DUMB IT DOWN

The reigning Teacher of the Year joins the show to share about his Master's in Literature and how he uses it in his English classes. (0:00) Intro (4:30) Choosing to be an English teacher (12:17) Studying early modern literature & Shakespearean lit (21:25) Post-grad endeavors (27:00) What David loves about his job, and why he's switching (36:49) A critical evaluation of Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers (41:27) Is Kendrick our Shakespeare?

Originally from London, Krish moved to Raleigh, NC with an early interest in computer science. Krish now manages a team of software developers at a leading FinTech company after a degree in Mechanical Engineering. (0:00) Intro (2:24) Mechanical Engineering vs Computer Science at NC State (8:12) Starting career at Sageworks (now Abrigo) (18:26) day to day at Abrigo from support to product manager (26:12) Promotion to director (31:12) Personal and Professional, 2013 vs 2022 (35:59) Biggest screw up, mentoring, advice https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishna-patel-75903379/ https://www.abrigo.com

Lisa shares how she got interested in Occupational Therapy (OT), how it's different from PT, and her journey through Hawaii to manage a group at a Psych Hospital in Massachusetts. (0:00) Intro (5:05) Choosing Occupational Therapy (OT) (10:23) First job and living in Kauai, Hawaii (17:10) Current job working at Mental Hospital in Massachusetts (22:35) OT and OT Assistants, clinical supervision (26:38) Corporate vs Healthcare (30:23) Career Paths and Lisa's future

Lewis is more than a recruiter - he's a talent specialist who connects people and positions by educating himself and his network on the Smart Buildings industry. (0:00) Intro (3:30) Finding footing at Charlton Morris (9:44) Day in the life (14:12) Engineering in recruitment (17:24) Advice on transitioning roles and companies (26:20) Candidates or companies - whose market? (33:30) Important traits, advice, & mentorship

Adam's business degree got him a decent job, but he quickly pivoted to sales, learned tech, self-studied cybersecurity, and landed a job with Crowdstrike in Austin! https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-ferrara-448b9a105/ (0:00) Intro (4:09) Business at Rowan University (8:24) First Job and IT sales at SHI (16:32) Specialist vs Generalist, cybersecurity (20:56) Moving to cybersecurity and Texas (25:09) Big vs small companies, manager influence (28:02) Switching roles - research and repercussions (43:00) Recap

Nico Forlenza has been an architect since a high school internship, going to Auburn, Nashville, Dallas, and Mississippi while improving skills in rendering while continuing to learn. (0:00) Intro (3:50) Getting into architecture (6:14) Portfolio & Nashville Career (17:15) Hot Take - expertise and expert learning (23:20) How architects and engineers work together (29:45) the future of architecture! https://www.linkedin.com/in/nico-forlenza-757353110/

Link to Part 1: https://anchor.fm/dumbitdown/episodes/BONUS-Vlad-Dorosh---Ukraine-Russia-Conflict--the-Politics-of-Putin-e1eslqc (0:00) Intro (1:00) Update on Vlad's Family (2:23) Russian Objectives, Ukrainian & US Response (8:20) Social Media, Zelensky, Putin missteps (15:15) US Response - is it working? (21:04) Why should we care? Human Rights! (25:47) When and how does war stop? (40:00) Informational warfare (44:11) How you can help! Donate: https://razomforukraine.org/ https://www.saintjavelin.com/ Follow: Gary Kasparov - https://twitter.com/Kasparov63

Dr. Sarah Glova grew up in a military family before settling in Raleigh, NC to teach about communication. As a former professor, Sarah knows how to educate, and continues to do so at Reify Media. (0:00) Communication as a focus in an online world (7:24) Identifying communication as an interest (11:12) Communication for engineers (16:06) Differences based on background/degree (19:17) Recommendations for Listeners (22:32) Personal communication (27:17) Entrepreneurship and Reify Media (35:08) Living in and loving Raleigh! https://www.sarahglova.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sglova/ https://reifymedia.com/

Eric reflects on Season 1 and shares how Season 2 will be different: Open to everyone - not just engineers! Shorter and less technical Be the "naive expert" to foster creativity Duncan Wardle's "Theory of Creativity" Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8MwiGYzlyg What were your thoughts on Season 1? Share in the poll below if you're on Spotify.

Breaking down the disconnect between work and life. Let's talk about work, and not make it boring!

NOTE: Vlad and Eric recorded on Sunday 2/20 before Russian troops invaded. Vlad's family is safe, but our jovial conversation would have a much different tone if recorded later. Please keep all involved in your thoughts and prayers. Vlad re-joins the podcast for a bonus episode on his Ukrainian background, the history of Ukraine and Russia, and the current conflict. For the latest information: Anne Applebaum https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum Timothy Snyder https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder Gary Kasparov https://twitter.com/Kasparov63 To keep up with Vlad: Personal https://www.instagram.com/vladdy_yankee/ Work https://anchor.fm/dumbitdown/episodes/2-Vlad-Dorosh---International-Automotive-Engineer-e19vief

Chris reflects on how his time as a mechanical engineering student and working in a rotational program helped him learn the skills needed to co-found the business he helps run today. (0:00) Intro (4:20) High school: applications, engineering internship (11:30) freshman year Chris (12:00) Park Scholarship (16:15) Why Chris chose mechanical, if he'd change it? (20:30) Senior Chris - rotational programs (25:05) Chris's ABB “PALS” Rotational program (33:10) Other ABB roles (35:30) Credibility of an engineering degree (39:40) Chris's entrepreneurial project - VC Labs (44:30) Identifying Interests - how to identify interests! (50:30) Q&A - biggest screw up (54:40) Q&A - what's your perfect project

George speaks on graduating from chemical engineering despite not being taught the right skills to be a process engineer, and how he's eyeing an early retirement. (0:00) Intro (3:30) High School George (8:30) Getting into Engineering at NC State (10:50) Applying for jobs in the “real world” (16:55) Working as a process engineer in Bridgestone's tire plant (21:50) Why George left Bridgestone (25:15) Success story - $100k in savings! (28:30) $300k more in savings at Kimberly Clark (35:45) George eyes retirement (42:10) Do you need to go to college at all?

Combining tech with healthcare, Stephen shares how he's found success from biomedical engineering to pharmaceuticals, with an MBA on the side. (0:00) Intro & High School Chemistry Video (3:08) Math & Science, UNC, engineering (5:26) Biomedical engineering at UNC (8:10) Interest in Pharmaceuticals (11:56) Atrium Health internship, post-Grad internship at GSK (18:27) GSK rotational program - sales to marketing (22:40) GSK sales operations and back to marketing role (25:11) Back to UNC for remote, part-time MBA (39:19) Q&A https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-haskell-2b44796a/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWUYHHo-zB0 #engineering #engineeringcareers #biomedicalengineering #dumbitdown

Kevin makes processes better; from industrial engineering, to Salesforce consultant, to making dog treats from beer waste! (0:00) Intro (4:15) Civil engineering leanings to selecting Industrial (11:39) What do Industrial Engineers do?! (16:05) Starting at IBM's Process Excellence team, moving to Salesforce (23:18) What is Salesforce? (28:08) Sales Operations Analyst at Redhat (37:38) LinkedIn DM - leading to Consultant at Cloud Giants (47:07) Passion projects - dog treats and nanobreweries (53:24) Q&A + Kevin's Advice https://www.goodboydogtreats.co/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-j-mccann/

Curtis chats about how biochemistry, pharmaceuticals, and data science (plus football) intersected throughout his undergrad, PhD, and professional projects. (0:00) Intro (7:05) High school pull to chemical engineering (10:47) Applying to college - football + academics (14:25) Internships and decision to go to grad school (22:37) Masters vs PhD for chemical engineering/STEM (29:21) Applying to grad school in biochemical space (34:05) Purdue program and thesis (39:27) Current job supporting the Navy (43:20) New job at NIH's National Cancer Institute (46:30) Q&A

Jess was an engineer from Day 1, as both of her parents were too. Directed to Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), Jess went to NC State and got into Healthcare, now working for GE! Add Jess on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalrose/ (0:00) Intro (2:17) Parent's engineering influence - the biggest regret of Jess's childhood (6:38) applying to schools (9:06) choosing Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) at NC State (13:32) “Falling into healthcare” (18:30) Studying abroad in Prague (21:35) First job - Premiere Healthcare (29:27) Second job - GE Healthcare - Virtual ICU (41:35) “Engineering opens doors” (45:30) Q&A - biggest screw up, mentorship, etc

Eric shares the questions he's gotten from listeners to clear up some confusion. (0:00) Intro (1:10) Q1: Why did you start this podcast? (3:30) Q2: Is this only for engineers? (4:50) Q3: what is the format? (6:28) Q4: How can I get in touch?

Eric speaks with Julie about her decision from an early age to pursue architecture and what she would recommend for others considering the same. (0:00) Intro - Identifying Interest in Architecture (7:15) Freshman Year (11:15) Fifth Year (16:50) Determining Concentration (22:30) Architecture vs Engineering (29:00) “Don't do it if you don't love it” (31:30) Q&A - Biggest Screw Up (37:30) Demand for Architects (45:30) Message for Mentees! (47:44) BONUS: Professional Practice (54:44) BONUS: Woman in Male-Heavy Industry

Eric chats with long-time friend and fellow Charlottean James Craven as they discuss his journey from Chemistry into insurance sales. (0:00) Intro (3:10) Mindset going into college (6:00) Gaining experience in college (13:47) After college - getting into insurance (19:04) “Pick the job where you'll learn the most” (21:25) Q&A - Biggest screw up (26:02) BONUS Identify Interests - Insurance (30:02) BONUS Worth degree to get unrelated job?

Join Evan Scott as we explore how his chemical engineering and international "Environomics" masters degree landed him his dream job. (0:00) Intro (2:40) High School Evan (8:00) Freshman Year Evan (12:00) Senior Year Evan (19:30) Post-Grad Evan (25:00) Current “Dream Job” / EaaS (33:45) Q&A (42:26) BONUS: Getting your Masters in the EU (53:30) BONUS: What is Environomics? (62:19) BONUS: Identifying Interests - Sustainability

Eric and Vlad chat about how Vlad's international upbringing spurred him to get a Master's degree in Germany and job at BMW. (0:00) Intro

Eric interviews himself, touching on his upbringing in Charlotte, engineering choices, and current job in Smart Buildings.

Breaking down the disconnect between school and work. In this podcast, I interview my network to reflect on the choices they made in high school and college and how their interests led them to their current roles, because it's usually a windy and unpredictable road!