Why did you get into this business?

Thanks Kim for resurrecting my HW question from Tuesday night.  It was a fun day and half learning about challenges in our practices and also collaborating with peers.   Thank you!! Here my story about joining the business.  I grew up in India and my dad was a civil engineer – so I was going to be an engineer.  In India you don’t decide your engineering major your rank in the entrance exam takes care of it.  I wasn’t good enough to be a computer or electronics engineer and I didn’t want to be an electrical or civil engineer to I ended up being a mechanical engineer.  Junior year, I took a class called “Refrigeration and Air Conditioning” and the professor that taught that class made an impression on me.  At the end of that class I knew I wanted to be an HVAC Consultant – there weren’t many around in India – so part of me thought I’d make a killing!  So it’s been a race to my dream of having my own consulting firm.  I came to the US for a graduate degree and learnt how to do energy modeling in BLAST – talk about inputting the envelope coordinates in FORTRAN code.  Two years later I sought a gig with a small MEP firm in Chicago for less pay than what Caterpillar was going to pay me to design machines in Peoria, IL.  My mentor at the MEP firm, taught me how to think design from first principles not rules of thumb.  I’ve been doing sustainable design since my first day in the business and still love it.  I come to work to have fun everyday and influence the spaces we inhabit.  I want to see more young people join the business. Speak

Great meeting everyone this week!  My "Why did you get into this business?" story starts with my father who owned and operated a mechanical contracting company, my grandfather who was a manufacturing engineer for TWA and my great-grandfather who was an architect who worked from about 1900-1940...so I guess I was born into this business and was almost destined to be a mechanical engineer.  They all seemed to influence me in one way or another.  I was really interested in being an architect but didn't have the drawing and rendering skills needed...so I opted for an Architectural Engineering degree!  I spent probably 10 years helping my father summers, holidays and weekends with his business actually working in his sheet metal shop "bending tin" and installing ductwork and piping.  After graduating college with my Architectural Engineering degree I've been pretty much focused for over 30 years on mechanical/plumbing systems design.  I love making systems easy to understand for architects, easy to build for contractors and easy to operate for owners!  I look forward to collaborating and sharing with the group!

Outstanding to meet everyone, you all are awesome! I was 3.5 years into a 4 year aviation degree when I realized that I was about to become a bus driver (with wings).  So after accruing a stupid amount of debt (mostly for flight time) and gaining half a dozen flight ratings/certificates I decided to quit flight instructing and change course altogether.  I had become much more interested in technology and futurism since graduating high school so somehow I landed on EE.  I hadn't even taken calculus in high school so trying to tackle a master's degree in engineering seemed daunting at the time.  Another 3.5 years later I found myself looking for an engineering job in 2008 (not a great time) with zero engineering experience.  I was very interested in green energy and could only get on at CMTA as an intern.  I knew almost nothing about MEP and had no concept of EIT or PE.   I had a relevant degree but far from one that was tailored for MEP.  I feel strongly that eliminating emissions is a necessary step before we can move on to greater things like terraforming Mars and becoming a Type 1 civilization.  Looking back I think my best qualification was a passion for human progress.  I am about to make an offer for a position to a young graduate based on this reasoning so I hope I'm right!

I grew up in Hong Kong.  Many of my cousins are related to real estate design and development.  I wanted to become an architect, or artiest, and finally settled as a guitarist and played for a famous DJ in Hong Kong after high school.  I played guitar for several hours a day for a year.  It was a lot of fun and my hair was about a foot plus long with funky platform shoes.  However, I was a poor teenager after that year, so I decided I need to be more rational and use both my left and right brains.  It was then I went to US and study to become an architectural engineer.

(Thank you, Luke, for reminding me about this homework!) I really enjoyed meeting and learning from all of you in Chicago last month.  I ended up in sustainability at an MEP firm because our CEO (my boss, Walt) tries to hire people with different perspectives on sustainability. He had actually "interviewed" me as part of ASHE's energy awards program when I was managing sustainability at the University of WI Health system. I studied biology and Spanish in school, and worked as a student in the UW Hospital engineering department. I connected some dots while learning about conservation bio and how we run healthcare facilities -- and convinced the organization to let me create a full-time sustainability position. I left Madison after 8 wonderful years because Seattle has mountains, and joined Mazzetti to expand my impact beyond one organization/community.

Hi all - sorry I couldn't attend last month's meeting. It happened to be while we were on vacation enjoying the beautiful Finger Lakes region of NY.  Like many others, my original plans didn't involve the industry I'm in now. I grew up in a Navy family (Mom - 22 years!) and being a child of the 80's, I was convinced I was going to be a Naval Aviator thanks to Top Gun. Unfortunately, you need 20/20 vision, and come high school, that dream got blurry. But thanks to an amazing physics teacher, I learned about some field called "mechanical engineering."  I went into college (University of Nebraska) completely hooked on some new sport called "mountain biking," hoping to someday get a job in that industry. But whereas a place like the University of Colorado would have offered way too many distractions and risked dragging my bachelors degree into 8-year territory, the U. of Nebraska gave me loads of opportunity to focus on my studies. Unfortunately, machine design was one of my worst subjects, so that oh-so-promising future of designing bicycles and living in the mountains began to look less like a valid career path. Fortunately, I did pretty well at thermo, heat transfer, and fluids. I also hung out with a bunch of kids that were advertising/marketing majors and attended their version of ASHRAE meetings called "Ad Club" --- and looking back on that, learning how to communicate ideas in a compelling way has so much relevance to what I'd later do. I also loaded up on anthropology* (see footnote) classes along the way, and found an internship with a local consulting engineering firm (M.E. GROUP which we rebranded to BranchPattern last year) that also had a Colorado office. Win! Design HVAC systems and sneak in some biking/skiing on the weekends. But being an avid outdoorsy type, I'd also see firsthand what environmental degradation looks like out in the wild and felt like I could actually do something about it. 

I always had a propensity for asking loads of questions (plenty of them dumb) and challenging the answers I got back that didn't make sense to me. Somewhere along the way, I found myself spending more time trying to actively get rid of the very things I was trained to design (mechanical systems) than I was designing them. I recall an architect asking me if I was worried about that approach someday leaving me without a job. Suffice to say, 20 years into my career and I'm less concerned about that than ever.    *I technically have enough hours to qualify for a minor in anthropology... just enough to know what I don't know. So when we had the chance 12 years ago to add a PhD in Anthropology (a real anthropologist) to our team, I jumped at it. Fast forward a decade, and my team is a misfit band of engineers, architects and social scientists who all geek out on learning about new subjects that most of us never studied in school at all. 

I started on the path to becoming an engineer because math and sciences had always been my favorite subjects. I took all the advanced placement classes I could in those subjects in high school and that landed me at a great university down in Georgia. As part of the Co-op program, I started working at a product development group which was great exposure for material science and manufacturing processes. I enjoyed prototyping and that aspect of design, so I started taking electives in those subjects. When it came time to finding a job after college, the company I had worked for was downsizing and I had no contacts at other product development companies which are small and highly selective companies. Needless to say I could not find a job right away. I started asking around and my brother who worked in Boston, said he could get me an interview at his company in their NYC office. I went to the interview, got the job, and started working in the Construction Administration group. From there I moved up into HVAC design and the rest is history. 

Hi all - from a very young age i was always interested in rockets and space, and had a dream of becoming an astronaut.  In college, i started at Penn State in the aerospace engineering department with the goal of entering ROTC, the air force, and pursuing my dream.  The future of the space program in the early 2000s was very bleak, and during my freshman year was advised to change careers to Mechanical engineering which would provide more job opportunities.  During my time at penn state, i was force-fed the manufacturing and product development centric curriculum and had NO interaction or exposure to the construction and MEP industry.  All along, i thought i would end up at a large manufacturer/company.  My senior year i had a romantic interest with someone from NYC:  she convinced me to move to the city where the only jobs available were in MEP design.  I landed at JB&B and poof - here i am, 17 years later.  For me, it was not about some big purposeful plan - but was just life, playing out, that created my future.  

Hi everyone, This is a fun homework assignment, and I'm enjoying reading your stories. In some ways I feel like I've been headed on a path to being an architectural engineer my whole life, I just didn't realize it for a while.  As a kid I would constantly draw different types of buildings and cities (stadiums, amusement parks, castles, even floor plans for what I wished my middle school would look like) and building small structures with various materials (Jenga block towers taller than I was, and eventually balsa wood towers/bridges for Science Olympiad).  I would attend Bring Your Child to Work day with my father at the Cogen Plant he managed, and help him around the house and at church on miscellaneous electrical repairs.  I remember my mom and I tagging along on business trips with my dad as he visited other IBM plants and taught them how he was saving significant energy costs through efficiency upgrades.  By high school I *knew* I wanted to be an architect because architects designed buildings, and I somewhat stubbornly *knew* I didn't want to work in a power plant like my father.  Upon the advice of my guidance counselors took all of the hand and CAD drafting courses I could to prepare for college and my future career. Then on October 1st of my senior year of HS (yes, I remember the date), that plan screeched to a halt.  I was visiting the Architecture Department at Syracuse University and met with a professor whose first question to me was "Can I see your portfolio?".  I quickly realized that he meant a portfolio of art and design, not my drafting work, and that I wouldn't be getting into Syracuse or possibly any comparable architecture school.  I also realized that perhaps architecture wasn't meant for me.  After two weeks of panic, I remembered that some other universities I had visited offered a degree in "Architectural Engineering".  I revisited them, and realized that I was meant to be an AE.  I loved working in the context of buildings, but maybe I was better suited to be the engineer that made them work.  I started at Penn State the next year, and every AE course reinforced that I had made the right decision for me.  By the time I had to focus on a specific AE discipline, my stubbornness had subsided and the days of visiting my dad at the power house, climbing on cooling towers and peering inside boilers resonated and I focused on HVAC systems.  Still, I was happiest working and thinking in a multi-disciplinary way and wanted to design and work with multidisciplinary teams.  Along the way, I interned for Cindy Cogil (hi Cindy!) at SmithGroup in DC and got exposure to sustainable design, and focused my capstone thesis project on sustainable design solutions for a project SG (including fellow Green Guru Greg Mella) had designed.   The year I was graduating, I remember picking up the phone on a dark and cold January night as I returned to PSU from interviews in NYC, and Don Posson (hi Don!) offered me a job at Vanderweil in DC.  There, I got to work with and learn from great engineers on cool and sustainable projects, eventually leading those projects myself.   So, while I was perhaps always generally headed to where I am now, the sustainable design community has been incredibly helpful and welcoming along the way.  Now, I'm trilled to be collaborating with many of you again as we try to push the industry further towards sustainable, carbon-free designs! (Sorry for the late response.  I had wondered why I wasn't getting any updates on the or messages from the forum, but I think the issue is fixed now. I look forward to the future interactions with you all!) Cheers, Patrick Murphy Director of Sustainable Design | Vanderweil Engineers

I always liked construction. When I was a boy I could past time looking at working sites and trying to figure out what every trade was doing. I ‘helped’ my father during the weekends on DYI projects around our, neighbors, and family’s homes. He worked for a remodeling company mainly on kitchens and bathrooms. I remember being a kid and playing on the playground with my school friends, we asked ourselves what we wanted to do when we would grow old? Three professions came to light, doctor, firefighter, and engineer. I was confused, what is an engineer? I asked while saying: I am happy being a carpenter like my dad and build kitchens, bathrooms, and do small electrical works.   My teen years were, let’s say ‘interesting’. And upon my high school graduation and since it was clear I was not going to go to college, I was given two options, do my country duties and served (there was compulsory draft on those days in Spain), or I should work. Thankfully, one of my good friends trained me on CAD over a weekend and I got a position as drafting help on an small design and build HVAC contracting firm. This tempered my mom’s patience, but more importantly allowed me to focus on what I really liked, playing football. I got onto football on my late teens and I’ve got hooked up really badly. After giving to the gods of football my two knees, shoulder, neck, and what undoubtedly were my best and most talented brain cells, I end up on the summer of 1.999 with no job and not football.   That summer I went to London for 3 months to learn some English and since I never went back to live in Spain again. After a few months and when I thought my English was good enough I decided to apply to Westminster Architectural School, I was 25 and everything went very well during the admission process, until the final in person interview, like Patrick, I was asked to bring my art portfolio. I didn’t have an at portfolio neither am talented. The following conversation direct me to the Building Services Engineering program where I enjoyed the studies, I leaned towards efficiency and sustainability, and in fact my post-grad studies are in Energy and Sustainable Building Design.   I love to work close to architects and I envy their talent and aspiration to design better and best. I aspire to do the same. I also love the opportunity that Engineering has provided me to travel and known the world. I love what we do and I am passionate about the profession.

I'm a bit of a challenger by nature. In fact, I'm an Enneagram Type Eight - The Challenger. From an early age, I enjoyed challenging conventional gender norms by playing football (quarterback) at recess in elementary school with the boys and later floor hockey in junior high. (I also challenged height norms at 5'-2" by playing volleyball and running hurdles!) In Junior High I found myself more interested in wood working than sewing class and that led to a number of electives in High School where I was consistently one of only two girls in the class - mechanical drafting, architecture, AutoCAD. I thought I wanted to be an architect but was convinced in a university recruiting letter following my ACT exam to consider engineering for long term job security and the ability to repay my future student loans! When I stumbled upon architectural engineering, I knew that I had found my calling.   Professionally, I was very lucky to work on the first LEED Platinum rated building project early in my career and that experience set a high bar for how I approached my job and systems design. I'm not afraid to be the first and I'm not afraid to try something new that I've never done before. I also think it's just part of being an engineer. I recognize that there are a lot of really great resources if you only leverage them! I've been fortunate to work with really great people who are passionate about design and sustainability and willing to brainstorm ideas together.

Lots of great stories here--if you haven't already, feel free to add yours. And/or--share something about yourself on the related "Introducing Ourselves" thread. – Nadav