My Professional Journey

     I've always had a creator's mindset. From my childhood, I was more fascinated by hoses and vacuums while other kids played with toys and ran around the neighborhood. I spent most of my childhood building Legos, taking things apart to see how they worked, or creating my own inventions from scraps in the garage.

I never outgrew this mindset. By the age of 18, I had created my first product, started my first LLC, and began preparations to sell my product worldwide. I worked with a local CNC shop to help turn my vision into reality, armed with nothing more than my rudimentary AutoCAD models and a dream. With the help of a talented machinist, Jesse Gwynn, I built my first functional MVP. While I garnered a decent amount of interest from parties across the globe, I couldn’t continue the project due to a lack of funding for bulk production.

This setback didn't dampen my passion for creation and design. At the same time, I was attending my local junior college, focusing on engineering. A few years into school, I seized an amazing opportunity to become an engineering intern at Make Magazine. I was ecstatic—this was a dream come true. I was surrounded by talented individuals who shared the same passions, goals, and hobbies as I did.

While many of my colleagues used this opportunity to advance their academic careers, I chose a different path. The year I spent at Make taught me a tremendous amount, and I wanted to learn even more. I dedicated my free time to studying circuit design, programming, and solidifying my CAD and drafting skills at my junior college.

At this point in my life, I made the pivotal decision not to continue my formal education. In hindsight, I realize this may not have been the best choice, as it has led to hurdles in my professional life. However, given the circumstances at the time, it felt like my only path forward.

Armed with my experience at Make and a passion for engineering, I searched through local classifieds for a job in the engineering field. I found a great opportunity with a local design firm working on their first prototype.

Over the next eight years, I honed my skills further. I developed functional prototypes, created detailed drawings, and eventually led the design of the company’s MVP. My first and most challenging project was transforming a rough prototype into a fully manufacturable device. I spent my off hours reading countless articles and books on injection molding, CNC machining, and electrical circuit design. I iterated my designs relentlessly, refining the product while collaborating closely with the team, manufacturers, and an external electrical engineer.

To date, I've developed over 20 injection-molded parts, created numerous prototypes and concepts, and successfully assisted with the launch of two products. I firmly believe that my non-traditional path into engineering has given me a unique perspective on design, allowing me to think beyond conventional boundaries and contribute to the creation of innovative, novel products.

In addition to my design experience, working at a startup required me to wear many different hats. I contributed to many different areas, including designing automated QA and testing equipment, designing assembly fixtures, assisting with R&D, graphic design, network and LAN setups, photography, box designs and layouts, CNC machining, laser engraving, tech support, web design, software design and more.
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While I have deep respect for the academic process and acknowledge that there may be knowledge I missed by not taking the traditional educational route, I am confident that the diverse skills I’ve developed through hands-on experience can be a valuable asset to the right company.