An Eye For Invention
This eye for invention and creativity came at a young age for Johnson. Ever since he was a kid, Johnson was constructing all sorts of creations with materials he could find around the house or in his father's woodshop. Inventing wasn't serious and focused work all the time for Johnson, who created a few of them as practical jokes towards his siblings.
"One time, I audio recorded my sisters; I ran a wire and a microphone into their bedroom and I ran it underneath the carpet, around a corner into my bedroom and I recorded what they were saying when their door was closed," Johnson said. "My mom caught me and I got in a lot of trouble for that."
His sisters' reactions were priceless to 12 year old Johnson.
"They were upset, but I told them that I couldn't really hear them anyway, which, I really couldn't. Just the threat scared them enough and my mom wasn't very happy with me," Johnson said.
Along with the skills, such as basic tools and hard work that he retained from years of inventing, Johnson became interested in how technology works. Having the ability to create and repair technology-based items definitely came in handy for Johnson.
"My neighbor had a moped, and some vandals destroyed that little kid's moped. The kid's dad brought me the moped and he says, 'If [you] can fix it in five minutes, [you] can have it,'" Johnson said. "My friend next door, Mark, and I grabbed that thing and I started working on the wiring in the headset, and he started working on the wiring under the seat. Within five minutes, we had it started and running, and I got myself my own moped."
Now a Mechanical Engineer at Applied Materials since 1988, Johnson has referred back to his childhood creations to assist him in today's projects.
"Once I took apart my grandpa's drill because every time I used the drill, I would get shocked," Johnson said. "That's not supposed to happen, so I took it apart and I found where the wire was touching the case, so I repaired it. Nowadays, when I'm at my job, if I have to take something apart, I look for things like that and I design so that kind of behavior doesn't happen again to someone else."
Through storytelling to both his wife and kids and with projects he'd worked on at his house, Johnson's engineering personality has shown through.
"He's smart, very intelligent, he is very driven, he stays at something until he completes it," daughter Michaela Johnson said. "[He's] inquisitive; he questions things and he's very helpful. If you have any questions, he is pretty willing to help you."
Despite Mike's advancement in engineering, not every invention went as smoothly as it had in the past. While most of his creations resulted in success, such as a remodel of a record player and a homemade stoplight, Mike's original Go-Kart was not one of those inventions.
"One of my Go-Karts; it was a great invention, [except for] the steering mechanism. I had to turn the steering wheel five times in one direction for it to move just a little bit. I didn't think this through very well, and I rode my Go-Kart down this big hill in my neighborhood," Mike said. "When I got to the bottom, I needed to turn to the right really sharply. I was turning that wheel like crazy, but the front wheels were not turning very sharp, and I hit the curb on the other side of the street."
Aside from the failed Go-Kart attempt, the unexpected turn of events didn't cause any physical injuries. However, it gave Mike a new perspective about inventing.
"I didn't take it personally, and I just realized, it needs to work whether I'm going straight, whether I turn very sharply. It needs to work in all different environments. It opened my eyes to designing with a greater use. I would look at all the different ways my designs could be used and then I would make sure that it would work in every environment," Mike said.
Even without being skilled in a certain area of engineering, Johnson still takes on every challenge that comes his way.
"He's not an automotive guy, but again, the nature of an engineer, he loves to figure out problems and I had something wrong with my car," wife Charlotte Johnson said. "He went and got the book on the car and researched and googled it, read the book, and he went and he fixed it. He's done that multiple times on all the cars that we have."
After years of creating and designing new gadgets both for fun and for personal enjoyment, Mike has no regrets for choosing the path that he did.
"I think that it kind of made me who I am," Mike said. "I built a piece of furniture in every room of our house. I don't think I would have been able to do that, but I don't know. Maybe I just wouldn't have put myself in a position to experience things that taught me along the way and as an adult; I wouldn't know what end of a hammer to hold."
Even without being skilled in a certain area of engineering, Johnson still takes on every challenge that comes his way.
"He's not an automotive guy, but again, the nature of an engineer, he loves to figure out problems and I had something wrong with my car," wife Charlotte Johnson said. "He went and got the book on the car and researched and googled it, read the book, and he went and he fixed it. He's done that multiple times on all the cars that we have."
After years of creating and designing new gadgets both for fun and for personal enjoyment, Mike has no regrets for choosing the path that he did.
"I think that it kind of made me who I am," Mike said. "I built a piece of furniture in every room of our house. I don't think I would have been able to do that, but I don't know. Maybe I just wouldn't have put myself in a position to experience things that taught me along the way and as an adult; I wouldn't know what end of a hammer to hold."
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