What's your day job?

[Ian Curtis]

What's your day job?

FIRST is supposed to be inspiring students to pursue STEM careers, but I don't think it does a very good job of telling them what a STEM career is actually like. Or even if you don't do STEM, what do you do?

Probably a lot of people that work in technical fields have a fair bit of their work wrapped up in NDAs or what have you, and I understand that. As much or as little as you feel like giving. I also think it'll be pretty interesting to see what CD does with their 40 hour (+!) work week.

[Nawaid Ladak]

I'm a senior at the University of Central Florida pursuing a B.A. in Political Science. The program provides three separate tracks for graduation, i plan on fulfilling two of them (American Politics, International and Comparative Politics). I plan on working on a campaign this upcoming election cycle and eventually find myself working in Washington D.C. for an elected official or a Political Action Committee. If that doesn't hold true, I'm also keeping options for graduate school available, specializing in either campaign management, public opinion, or urban planning.

Currently, I work part time as an inventory management specialist at Noble Communications, an AT&T indirect dealer in the Orlando and Jacksonville metropolitan areas. I handle inventory matters for all the stores our company operates. This includes phones, tablets, cases, chargers, and other various things you may find at your local cell phone store. My job is to make sure that our salespeople have the products that they're trying to sell to customers. and that the company keeps a steady cashflow while doing so.

[Deetman]

I am an electronics engineer with a large aerospace/defense contractor. Currently I work on electrical ground support equipment that tests various components. In my current role I have designed/analyzed circuit card assemblies, chassis sub-assemblies, cables, and supported test and debug of said items. Additionally I have supported design reviews and technical interchange meetings with the customer. I'm just now starting to get in on early concept/proposal stuff for future work.

Day to day I'm working in the lab or at my desk working on paper work, presentations or designing some circuits.

[staplemonx]

Hello

I am an engineer at the Boeing Rotorcraft division in Philadelphia. I currently the lead engineer on a 2 year redesign effort and have a team of 5 folks working for me. My back ground includes lots of technical degrees and licenses, many of them earned at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that all revolve around the aerospace industry or aircraft in some way. I am only a second year mentor so I still need to do a lot of learning and research while helping a rookie team. Combine that with trying to set up resources for robotics teams across Philadelphia since they canceled most of the robotics programs due to budget cuts last summer. I am also in currently attending grad school and fear that before the end of this quarter I will forget what my family looks like, I have not seen my wife, dogs or house for the better part of 3 months. This is my last quarter attending grad school and I graduate in June so next year should be easier. Woooo Hoooo.

You can learn more about me on linkedin. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jjbielgoebel

JJ Biel-Goebel

[dman9385]

Hello Everyone,
Between January and April my job is a robotics mentor, oh i guess a lot of us are. I work for Fire Defense where i engineer and design fire suppression systems for paint booths, fuel fill, pits, dust collectors, data/server rooms. We also do regular fire alarm systems and extinguishers. Keeps me busy and I get to use CAD alllll day!

[treffk]

For me the better question is what isn't your day job?

I am a full time student at the University of Kansas.
I am a part time associate at a children's shoe store.
I mentor a FRC team. I am on the Greater Kansas City FLL Planning committee.
I have started/taken over the JFLL Planning committee.
It's not a job but I am constantly day dreaming about how to make my team better and help FIRST grow to a larger scale than it already is.

[Wetzel]

Since I got back from serving with the Peace Corps in Honduras just in time for kickoff, my day job has been mentoring 2914. My funemployment couldn't have come at a better time. Unfortunately, after St Louis I'll need find a new day job to pay the bills.

Wetzel

[Matt C]

With a degree in Mechanical Engineering I work as a Quality Engineer for a large defense contractor (we make airplanes) developing implements of mass detection (both manned and unmanned ).

[Alexa Stott]

Right now, I'm working in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab here. My project is called Reflect2O (a play on H2O). We are creating a data visualization tool to put in people's homes to try and encourage them to conserve water.

[Jessica Boucher]

I'm a Product Manager at Jobscience. We write Recruiting software on the Salesforce cloud. All of our Dev is in NH but we have a San Fran office as well.

I write specs, talk to programmers, QA, and generally bring projects from start to finish. It's nice seeing technology out there that you had a part in building.

[Carolyn Duncan]

When I'm not working for the state of Virginia Employment Commission (we find people jobs and assist with unemploment claims) I am a professional actress and model.
I get excited when I find people jobs and get them off unemployment for so many reasons.
I love my acting and modeling work as well. Yes, I have been on tv shows, commercials, films (both small and large), and print advertising.
My work isn't related to FIRST in the sense of Science or Technology, however, many forget how important structure, organization, teamwork, and planning factor into robot production. The bottom line is that no matter what you do in life, odds are you perfected your skills thanks to FIRST.

[pfreivald]

I'm now officially an author! My first novel, Twice Shy, is being released this September by JournalStone Publishing, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

[BHOP]

Flight test engineer for the United States Air Force. I learn about aircraft systems and then design tests to stress them while trying to meet a time and budget constraint. Thanks to team 503 for getting me moving in the right direction!

[techtiger1]

I am an assistant City planner for the City of North Lauderdale in South Florida. I look at detailed plans of new deveopment, help solve infrastructure problems and work with engineers on an everyday basis. Thank you FRC for giving me the work ethic, problem solving skills and knowledge base to make this happen.

[Adam Freeman]

I am a Quality Engineering Supervisor at the General Motors Milford Proving Grounds. I get to manage a group of RedX Engineers, who use RedX principles of customer concern focus, strategy, and contrast to work on GM's toughest quality issues. My team focuses on any electrical, chassis, or HVAC issue that could occur on a vehicle from pre-production through end of vehicle life.

Most of my engineers (and myself) are RedX Masters and typically have some type of Bachelors and/or Masters Degree in Mechanical and/or Electrical Engineering. Or, just a whole bunch of experience and knowledge of vehicle systems.

Here is a cool commercial Chevrolet had made to highlight the work of our group back in 2010. This is the shorter version. It features my boss and most of my co-workers and employees. Unfortunately, I was in Atlanta at the time...doing something else that was way more worth it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGe9zkyZT_Q

After 10 years at GM, this is by far one of the coolest jobs here.