building a new life, Le graduated from PCC — step one on what has been a continuously upward path. She moved up to a technician position at Tek, and went on to earn her four-year degree at OIT. Today she is a successful hardware designer in Tektronix’ microelectronics group. Women are still in the minority in the high-tech field, so Le particularly encourages women to follow in her footsteps — beginning at PCC.

“I would absolutely recommend PCC as a great start, no matter where you’re coming from and no matter where you want to go. You’ll find help and support, and you really can make it happen.”

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