Hired as an intern in her home state of Hawaii, Laura Garnett’s Boeing career has taken her from Maui, HI to St. Louis, MO; Dallas, TX; Seattle, WA and more developing software for the world’s most advanced aircraft. Today, Garnett finds herself in Oklahoma City, OK using her passion for uniting business and technology as senior manager for product management and data analytics.

What initially drew you to Boeing?

I’m from Hawaii, so I knew that if I wanted a software-based internship that could lead to a full-time career, Boeing was the way to go.

Walk us through your career so far.

From defense to commercial airplanes, I’ve traveled the country designing software products for aviation. Now I help my team understand how technology and business function together.

What type of training or educational development opportunities helped your career?

I used Boeing’s tuition assistance program — called the Learning Together Program (LTP) — to earn two master’s degrees. I now have one in computer science, and I also have my MBA 100% funded by Boeing.

What advice would you give someone as they build their Boeing career?

Use the benefits. Take advantage of all Boeing offers — especially LTP.

What skill has been most beneficial to you?

Empathy. Boeing is a team sport. We’re solving the world’s hardest problems. Working together and understanding each other is so important.

Where do you plan to go from here?

Boeing changes and connects the world with its products, and I’ll spend the rest of my career tackling the problems that help the company continue doing that.