Silicon Valley Nation: The young and the fearless (engineers)

Tin Whiskers
Bapat and Singh hail from India;  Jeff Moriarty, Jake Johnson and George Kellerman do not.

They hail from Minnesota and have been friends since college. They represent a breed of fearless young engineers who not only excel what they do during the day, they take whatever extra energy they have at quitting time and push it into side ventures at night. The three are building a business called Tin Whiskers Brewing Co., with brews called "Ampere Biere," "Schottky Pumpkin," and "Short Circuit Stout."

Moriarty, Kellerman and Johnson are using Arduino hardware and open-source software to build a brewing system that's more precisely calibrated in the boiling phase than traditional brewhouses.

Said Johnson:

"We used CAD tools to design our structure. We bought the steel and have welded parts together. We've been creating a nano-brewery that mimics all the portions of a major brewery."

Significantly, Johnson, Kellerman and Moriarty (pictured below, in order, left to right) do not come from engineering families. This may or may not explain their wide-eyed, fearless approach to the industry. They're also famished for knowledge as they begin their careers. Johnson put it best:

"The most memorable conference I have attended was FTF last summer. Up to that point I had never went to a large conference and it was just really cool to be able to go to a bunch of classes and do some hands on learning. There was also the most amazing class on high speed digital design that was done really well and full of practical detail and implementation strategies that I could go and directly apply to my job."

Overall, younger engineers are savvy with but not obsessed about social media and how it can be used in engineering work. Mainly, they turn to a nearby colleague with questions--an experienced colleague--and then expand their search online for more information.

 

These are snippets from just a few of the next-generation of engineers, an energetic cohort that stands on some pretty strong shoulders. I'm looking forward to hearing more in late January at DesignCon when organizers host a panel session "Engineering the Next Generation" with some of the young and the fearless.

Oh, and what advice do young engineers have for slightly younger engineers considering the profession?

Bapat said:

"My advice to student engineers is to seek positions in companies that seek to compete with value-added differentiators – in quality, performance, functionality. These are the companies that will emerge and endure as successful enterprises over the long term and provide interesting opportunities for growth. While looking for a job, fresh graduates should concentrate on the job profile, rather than the name or cool factor of the company in the industry. There are lot of good opportunities in lesser known companies."

A lot of wisdom for such a young engineer!

Related stories:
--Silicon Valley Nation: Immigration do-over?
--Silicon Valley Nation: Five epic road trips
--Silicon Valley Nation: Talent gap