Over the past couple years, I have been able to garner some skills that I believe make myself stand out from the average engineer in my position.
I began working with SolidWorks my freshman year of high school (fall of 2015) during a class focused around modeling and drafting. Our final project was to choose a random object and create a realistic model in SolidWorks. As shown to the left, I chose a Lego mini-figure. The next year I joined my high school’s robotics team, where they were using the program in order to model both individual parts and the entire robot. This allowed me to continue to practice my modeling and usage of the program.
I was using the program so heavily since that point that I was able to successfully complete the Associate level and then Professional level certification for Mechanical Design in Fall 2020. (certificate for professional level can be provided if needed)
I have experience working in a machine shop since my sophomore year of high school. This was after taking a wood shop class my freshman year that gave me an introduction to fabrication and machining. I was creating parts for the before-mentioned robotics team in our high school metal shop using three-axis manual mills, lathes, CNC mills, and a variety of hand/power tools. While this is not the exact shop I worked in (I found an image that had the same kind of mill and lathe) it is extremely similar with the machines shown. I continued to build upon the skills I acquired during my time in the high school shop by working in the machine shop at Pitt for the FSAE club (click here for more info).
Professional Work Experience
The positions listed below are not technical skills, but my work experience in each of these taught me different interpersonal skills and about professionalism.
I became a referee in for a local youth flag football league when at just 13. The age range for this football league was from 5 to 18, and I was in charge of all of them. So there was 13 year-old me in a position where I had to enforce rules against 18 year-olds, while also dealing with angry/frustrated parents on a daily basis. I continued to referee during their spring and fall seasons on the weekends during the school year until graduation. What I learned from this experience as a referee is that people can say and do things they don’t necessarily mean when emotions run high, but by maintaining a calm demeanor it helps diminish issues rather rapidly.
During the middle of March, 2020, I began to work at GoApe in Bear, DE, a zip-line adventure course. I worked there throughout the 2020 summer until the beginning of August. I was considered a “course instructor” which meant that I gave guests a safety brief to make sure they knew how to make all their connections while they were alone up in the trees, and then I walked around while guests did the course to make sure everyone was safe.
I learned two things from my time here: 1) It is very important to be flexible. As this was the summer of COVID-19 changing up how every company operated, GoApe was no different. With procedures changing almost weekly, it was important to pick up and implement the changes quickly. 2) When there is any important information you want to make sure people know, it is better to make sure they understand then to simply assume they know. Sometimes information that seems important to you doesn’t seem important to someone else, so it’s better to be very clear than leave any shred of doubt.
I had tons of fun working here during an otherwise chaotic COVID summer, and learned a lot at the same time.
I believe my technical skills combined with what I’ve learned through working make me more of an overall well-rounded engineer than if I had just gone through school without these experiences. They have all made me better and I eagerly look to continue to build on them in the future.
Lucas Ramsey 