Engineering grads should find an industry that is challenging and satisfying for them.

Greetings! My name is Guy Decker, Th’86. My Dartmouth major was engineering with an electrical concentration. Below is a typical day in my life.

I’m an early bird, often waking up without an alarm between 4:30-5 AM. I like to get an early start to beat Seattle’s legendary traffic, so I hop in the car as soon as possible.

I drink my coffee (again, required in Seattle!) while at work reviewing and revising my daily to-do list. I can usually bang out a few tasks before others arrive to ‘help.’

I am a Regional Leader (Northwest area) for a medium sized Architectural/Engineering consulting firm (GBA) in the Biotech industry. The company we are consulting for in Seattle was part of the process to produce the current COVID vaccine: it was fantastic to partner with them to produce such a life saving/changing product.

I have several responsibilities in my job:

Sales – I need to produce a couple million dollars in sales per year in order to keep my office employed. This is accomplished by maintaining a close relationship between current customers, and also seeking new ones. So, I utilize LinkedIn and make a few calls per day.

Financial management – I check current spending vs expected to be sure to maintain project profitability margin goals, which I find strangely satisfying.

Team management – I interact with my team daily to maintain schedule and build relationships.

Meetings – Maintaining my responsibilities (above) while having or arranging several hours of meetings per day is tricky and challenging.

A 2-3 mile daily walk helps me to retain sanity and restores clear thinking, usually accomplished in the morning or at lunchtime.

Evenings vary between days. Usually, I come home and have an early dinner with my wife and daughter. Sometimes, after dinner, I will go and practice drums with the Shriner band. The band is noisy and raucous but somehow we always pull it together for the parades. The Shriners entertain and also raise millions for their children’s hospitals. Other nights I will get a quick workout in.

And, of course I go to bed early so I can get a jump on things each morning!

Perspective: Engineering graduates should find an industry that is challenging and satisfying for them; it helps keep the drive alive!