[Claude] The thing that's awesome about the engineering field is it's a continual learning process.

Every single day, I learn something new.

[Rylee] Hi, my name's Rylee.

And I'm on a mission to talk to as many engineers as I can about this in-demand career field.

This engineer's team solves design problems using every-day, off-the-shelf products.

I want to find out why he decided to follow this career path and how he engineered his future.

Ready?

Let's go!

Hi, Claude.

Hello.

(laughs) Thank you for talking to me today.

No problem at all.

So what made you want to look into becoming an engineer?

As a kid, I really enjoyed taking things apart.

I can often say that they didn't make it back together in one piece, but I always had a desire to kind of see how things worked, and I didn't really know that that was engineering at the time.

I just thought I liked to tinker, and in my mind, I was a builder, maker, creator.

And when I found out what engineering actually was, I really just wanted to be a part of that.

So what kind of engineering do you do?

So I am a computer and electronic engineer for the Wright brothers Institute, which is located on the northeast side of Dayton, Ohio.

So basically we build and develop working prototypes using commercial off-the-shelf products to solve current problems that the Air Force has.

Perfect.

(laugh) So if it's not super top secret, what's the weirdest thing you've grabbed on the shelf at a store and used it in your engineering?

That's actually an interesting question.

I don't get asked that too often.

We've actually used popsicle sticks for-- [Rylee] Really?

Yeah, for support structures, for a small little engine for a UAS system.

Have you guys ever used things that like kids like to play with like Play-Doh or slime?

Yes, we actually have used a putty substance, like Play-Doh.

We've used that between heat sinks on the cooling system.

We've used a multitude of different things that you might not think would apply to an engineering design process.

So outside of work, what do you like to do in your free time?

In college, I actually played football, so I'm a huge football fan.

I do spend a lot of time on my free time watching football and actually coaching my son's flag football team.

And I'm also a big nerd, so I like anime, I like comic books.

I like video games.

That is really cool.

So me being a middle school student, it's sometimes hard to be productive and manage school and work and friends and sports.

How are you able to do it?

The biggest thing is probably just time management, which you'll kind of develop as you get older.

But starting to try to implement that now would be an awesome step.

And then the other thing is just finding a good support structure, being around the right set of friends that wants you to succeed just as much as you want to succeed.

So did you have any special mentors as you were growing up?

[Claude] Yeah, my father actually immigrated from Sierra Leone in west Africa.

And he had to persevere a lot of adversity during his time migrating over here to this country.

So, he was a huge, huge influence on just my drive to succeed.

I was a first generation graduate from college.

When I was coming through school, there wasn't a ton of representation or a ton of people in my particular career field that were like me, and a lot of my mentors and friends basically told me to be that person that I want to see for the next generation.

So for people like you, when you decide that you want to go to whatever career path, to be that beacon that could let that you can do it too.

That is really cool.

So how do you know when you're successful?

What does success look like to you?

Success is when, you know, I'm able to achieve something that not only benefits myself, but, you know, potentially benefits future generations, maybe my family, maybe my friends.

Like changing out a light bulb, people might not consider that to be a success, but if changing that light bulb provides light for you and your family, that could be considered a small success that means something to more than just me.

I agree with you because nowadays kids think that success is just money, and it's not just money.

It's also what you can do for yourself and for other people.

But besides that, and speaking of kids, is there any words of encouragement that you have for kids my age, who might wanna be an engineer, just like you?

Yeah.

The first thing I would say is never be afraid of failure.

Failure teaches you lessons that success won't.

Failure, again, provides learning opportunities for you to figure out better ways to do things.

Another thing I might suggest is just being humble.

A lot of people are here to provide you opportunities to learn, so being able to accept that opportunity from anybody will definitely benefit you as you get older.

And then I think the third thing is just persevere, just have that drive.

If you set a goal for you, don't let anybody stop you from achieving it.

There's plenty of times in my life where people told me, especially playing football and trying to do engineering at the same time, that that wasn't achievable for me, but just continuing to stick to it and building off of the support that I had from my friends and family, I was able to do that.

So I think those would be the three things I would suggest for people your age.

Well, thank you so much for the advice, Claude, and showing me how you engineered your future.

Thank you for having me on, Rylee.

I really appreciate being able to speak to youth and just kind of share what I've learned so far in my life.

Bye, Claude.

See you later.

(upbeat music) Mission accomplished!

I also like to watch footb-.

No, I don't.

-I'm sorry.

-(Claude laughs) Sorry.

Sorry.