Interview Quotes

Dad Interview:

1. Explain your profession and what you do.
I, by schooling, by trade, am an Electrical Engineer, but my job right now I do a lot more mechanical and software engineering. Some of that I've taught myself, and others I've taken classes for. What I do is I design new functionality, new sensors for the tools that my company builds. What I did is I equated it to you when the question was asked, 'hey, what do you do?' I say, 'Well, remember those cars that used to not have sensors in the tires to say what the air pressure was? Well, guys like me got together and thought about it and said, 'You know what? If we put a sensor in the tire, we could tell what the air pressure is,' That's what I do with my company's tools. Our equipment is eyed to design new things and go in there to add new sensors."

2. What were some things that you created/invented when you were younger?
I built Go-Karts before, with motors and without motors and I had to use my dad's wood-shop to build a lot of that stuff. I got myself in trouble once... 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. My mom caught me and I got in a lot of trouble for that.

3. How did they [sisters] react to that?
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.

4. Did you ever create/invent things because of what your parents did? Would you still have created those things if it hadn't been for them?
I think I would've, but his wood-shop allowed me to see raw materials and I could look at those raw materials and think, 'Well if I put these together in a certain way, maybe I could build something with it,' where if I didn't have that environment, then I probably would've had to find that design somewhere else. Having the wood-shop and the raw materials helped me to see like, 'what can I do with this?' If you give any Engineer two sticks and a round circle, they'll figure out something cool to do with it, and that's what I did. I looked in that shop, and I found this board and that board, that rope, these wheels, and that engine and I started to look at all these things and I was thinking, 'I could put these together and make a Go-Kart!' So without it, I wouldn't have been able to get where I was.

5. What is your thought process when creating things?
A lot of it is, I say this; I put on the hat of the end user. So, if the end user in my Go-Kart example, wanted a Go-Kart, I would think, 'Alright, they would need somewhere to sit, somewhere to steer, they'd need wheels, each little thing. I would do that, so today, in my job, I think about what the end user would like to see as, let's say, an output to a software program. I would write the software, so whatever it did, I put in the results in a way that would be favorable or pleasant to the end user. I can envision it and see the end product in my head before I even start, then go backwards to see the steps. I would then take that information and largely be successful.

6. Is there a funny experience that came out of one of your creations?
Later in life, we [his family] all laughed at the microphone in my sisters' room. One thing that we all laughed about once was that I had an old record player, and I didn't like the case it was in. So I took all the parts and pieces out of the case and I built my own wooden case that looked like a wooden record player, but it functioned exactly the same as the other one, except it looked cooler.

7. How did your family react to most of your creations?
I think positively. At first they didn't know what I was up to, what I was working on. If I ever asked my mom or my dad or my older brother, 'hey, could you go get me some raw materials', they learned to just stop asking questions because if I needed something, they would eventually see what it was used for.

8. Who has helped you along the way?
My dad, sorry to say, he might be able to build a box, but he really wasn't much beyond that with automotives or woodworking. I think probably my two grandfathers. They showed me how to use hand tools, they showed me the 'measure twice, cut once', that sort of thing, also patience.

9. So, are you more of an Independent worker? Do you rely on other people?
I'm very much more of an Independent worker. I think I could go out in my wood-shop now for a solid week, with no interaction with other human beings, and I think I would probably be okay.

10. Have you ever reflected back on your childhood creations to complete a project in your work today?
Yeah, once I took apart my grandpa's drill because every time I used the drill, it was in a metal case, I would get shocked. That's not supposed to happen, so I took it apart and I found where the wire was touching the case, and if the wire bends a certain way, it would give me a shock, 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.

11. Tell me about a time when a creation/invention didn't go as planned.
My Go-Kart. One of my Go-Karts; it was a great invention, but the steering mechanism, in order to turn just a little bit I used ropes and pulleys, and 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 went out and rode my Go-Kart down this big hill in my neighborhood. 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.

12. How did you learn from that experience/invention?
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. 

13. How is inventing/creating as a child different from what you do today?
Oh, the parts and pieces just cost a lot more. Also, I'm not the only end user, so I'll design something as a child, and I'm the only one who uses it. As an adult, in my job, if I design something, I have multiple people using it, not just Native English speaking people, but I have Asians, Europeans, Germans, and Frenchman; all these people using it, so I have to write procedures, It really changes how designs are used. It costs more and my audience is different.

14. Describe a proud moment from any point in your Engineering career.
I think it was when I was awarded a patent for one of my inventions. I thought that was pretty great. I mean, [the invention] belongs to my company, but my name's on it. It made me very proud of the work that I put into it.

15. How did that proud moment change the way you performed your job?
It installed a sense of pride and I tended to take on the next project with just as much pride and just as much drive for perfection.

16. Have you always wanted to be an Engineer?
No, I don't think so. I bet it wasn't until I was a senior in High School that I really thought of what I'd like to do with myself. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. As a matter of fact, in my age growing up, there wasn't a big of a drive then for post-high school career or education as there is today. There really was no discussion in my household of, 'what are you going to do after high school?', so I didn't give it much thought.
I'm glad I chose what I did, because I think I'm a born troubleshooter and if there's something broken, I can usually figure out how to fix it.

17. Do you know what other jobs you would've wanted?
In hindsight today, as an adult, I think I would've preferred to spend time in the military, just to serve my country, prior to getting out and moving into my career. However, I am where I am today because I didn't do that, so I wouldn't change anything.

18. What did you learn from creating as a kid?
I learned that I could actually build something cheaper than I could buy it. That told me, 'wait a second. This could be a good thing.'
My neighbor had a moped, and it was destroyed by vandalism, 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.' 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, just because of hard work.

19. Who do you work with?
My boss doesn't help me technologically, but he does help me by letting me do my own thing. He gives me room to create, and that's helpful.

20. Are you happy with your decision to be an Engineer?
I am, I think that it kind of made me who I am. 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.

21. Why did you want to create/invent?
It's a personal thing; it's a sense of accomplishment, it really is. You know, creating something that either is a copy of something very similar out in the world, or something that never existed whatsoever, that's pretty cool.

I built a stoplight in my garage. My truck is so long that when I pull my truck into the garage, there's only three inches from the front bumper to the wall, and three inches from the back bumper to the garage door. If I don't pull it in exactly, I either hit the wall, or I can't close the garage door, so I built myself a stoplight and when the garage door opens, it's green, and I pull my truck in. As soon as it turns red, it's perfect where my truck needs to be. I stop, and I can close the garage door, no worries.

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Alternate Interviews:

Mom -

1. Has dad's job affected your life? How so?
Oh, absolutely. I know that if should anything ever break down in this house, because he's an Engineer, he can't just let it go, or he won't call somebody to come fix it. His motto is always kind of like, 'Wait, if we can fix it or do the work, then there's no need to pay somebody to do it. He's very analytical, and he will research if he doesn't know how to fix it already, and he will figure out exactly how to fix it. He's very into making sure things are done right and safe, and so I never have to worry about, 'is he doing to do it half-way?' He goes to the other extreme and, well I say, overthink things, but he thinks things through and through and through and he fixes them. I usually don't worry about how he fixes them because I know he's already checked them all.

2. What kinds of things does he fix up?
He has fixed the lighting in the garage, he always changes out the plug in's and what have you. I keep canned goods and stuff outside in the pantry, and he was being nice and when you open the door, he designed this thing where when you open the garage door, the lights in the garage will go on and stay on for like one minute and then it would go off.
He also designed....
-secret garage door opener
-little stoplight thing for her car/sensor
-fixed my phone when it's broken

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. 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.

3. Have you helped him with anything?
I just do what he says. I try to stay out of the way, and yeah.

Another thing he did, because he writes a lot of software programs, at my work, [my boss] Romy thought it would be cool to set up [a lady I work for,] Joan's computer so when she wakes up, she's older, she doesn't remember what time it is, or what ever , and we wanted something more upbeat....

Michaela -

4. What traits would you say that he has to make him be able to do all of this stuff?
He's smart, very intelligent, he is very driven, he stays at something until he completes it. [He's] inquisitive; he questions things and he's very helpful. If you have any questions, he is pretty willing to help you.