Mr. Doug Sandford -Mechanical Engineer/Construction Project Manager

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by Brittany Reed2 views·Updated Dec 14, 2020
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  1. Hi. Her name is Brittney Garcia, and I'm here to
  2. give you a sneak peek in and what it's like
  3. to be a mechanical engineer and a construction project manager.
  4. Through the perspective of Mr Doug Sanford.
  5. When Mr Sanford was a kid, he often played with
  6. Legos and enjoyed building things.
  7. He knew he wanted to be an engineer in his
  8. 11th grade chemistry class because he realized that engineers they're
  9. the ones who shaped the world around us.
  10. Yeah, when he was an engineering student, his favorite courses
  11. was metallurgy.
  12. Metallurgy is the study of different metals and how they
  13. could be used in engineering applications.
  14. He was fascinated with it, mainly because he was able
  15. to use scanning electron microscopes and similar equipment while being
  16. in the course.
  17. He started his career versus a mechanical engineer for the
  18. Merchant Marines.
  19. The Merchant Marines Air, a branch of federal service that
  20. provides support to the military in regards to national security,
  21. marine transportation in the economy.
  22. The part of his job that most excites him is
  23. his mentoring of young engineers to help them grow in
  24. their own professions.
  25. He looks forward to working each day because he enjoys
  26. collaborating with his engineering piers on a project each day,
  27. moving it even closer to being finished each time.
  28. Yeah, a specific area within the field that he's especially
  29. passionate about is knowing that when a project is complete,
  30. whatever it is you're building will be a little bit
  31. better. Your city community will be a little bit better.
  32. Your world will be a little bit better because as
  33. an engineer you've built something that could help people and
  34. make their lives better and easier, he said.
  35. His favorite projects so far has been working with some
  36. of our historical buildings.
  37. He enjoyed solving the puzzle of doing the renovations and
  38. repairs while maintaining the historical nature of the buildings themselves.
  39. Mr Fan, Mr Sanford said elevator repair projects have been
  40. the most challenging to work with throughout his engineering career
  41. because they have their own construction and repair codes to
  42. abide by on top of general NSP e engineering coats.
  43. A typical workday for Mr Sanford encompasses many tasks and
  44. requires many important skills in order to perform his job
  45. as an engineer.
  46. Well, he spends a lot of the work day on
  47. fund and video conference calls with contractors and project teams
  48. to make continue updates to a project.
  49. He also has to constantly check in and inspect the
  50. project of contractors work to review the materials to make
  51. sure they're following the contract.
  52. Mr. Sanford said that trying to keep a contractor and
  53. track to finish a project and time is the most
  54. difficult aspect of his job.
  55. Mr. Sanford reported that his job is more fun than
  56. it is stressful.
  57. He did say, however, that working for the federal government
  58. the end of the fiscal year is September 30th, so
  59. August in September are stressful time.
  60. Trying to get all the budgets and contracts submitted before
  61. the end of September is a very stressful time, so
  62. any time there is a deadline approaching, it's a stressful
  63. time, he said.
  64. That in order to stay persistent, it's an important it's
  65. important to keep your eyes on the goal, which is
  66. to finish the project.
  67. Then 10 years from now, you can say I can't
  68. believe I built that or I made that.
  69. He said it was fairly easy to respect the boundaries
  70. of the NSB code of ethics when he is working.
  71. However, he said he does face certain ethical dilemmas more
  72. often than others.
  73. Sometimes when a contractor wants to be paid for a
  74. finished project that a customer is not satisfied with that
  75. can, that can become an ethical dilemma.
  76. Another common ethical dilemma that he faces is when a
  77. contract gives misinterpreted.
  78. And often the contractors asked for more money After a
  79. project has already begun, he said, they often have to
  80. sit down and work it out as the project is
  81. ongoing. Mr Sanford wanted to encourage engineering students to persevere
  82. because there is definitely more work life balance in your
  83. career as an engineer than there is as an engineering
  84. student, Mr Sanford says.
  85. Often he often, Mr Sanford says he often uses a
  86. lot of engineering, specific and construction specific computer software packages.
  87. You said familiarity with technology is essential.
  88. He also emphasized the appoint the importance of good communication
  89. skills. He said It's important to be able to write
  90. well, which is something engineers often struggle with, he said.
  91. It's essential to know how to articulate your ideas while
  92. the others, he said, you must be able to articulate
  93. your ideas in order for them to be put into
  94. practice, he said.
  95. What makes a fellow engineering a teammate is when they're
  96. able to share knowledge and are also able to help
  97. with questioning with questions others may ask them for help
  98. with, He said.
  99. What makes a fellow engineer bad teammate is when they're
  100. arrogant engineers or sometimes prideful in their work.
  101. And he said this makes him unapproachable.
  102. You have to be approachable to share what you know
  103. so that the whole team could benefit.
  104. What Mr Sanford does when he can't figure out a
  105. difficult problem is he collaborates with engineering Pierce to ask
  106. them questions.
  107. You said you don't have to know the answer.
  108. You just have to know somebody who does know the
  109. answer and that you can't know everything.
  110. So don't be afraid to ask for help.
  111. Mr Sanford said his career in engineering has shaped him
  112. to pay more attention to the physical world.
  113. He says he often looks at things and wonders.
  114. How is that built, or why did they build it?
  115. That way, engineering will enhance your curiosity about the world.
  116. Engineers or professional problem solvers just remain curious and let
  117. your engineering program shaky shape you into the professional problem
  118. solver that you are capable of being.
  119. I hope you've enjoyed listening to my presentation on what
  120. it's like for Mr For Mr Doug Sandford's work as
  121. a mechanical engineering construction manager.
  122. Thank you.