My journals

Who am I?

In my position as a lead engineer, I try to understand what the Science and Payloads groups are trying to complete. But it is very difficult to understand what they want to get done. It starts like a blank canvas where everyone paints different ideas. However, as time goes on, we become more detailed, more focused and more understanding of what we, as a group, need to do in order to get an experiment completed and on-orbit in space.

Our job in design engineering is completed once the hardware is delivered. The Payloads group handles the hardware issues from that point on and we are needed only if something happens with the hardware during a mission.

I try to organize what the engineers have to do, such as: what drawings must be produced, what hardware must be purchased, and what testing must be done on certain parts after they have been created. We must test parts in order to make sure they will work the way we planned for them to. As a lead engineer, I organize much of the work that is done by other engineers. I mostly keep tabs on them and ask if they need help in any way. If there is any information they are not getting from other groups, I try to get answers for them.

My Career Journey

My degree is actually in Civil Engineering, which involves using materials like concrete, water, steel and dirt. There's not much of that involved in what we are doing here in the space projects, though.

I ended up working on military contracts where I obtained experience working for the government. Through that type of engineering, I think I learned how to work with government-type contracts and some of the unique work that is done with the U.S. government. It also helped me to learn general engineering practices from the military. Everything is done very orderly and with a lot of detail. I was working at Westinghouse before I came to NASA. I have been with NASA for five years.

When I was a kid, I was always inquisitive about how things worked. I always thought that everything I was given could be taken apart and made better. No matter what was given to me, I would always try to change it to make it more unique for me. That way of thinking is exactly what NASA is looking for. They always want to make things easy to use, but that can do many tasks, as well.

That's also what the astronauts are looking for. They want something that is extremely easy to use. So we want to make something that they can look at and automatically understand how to use.

My father was also an engineer. He worked on the Skylab mission, which was our first manned orbiting laboratory. He also worked on the Apollo missions and the Viking Lander missions. He would bring pictures of space and models home for me and I would put them in my room. I thought it was neat to have pictures of the Moon. I think things like that can interest other young people.

I was always interested in space. I remember we were camping in Colorado the day they landed on the Moon. My father was so tired from working on the mission that he decided to take us camping. I remember sitting in our car listening to the radio as they actually landed on the moon, and that was a special moment for me, knowing my father played a role in this historic event.

Influences

I sold books door to door once when I was in college and I was pretty excited about that. I thought I was going to become a salesman because I was so good at it. From that, I think I learned a lot of communication skills that have helped me as an engineer.

I definitely had teachers in high school and college that were very positive and helped me. I was pretty much a C student in school. Their positive attitudes kept me going and made me believe in myself. My parents and my teachers influenced me in keeping my self-image up.

Likes About Career

I feel my job is important, that I am helping to do something good, and that it is something positive for humankind. I have the opportunity to see benefits of my work and what I produce, instead of having the products consumed. I'm also working with the people in Russia and we're working together doing something positive for the planet.

Advice

I'd say first and foremost to get good grades and absolutely go to college. I didn't believe this when my parents told me. It wasn't until late in high school that I finally understood that they were speaking the truth. I tried quitting college a couple of times, but I'm glad I finally got my degree. Otherwise, I'd probably be out pumping gas or selling something door to door. It's amazing the opportunities a degree presents to you.

Don't just do what school presents to you during normal school hours. Try to get involved in other activities because they can increase your knowledge and interest in other things. You can then spend time with people who have the same interests as you.

My whole life I've tried to kick the stereotype of what engineers are like. Granted, a bunch of them are very technical. It's just what their personalities and skills influence them to be like. I've been trying to buck that trend my whole life and a lot of people are surprised that I'm an engineer, because I'm pretty wild. I'm not Mr. Pocket Protector, per se. But then again, I don't consider myself all that technical.

I think the fact that I was a C-type student and that I sold books door-to-door, showed I was more of a social type of person in high school and college. I felt I would migrate toward a management type of position or just a lead type of position. But you still need those strong technical, smart people. I can understand what those people are involved in, but I can't give the technical information a lot of them like. Most of the guys that work for me are probably more technical than I am. But I have more experience, in general, that allows me to be in a leadership position at this point in my career.

When you're an individual contributor, it's very technical. I start feeling very bad about my knowledge because engineering is very competitive is smarter than who? It's very black and white to engineers. It's either right or wrong. So engineers really like to break things down and put set criteria on everything, even their social life.

I remember when I was selling books door-to-door during the summer when I was in college. People would ask me what I was majoring in, and I would tell them that I was majoring in engineering. They would say "Oh no. Not another engineer. There is no gray area for engineers. It's either right or wrong." So I learned to understand the gray areas that can exist from my experience with people when I was selling books. But in general, most engineers I encounter want everything to be black or white.