Beers with Engineers

#41 – Wes Schwie: Porsches, patents, problems, and pigs. Became an engineer to be like his brother. Became a patent attorney because his friend’s uncle drove a nice Porsche. He learned writing patents and claims as mostly on the job training. First job as an inside sales engineer – wasn’t that good at it. Firm’s name of Gallium Law was proposed by a friend. Gallium (the element, not the law firm) has anti-bacterial properties. Favorite accomplishment is starting Gallium Law. Worked for Innovelis that makes mounts for various electronics gadgets. Patents aren’t as expensive as you might think (although they can be) Telling your friend about your product idea is not generally public disclosure. Also working with a company called Drivent, who is working on technology for self-driving cars. Home much credit does the person who identified the problem have vs. the person who invented the solution? There is no cross examination in a deposition. Different rummy card games. Monopoly Deal is a card game version of Monopoly. Wes can empty his mind – with the help of Yoga. Breath by James Nestor. Wes Schwie's Company - Gallium Law  www.GalliumLaw.com Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com              

#40 – John Clarke: Don’t be a cow on ice Found morel mushrooms in his yard and ate them. And ventured into others. Hunting wild berries Drinking Little Willow beer – tired it because his daughter is Willow. Tried numerous manual labor jobs in high school – which convinced him to go to college. Manager to engineer to manager. Worked at a high tech textile company A great project that was awful. A crazy way to remove tatoos. Maybe. Nitinol tubing in a medical device Lack of documentation really annoys him. Feeling like a cow on ice. Who is your chief jailable officer? Design validation vs design validation. DHF vs DMR John bakes, his wife cooks. John plays guitar, bass, and other similar instruments Likes the freedom of music. John and his wife listen to music totally differently. Bert turned John onto early Fleetwood Mac.   John’s business - Fern Hill House Gardens  On Facebook. Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#39 – Kyle Smith: Engineering knowledge and wisdom Kyle saved Bert’s butt by modifying parts overnight You tend to repeat small mistakes, but not big ones. Another engineer who started with Legos Self-taught on an early computer animation program – Maya. Which led into SolidWorks Got a mill for cheap and converted to CNC Kyle and Bert both use Send Cut Send – not sure how they make money. Company name is Sparrow Hawk Design – small and agile. Industrial designers need to interact with engineers. Two excellent books Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals Handbook of Product Design for Manufacturing Can AI advise you on capabilities of manufacturing processes? Prediction: AI will be in SolidWorks in the not to distant future. Difference between junior and senior engineers Executives don’t need to know all of the problems Flies radio control airplanes and built drones Rides motorcycles Wants to ride from Patagonia to Alaska Kyle’s company – www.sparrowhawkdesign.com. Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#38 – Seth Greenwald: Engineers are storytellers, too. A teller of “good” stories Active in toastmasters Soul Brewing Company Attended Cooper Union to be an architect, but…. First job was as a furniture designer. “Serious Creativity” by Edward DeBono – lateral thinking You need to know when to be logical and when to be lateral Divergent thinking before convergent thinking Toastmasters help you to speak and to lead Gives workshops on storytelling MOTH – a storytelling organization Six words stories The Power of Storytelling for Project Professionals or mycpe.com Plans to hike the Appalachian Trail Speaking in Louisville on May 13 about generative AI. Books on Amazon Secrets of a Creative Warrior Answering the Call of Your Creative Warrior. Engineers need to learn to tell stories Seth’s website – www.creativewarriorsecrets.com Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#37 – Larry Bridge: Sustainability is good business Built the pedestrian bridge over Sycamore St in Cincinnati. Bert wants to use nitinol someday. It is super-elastic and has shape memory. Larry’s dad was called Mr. Steel and his uncle worked on submarine propellors. Thought about being an actuary Quickly moved into project management – lots of capital products HVAC in an R&D building is huge expense Kosher surfactants are a thing A big problem with waste is transporting it. Cincinnati is building an anaerobic digester, P&G is a big “supplier” Kentucky’s water is key to horses and bourbon. Does burning plastic count as recycling it? Bio-char is becoming a thing. Larry collects guitars instead of cars. His favorites hacks are in Excel. Engineers need to take a finance class or two. Decided he was an engineer, not a mechanical engineer. Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#36 – Pete Rezac: The Ritual Engineer First job out of college was at a startup working on hydrogen energy. Pete was unschooled (not homeschooled) through 7th Didn’t believe his Mom when she tried to teach him the rules of English. For math he was mostly self-taught and discovered the distributive property Often school erodes children’s natural inquisitiveness. Many smart kids were troublemakers because they were bored. Decision on whether to homeschool his kids was not what you would expect. Our brains have learning windows that close. Science is discovering ways to open them back up. The Anxious Generation, The Coddling of the American Mind, and The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt – Great books. It’s not social media, it’s anti-social media. “Mixed with Meaning” is his catering bartending company with custom cocktails. He found people are able to be more present and connecting. The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker Bert forgot the joke. Thanks to Pete for remembering. Why there is so much methane in Siberia. Favorite spice (herb) is thyme. Clove is underutilized. Pete would love to influence people to incorporate ritual into their lives. Pete’s bartending company - https://mixedwithmeaning.squarespace.com/ Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#35 – David Elentukh: Not An EIT, A DIT – Doctor in Training Drinking kombucha but is a sour beer fan. 12 cylinder rotary engines? Why do we make the decisions we do? “Paycheck” with Ben Affleck and other movies inspired him to engineering. (but not “Falling Down”) Isaac Asimov did not believe in character development, especially in the “Foundation” series. Knows why he loves engineering, but less why he became one. Every day is a new challenge. Really good designs are often not wildly creative but well implemented. Challenging the idea of a biomedical engineering degree. Which is better for college, quarters or semesters? Shark Ninja really cares about customer feedback. Intentionally making mistakes so the customer is happy when you fix it. Make sure you enjoy the process. EMT is the least stressful job he has ever had. Perfect quality work is exceeding what people think is possible. Prototyping multiple options sometimes just confirms your original decision and demonstrates why it is better. Checklist are great thing. Another plug for “Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande. Just writing something is important. Has done a bit of smithing. Ira Glass paraphrase: It takes a lot of work to make your skills catch up to your tastes. The full quote https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i-wish  Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#34 – Tim Johnson: Axe throwing, Ninja engineer Owns a Parkour/ninja gym and Axe-Throwing Bar The town council raised an eyebrow at the second one. Tinker toys and old broken toys can be used for prototypes In college, president of the Demiurgical Engineering club. Worked on the Segway and Rockband drumkit. Tried to quit but his boss wouldn’t let him. Has been doing martial arts since he was a child so he started his own gym. but thinks it has been a bit wimpified a bit. Once an engineer, always an engineer When starting a company, better to do it slowly than jumping in 100%. Tim wrote several dual language books. Opened The Axe Pit in 2016, serving local wine, beer, and liquor. The gym is an opportunity to learn problem solving and expanding comfort zone. Don’t say “No”, say “yes, if.” For fun he does a bit of drone racing. Around the house. He has a swinging bookshelf that goes into his “secret” lab. Tim’s Companies – https://www.theaxepit.com/   https://mainewarriorgym.com/ Tim’s Books - link Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#33 – Chris Costa: He always has enough time for people. Chris is enjoying his favorite beer, Sam Adams Octoberfest Chris placed engineers and now sells SolidWorks Crashed three planes when in high school Some recruiters suggest jobs that are a terrible fit. It seems like an easy job, but it isn’t. It requires lots of contacts. Learn from his father: “You always have enough time for people” How many things could you do with this brick? Drafter and mechanical designer jobs have all but disappeared. Mechanical engineers wear a lot of hats. Engineers get too much blame and not enough credit. Without engineers, he wouldn’t have a job. Engineers typically struggle to market themselves. Two things not to say: “After he left, I had to fix his mess” “But we’ve always done it this way” Many years coaching baseball and now an umpire. Youth baseball has changed in 50 years. He has good friends with mutual trust. Per Chris, demand for injection molded plastic parts is not going away. Used to love “The Gong Show” The original “Star Trek” only lasted three seasons. He has advised people to try a different profession. Chris’s Company, SolidXperts - https://www.solidxperts.com/en/ Bert’s Company – www.dexterityeng.com

#32 – Steve Drake: Speakers in your suspension? Beers with engineers or wine-ing and designing? Steve worked at Bose – the Soundlink and the Wave CD radio. As a kid, he jumped off a roof with a trash bag as a parachute. Elsewhere, worked in electro-optics system group. Always been interested in acoustics and Bose was very close to home. Bose was a great place to work; high caliber people. Bose worked on car suspension. They also worked on suspension seats for trucks. Bose – big rich sound in a really small package Steve likes Klipsch speakers Helped unify different groups at Olympus Did some nice analysis on silicone for passive radiators in Bose speakers Sometimes test results that don’t make sense at first actually do when examined closely. He took an engineering approach to getting his daughter to nap better. Steve likes cooking. It’s more like jazz than engineering. "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee "Chemistry in the Kitchen" by Matthew Hartings Steve wants to go to Portugal, see the coast, and try the food. Croatia is also high on the list. Bert's website - www.dexterityeng.com