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The person being interviewed is a mechanical engineer who initially worked in HVAC but now has a more diverse role in construction. They use their engineering skills every day in their career. They were encouraged to pursue engineering by someone who recognized their interest in understanding how things work. They chose a generic degree in mechanical engineering to have versatility in their career choices. They enjoy engineering because it involves continuous learning and problem-solving, and they appreciate the opportunity to interact with people. They emphasize the importance of communication skills in engineering. They believe that being a good engineer means caring about the end product and the people who use it. They advise focusing on one's current role for about five years before seeking the next opportunity. They mention some specific challenges in the HVAC field, particularly related to COVID and energy codes. They suggest gaining fieldwork experience in addition to design wor All right, just I have a couple questions, so are you does this a good time All right, so first question is going to be how do you use your degree and engineering during your daily life or career? I did, you know get trained as a mechanical engineer doing HVAC For the first half of my career, but now I'm in a role Where I get to dabble with all sorts of things. I do plumbing and electrical or view and I work in construction So I take a project from concept all the way through a construction and an inch operation Get to work with all the operations people and understand what they really need and how they really the system and then I take that back to future design and implement what I've learned from previous mistakes or opportunities and I get to Do that, you know fix the new new project So yeah, I use it every day All right, does anyone in your family doing engineering as a career or how did you get into engineering? And putting this together and understanding how things work and he suggested that I go to Purdue But no family members So you went to Purdue yes What did what uh, how many years did it take so you get your degree in I got it for When did you realize so that's how you basically figured out you wanted to be in the engineering field. So two questions in one I realized that that was actually All right, so as an engineering major How does your degree? Like what specific things? Did you learn in schooling that like help you with your daily like career? Like is there any like? specific How things work and how to think about things like thermodynamics like, you know go from optical like I don't remember all the Well, and I don't even feel like I use a lot of those specifics from school but learning how Things actually work and learning how to think about things. It's more what I use on a daily basis if you learn the basics of how things Work you can take that thought process of figuring out how something works and apply it to anything Yes, Papa, I'm having my interview right now Take basics how I know things work and Translate it to other disciplines and use the same methodology of figuring something out to Make your anything else But I wouldn't say like I learned a lot of true skill Or you know, like disciplinary things in school, but I use on a daily basis. It's more like learning how to think That makes sense What type of engineering do you do? HVAC really that's what I do. So HVAC systems and controls for HVAC Is that a specific degree that was offered in Purdue or is that something that taken from something else I think I chose mechanical because It was generic and I didn't want to like be forced to live anyplace. I Think I mechanical or electrical need to pretty much do anything anywhere If I wanted to go work on cars, I could do that. I wanted to go work in aerospace You know as opposed to like getting a specific degree that's more finite if you go Get a specific degree then you might be pinned in some place and I didn't want that So I just chose a generic degree and then I figured I would take my career wherever I wanted it to go All right, thank you, is there any specific issues in your degree or field that are happening right now I Don't think so. I Guess like during COVID there are some interesting things going on in HVAC With you know trying to use your air conditioning system or filtering out Diseases But even that's kind of faded because the transmission is so local as opposed to going through the HVAC system So all those kind of things kind of throughout and it's actually normal So not really, I mean, I guess the one thing in Las Vegas is that we aren't allowed to use the bathroom at cooling and on open spaces like Warehouses or where you have like doors open everywhere in energy code You're technically and not allowed to cool that space because it's a waste of energy because you have all the doors open Using DX energy to cool it, but there's something that's specific to Nevada No, that you code is like everywhere And the specific to Nevada thing that's kind of interesting is the we use evaporative cooling in all those types of spaces But because of our water crisis and evaporative cooling is basically throwing water out the window We're gonna have to figure out some way to get around that energy code like the building department's gonna have to allow Us to use DX cooling in spaces where we don't traditionally allow Because of energy code because we can't keep throwing water out into the air in our region So the water district is offering a ton of grant money Get rid of all evaporative cooling, but I keep saying, okay, like what we're trying to do make sense energy code like Like turn the blind eye to that. Yeah, that makes sense Throughout your career has there been anything that has made you That made you think that engineering was the right choice Yeah, I Mean I think what makes it feel like the right choice is that It's new. I never stopped learning. There's always something to learn I get to be out in the field figure things out, which is always really fun as opposed to being confined to a desk or you know, and there's monotonous work, this is like No matter what if you want to put system in some place Every space is so different But you can't just like think like oh, I'm gonna put the detector design in here and it'll work It won't you have to pay attention to the space to the needs to the people and that's always different So I think that's interesting And fun that you get to like It is about people because the people are the end users and so you can get to interact with people a lot more than I realized that I was in That's one of my favorite things. So I like What are some what are some things that you do like daily throughout your like career that like create purpose I Think that goes back to like the people And a lot of times when something's messed up everyone's super crabby and When you do a good job and you figure something out and you make a difference It really feels like you've made a difference in that space for those people that are You know subjected to it and if people are in a more comfortable healthy to have to your space They really are better to each other so Even though it's just like lines on the paper If you really pay attention to how it really works and how people are really in that space it makes such a big difference in people's life Well, would you say is like the type of people that should be into engineering What's funny is I used to say like because school was hard for me I Got okay grades, but it was like a hard, you know struggle And I said like smart enough to be an engineer, but not smart enough that I should have been an engineer that's what I felt like coming out of school because like, you know, like for a lot of people it seemed like the Thermodynamics and the electrical engineering classes were like easy and it was not easy for me But I think that can be a great engineer You really have to be a great communicator and you really have to care about the end product and the people who are using the system and that's what I'm really good at and so a Lot of people will think that Oh engineers just need to be smart. They just need to understand like the basics of Systems, but in my perspective, I think that makes you an average engineer I think to be an excellent engineer You have to really care about the people and the end product and the people who are taking care of you To be good to be really be good And like construction is such a shit show always And if you to be a good communicator, you have to over communicate Yeah So I can look people in the eye and see it three different times three different ways Follow up in an email and bullet point list so that nobody forgets it because it's so hard and so many different people involved But Communication is like a skill that you really have to hone in on Is there anything that you would do differently in your career if you could do it again? I Don't I don't think so. Um feel like when you start your career you have to think of it as in like five-year blocks and You should really just focus on what you're doing in that five-year block Because it takes like five years to really get good at something And then I've got five-year block you can look up and survey your surroundings and see what the next opportunity is But if you jump too early You end up shortchanging your skill set So I really think that's kind of what I did. It's like just to work really hard on what I was doing For about five years, and then I felt like I was ready to you know, look for the next thing I did work at Yucca Mountain project Which was a little a little bit of a hard time to get out of because that Nuclear field is so specific and you end up going to random places To do it, I guess I would have gotten into design engineering a little bit earlier But I did conditioning which is like a lot of field work and I think that really makes a big difference so if you can get an internship with Either I'm undecided right now, but I'm thinking about doing a mechanical engineering Yeah, so if you want to do and just like mechanical and and then Well, what's like your passion you like cars, I mean, I don't Talk but in my field and construction like the best way to for a mechanical to get the best on field experience is doing Fieldwork first before you even do design So finding a job that you can do design Design so finding a job that you can do design and field work Because seeing things in the actual field makes such a big difference. It helps to put into Respect for you, you know, so I feel like I ended up doing that by accident, but it really makes a big difference When you were talking about like the nuclear engineering on like the yucca mountains, was that an internship? I did have an internship, but then I went there to work after I I graduated So I was doing mechanical engineering HVAC and plumbing for the yucca mountain project because there was like building facilities that needed I wasn't really doing like the nuclear stuff. How did you then after that? I went to lopalmo Which is a nuclear facility, but I was just on the construction side On the construction side for the mechanical achievement How did you find out about that opportunity Sure what for uh, yucca mountain. Yeah, isn't that was an internship, right? Yeah I'm going to actually work family friend. I think it was a family friend Yeah So, is there any like advice that you would give for somebody who's looking into the engineering and then like possibly like What things to do to prepare for the career while in school? Um No, I mean I think like when you're in school you really just have to focus on school and getting the best grades you can um but Doing the social things like in the engineering field help just like creating contacts The more contacts you have the better That's a life skill more than a engineering skill, but that's what makes you more successful So and if you do choose end up choosing what year are you in i'm an undergraduate right now just freshman Freshman, okay yeah, I mean I could help you look into internships if you do mechanical plumbing or electrical if you wanted to go into construction if you wanted to go into like You know car manufacturing like I can only help you but you know Did you could you briefly tell me about your career path again like with uh, like the whole process Yeah So, um, I started an internship with the yucca mountain project And then that was in my junior year summer And then I graduated and they uh called me and said they'd like to offer you a job and Even like interview or anything And then I came back and I worked at the yucca mountain project for a little while The yucca mountain project like a mountain project and it was for a company called bechtel So Bechtel lost the contract because it's a sovereignment contract for the yucca mountain project. So they lost that contract So then I had to either find another job completely Or get transferred with bechtel But it was 2008 during the recession So the job opportunities were pretty slim So I got transferred with bechtel to the to los alamos Um, and that was in mexico and I Hated new mexico um And I I mean and I wasn't really learning a whole lot there because nuclear is such a slow Field everything was so dang slow So I felt like I was stagnating in my career and I've been a place that felt lame to me um So there was a commissioning agent on my construction team on the construction site for the project that I was working on And I used to talk to them and I found the work that they were doing pretty interesting So I just started Helping them out and just jumped in and started doing this with them and trying to You know figure stuff out with them Um, and then I found out that they had an office in las vegas So then I approached them about going to work in their las vegas office And then I did commissioning for Like three years um and What I liked about commissioning was that I got a lot of field experience And I understood mistakes in the construction side And I don't understand mistakes also in the design side because sometimes people write things down that doesn't really make sense for the field And how things get put together But what I didn't like is that I didn't have any impact on it Like I couldn't fix it really I couldn't like solve the problem. I could just say what the problem was So I decided I wanted to go work for a design firm Um, I didn't really have any design experience and having like five or six design firm like that like design firm What would they be like selling? Um, they don't sell they sell their services so they have engineers on staff and they're like contract out Yeah engineering consults so as an engineering consultant you Um, they give you the job they say hey we're building this bank This is the site you go look at the site you figure out what you figure out with the architect Um, it says like okay. We have this thing. There's a ceiling knife We need these types of zones. And so you figure out what kind of system works In that zone and then you go through and design it. So is it with architectures? Yeah, so as a design consultant on engineering side you work for the architect And then they take those plans that they permitted through the building department And then they give them to a construction general contractor And then that general contractor builds everything that you wrote on the plan And then they call you with all the problems that they have saying okay what you wrote didn't exist This is what it's really like Can you revise your drawings and you work together with a general contractor to solve? All right, so as a designer what separates you from the architecture or architect uh, so, I mean just The work that you're working on so architect is responsible for a wall Appearance of buildings, um egress making sure there's safe pathways for people to get out And if you're an electrical engineer you power that building you light that building if you're a mechanical engineer You plumb that building You cool that building Making sure that you paying attention to like you don't put the same People who are in a conference room on the same zone as the general public because you're not going to have the right temperatures If you let you know The thermostat in your bedroom control the rest of the house and no one no one besides you is ever going to be comfortable so you work with the temperature control and uh HVAC and plumbing Yeah Um Yeah, so you all have different roles and again like communication Interdisciplinary communication is like really important. So like staff understanding how the electrical system works Is important to the mechanical engineering in my opinion like you have to half know About everything to be decent at what you do So when you were in a los alamos or in new mexico with the uh, the radiation engineering or Uh, what was your uh, like job like description and you were there? So in that role it was A construction we were building a nuclear facility So my role wasn't so different. Um, I wasn't the designer on those plans But I was in charge of making sure the plans got built Um To the design intent, so I was working with the construction team to make sure that What they were doing? That the design intent of the plan So you would look at other What would it be blueprints that you looked at? Yeah and then like So you would interpret like an outdated word though, but yeah It's really just like drawings or plans of what people use so you would like to see what they the designers would put out and then Get people to make the building well, I mean the construction team knows how to read the plan, so they If you have a mechanical contractor, they're looking at the plans. They're like, yeah, I know like okay, this is the unit i'm buying This is the unit i'm installing They understand To a point but sometimes they make mistakes. So my role was to take the plan go walk the site And say hey what you did here doesn't actually say what the plan Uh, so you were like managing Yeah, and so you say okay like do you do this for a reason? Or did you make a mistake? And is that mistake acceptable or is it not? All right, so you went from yucca mountain los alamos and then uh working with um The commissioning the commissioning and that was with bechtel No, that was with a company called test mark. That's mine And then after that, how what did you do after that? After that I went to go work for a design consultant anderson engineers Anderson engineers and then was that similar to the the previous company with the the tech Ted solar What was called no Design consult was like a classic. Uh, like I was talking about you have an architect, you know the engineering Uh team and they work together to make the goal plan So, uh, and then after that with the anderson engineers, what did you do after that? That's when I came to work for the airport So then how did how did you uh get that opportunity with the airport what made you change so, um There's just all the reasons they can make the change i'll tell you how I got the opportunity so, um I was doing project work for you. So the airport was hiring an architect. The architect was hiring our team And he would come to meetings at the airport and Discuss our design what we were doing And then the engineering, I mean the airport team would say hey Like can you switch this and do this? And they liked my communication style in those meetings And they thought that I they could see that I cared about the end product And so during the meeting I expressed interest in how they do construction for a day And elaine our boss said well if you like it, why don't you just come work for us? And so I applied and I got the job Um The consulting world is pretty Like tiresome like I was working like 60 hours a week Which is really good and fine when You're like 25 And you don't have any kids but I had had a kid and Um She was little and I was having trouble putting in the hours that were required And um the airport's insurance was really good And there it just was like a a much more Sort of life balance Between like having better benefits and a lot less stressful. So when you work in henderson, they put you for 60 hours a week Yeah, I mean you don't start out that way but as you get better you want to give you more projects and Learn more and it's good. It's really good. It's really good to develop your skill It's almost like necessary But at a certain point you have to be able to Yeah Is there any big projects you've done at the airports that have like taught you a lot or Things you've learned Like what are your like biggest takeaways from your career Because I think I was telling you it's like communication and listening to people are like my biggest takeaways And really spending the time to understand the interdisciplinary nature Like yeah focus on what you're doing But if you if you don't understand the article at all Then you're gonna and you're not going to fully understand What you're doing All right, well, thank you so much for the interview I really appreciate it Yeah, no problem. Um, hold on Is there anything else you would want to add? Uh, no All right, thank you so much. I appreciate it Okay, what's your name samia, uh, how do you spell it All right, thank you so much have a great day Thank you It's me You Finish