Beers with Engineers

#26 – Doug Tyger – When is an engineer not an engineer? Doug is the owner of Integral Manufacturing, between Cincinnati and Dayton. Chose engineering because it paid well Chose material science because materials are important to all other engineering disciplines. We were coops at Procter and Gamble. Helped fix a broken Pringles line He saw more options at a steel company, whose president was a met...

#25 – Murat Islam: He’s a Turk, Definitely not a Turkey. Murat is a Lead Engineer at John Crane Couplings Fellow of the IMechE, like the ASME We call it A-S-M-E, they call it as-me. Growing up in Turkey, he and brothers made their own toys. Turkey’s college entrance exam is different from the US and UK. It helps direct you into your best subject SAT and other tests are not the best, but they are w...

#24 – Luis Figarella: The Fourth F is for Figarella Luis is patent agent in Massachusetts, originally from Puerto Rico and enjoying a Puerto Rican beer. Wanted to be a fighter pilot but stopped by bad eyes. Became an electrical engineer instead. Remember when resumes were actually mailed? In late 80s, worked for UPS on automated truck loading. Early in his career, he didn’t even know what a patent...

#23 - Clay Williams: Supply chains are like fractals Clay is an account executive for Jiga. Clay is from Tennessee and has actually been to my town, Leominster, MA. Degree in Supply Chain Management Video of Roman Army on the march Jiga – cross between digital manufacturing and local machine shop Full automation is really tough? Hadrian Automation – Manufacturing the future. Seem to be following T...

#22 - Matt De Remer: Every Product is Important Matt has his own engineering consulting firm, engineered. (Updated since released) In high school, bought an RC car instead of a real car. He chose engineering over art. UMass Amherst had a program to help choose which branch of engineering. Mechanical engineering degrees can go into a wide variety of fields. In college, engineers need to problem sol...

BONUS #2 - Kevin Kildea: Cooking with Geeks Kevin teaches high school math in the Detroit area. Math major, teaching certificate, minor in radio and production Likes a beer called “Final Absolution” Joke about mathematicians and sheep Bert blew up Michael Jackson in college. Editing vs. splicing. Tape vs film. Audio vs. video. Math homework is easier to grade than history or English. “Don’t teach...

#21 – Chris King: Engineering Songs (verb, not adjective) Chris is Program Engineer at Church & Dwight Chris was drinking a Sedlec 12° from Human robot brewery in Philadelphia. His house had a slate roof. You could see light through it but it didn’t leak. On drinking 151 rum – after burning off the alcohol. Loves the creative problem solving of engineering. 3D printers are great to have but it...

#19 - Dave Guertin: The Nuts of Software Dave is a Senior Programmer Director at Meditech. Not a Beer drinker – Sangria or Bailey’s Software engineers have a sense of humor, too. His high school had AutoCAD in 1985(ish). He learned it and sort of taught the class. Software engineering hasn’t changed, yet it is completely different. Programming has been commoditized – But it depends how you define...

#20 - Danielle YoungSmith: From Outer Space to Inner Space Danielle is an astrobiologist turned software engineer turned Purpose Clarity Coach.  Homebrewing is safe and delicious, but occasionally messy. She wanted to be an astronaut She is a full stack engineer – she can do the back and front end of your software product. Astrobiology – more than studying aliens More people would take organic che...

BONUS #1 - Jen Uschold: She can engineer your pain away Jen is my sister and an awesome physical therapist Jen is a physical therapist – let’s call it a body engineer. She is an “engineer” because she fixes problems you didn’t know you had using methods you don’t understand. Psychotic pain and being sedimentary? Jen knows a lot about pain science. It is very complex Some is mechanical, some is “so...

#18 - Dave Honan: Engineers are dogs, designers are cats Dave is an industrial designer for Technimark, LLC Like the title says, engineers are like dogs and designers are like cats Dave was very detailed in the models he made as a kid. He still is. IDSA is Industrial Designers Society of America. Have the rookies design your next product Many design firms are under molders instead of being indepen...

#17 - Heidi Mehrzad Fun with hashtags Her favorite beer is Bitburger, from her hometown in Bitburg, Germany. The thing about German lightbulbs... Heidi is autistic and ADHD. Her work uses her creative and analytical side Investment banker to software engineering to pilot to aeronautical engineer to human factors scientist (with a stint as an EMT) Redesigning a cockpit layout a lot of fun. Human fa...

#16 - Mike Warznie: When in Germany, Be Like Mike Mike is an engineer for Nissan outside of Detroit.  Mike is right 95% of the time He became an engineer to be cool. Decided he liked engineering only three years ago. Fatigue failures – find your own k factor and are tough to solve Don’t trust your memory – write everything down. Evaluating silicone seals can be unexpected. Doing lab reports in col...

#15 - Tom Kenney - He makes jet engines cool. Literally. Tom is an engineer at GE Aerospace Vocational schools aren't what they used to be. From Porsche 911 dreams to Miata reality to Bughatti dreams. Or maybe just an MG. Jet engineer or rocket scientist? You decide. Jet engines are hot, Tom makes them cool. Material science and better cooling have made jets are way more efficient than they used t...

#14 - Robert Kropiniewicz: You can't drill holes from the inside out First guest outside of US. Before becoming an engineer, he was going to go into religious life. Started in engineering in quality but didn’t want to wear safety shoes. In Solidworks, just because you can do it one way, doesn’t mean you should. It is critical to design the part for the process. Also, build the part to convey desig...

#13 - Cherie Duddridge: Retirement and ROUSs Cherie is retired after many years at BP. Topics of Conversation: Oil companies are not all bad. - they invest a lot in green technology in various ways. Bert’s crazy solution to recycling. Cherie’s experience with autism and neurodiversity. Any individual is neither unique or universal Benefits on including non-experts Your local chamber of commerce ca...

#12 - Dave Smith: He plays games and asks questions. Dave is a manufacturing engineer that I worked with at Avery Dennison. We talk about: How those little things that hold the tag to your clothes are made (by Avery Dennison) It is pretty cool and the reason Dave still works there. Manufacturing is hard. Book reference  - “Zero Marginal Cost Society” and 3D printing tractors Space Exploration by s...

#11 - Rafael Diana: Wait a minute? He's an engineer? Sorry, no joke this time. Learn by doing and helping others Land the little fish before the big fish. New projects and interviews are like a first date. Read a lot and learn from many different sources. Mentoring  - it’s important and worth it to take the time teach people. Mentoring – people at all levels need it. Loss aversion and the strange...

#10 - Charlie Sears: Are some engineers becoming a commodity? CAD – from the beginning Scotch in bourbon barrels 3D printing – from the beginning Medical Device approval Concurrent engineering and FDA approval Rise and fall(?) of product development firms. Engineering vs software development Being good at CAD vs being a good engineer. Design Engineer vs mechanical engineer. Don’t get cute designin...

#9 - Frank Uschold: An engineer or an intellectual rapper? Today's guest is my nephew, a recent graduate of Clarkson University. Some of our topics include: Double engineering major and a minor in history. Why do it and how to accomplish it. Working on intellectual rap What he looks for in a job Skillshare as a music teacher The Colorado River The Great Wall of China How to ruin eggnog Can a chemi...

#8 - Mike Marcoux: Buying your wife auto parts. For Christmas. Today's guest is Mike Marcoux, Director of Engineering at Boston Engineering . (As of 4/2024, he is a senior engineer at Physik Instrumente) Here is a couple of links to videos of the robotic tuna, link 1 and link 2 . We also talk about a robotic pterodactyl. Here is a video , but maybe not the one we discussed.  Mike's career advice:...

#7 - Jeff Turk: We can’t all be engineers Today’s guest is an engineer but he is a recruiter who helps engineers get jobs. Recruiters are sometimes like lawyers or salesman. They can be annoying until you need one, but when you need one, you want a good one. Jeff is one of the good ones. Our conversation covers: Recruiters: good one vs bad ones. Are recruiters working for the worker or the company...

#6 - Brian Smith: Agility and character: for work and for play. Brian coaches agility development for BigBear.ai. Our conversation starts in Guam, includes the Wright brothers, and ends with family karate. We also discuss: - managing vs coaching - listening to and learning from your employees - efficient employees vs. high value employees - the cost (and benefit?) of standing by your principles -...

#5 - Nate Rollins: his network is his most valuable resource. Nate is a design engineer and independent contractor. Among our topics are: - his motto – “my network is my most valuable resource” - 3D printed sugar snacks - buying cyanoacrylate by the gallon - the end of mechanical designers - having your coop employer pay for college - design engineer vs mechanical engineer - why his company is sti...

#2 - Jay Julian: Did hew say ramen spectroscopy? Today's guest, Jay Julian, is founder of Accelerate Design in Charlton, MA.  Out topics include: specialist vs. generalist, remote teams, mentoring, rock and ice climbing, big vs small company employment, and race cars.  Here is a link to Jay's company, Accelerate Design . Here is a link to Bert's company, Dexterity Engineering, LLC .  While I am ge...