What was your educational background? Did you major in engineering and if so what discipline?
“I graduated two years ago from Lehigh University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.”
Did you attend graduate school and do you recommend doing so?
“I did not attend grad school so I’m not sure where to stand on this. Part of me thinks it would be really beneficial to have gone and part of me thinks I am learning just as much as I would have in school. It’s a toss up.”
What did you get out of school that continues to help you today?
“Looking back at college I feel like i definitely could have done more to prepare myself, but I had no idea where I would be so that’s pretty impossible. Now I feel like I should have paid more attention to my mechanics and manufacturing classes because they would have helped me a great deal (I think I’m being pretty hard on myself though…).”
What is the company that you work for and what does your company do exactly?
“Lifetime Brands is an industrial design company that designs kitchen products for brands that we’ve either licensed or created. Some of our biggest brands include KitchenAid, CuisinArt, Mikasa, and Fred & Friends.”
What is your job title at Lifetime Brands and what does that entail? How would you say an industrial designer differs from an engineer?
“My job title is ‘mechanical engineer’ but I consider myself more of an industrial designer here. I started working here in mid-September, so I’m still in the process of learning my role here. My boss is starting me off slowly so with time, I think it will develop into more of the engineering role. As an industrial designer, I receive design requests from the marketing department. I develop concepts by sketching and then build them in Solidworks. These 3D models get sent to the manufacturing plants in China for production or for quotes (just tells us how much they estimate it will cost to produce). In a few weeks/months we will receive a sample of the product where it’s our job to inspect it– check the dimensions/color/look for manufacturing problems like flash or sink marks. Other things I’ve done here are rendering using a program called Bunkspeed and touched them up in Photoshop. Another big part of the job is creating quote/production drawings which accompany the 3D files to the manufacturing plant. The dimension everything on the product and specify materials/finishes on the product.
The job of an engineer is not so different from this. They still go through this process, but most of the designers in the department will come to them for advice on designs. They get asked a lot of questions about manufacturing capabilities (wall thicknesses, draft) and material suggestions (using polystyrene vs. polypropylene). They also work on more technical projects, like a battery powered salad spinner.”
How did you find Lifetime Brands and achieve the position you have now?
“I found this position through chance. I was actually planning on going back to school for a year when I was on LinkedIn one day and saw my friend worked for this company as an intern. I asked her some questions about the job and asked if she could refer me to someone. A few weeks later I had the job. I was very lucky and still can’t believe it happened!”
Did you do summer internships with Lifetime Brands or other companies in the design field?
“This past summer I interned for Target Corporation as a facilities and engineering intern. In the past I’ve also interned at an architectural firm and abroad in Ireland through my school as an environmental engineer. These experiences were good, but they weren’t what I wanted to do. I honestly had a lot of trouble getting internship in the design engineering field (but that could have been my own fault for various reasons…)”
Do you feel as though there was anything special that I can do during these 4 years at college to better prepare myself or set myself apart from others?
“I guess what I would suggest in the most general form is to take advantage of your resources. At college I had so many things at my fingertips. There were CNC routers, laser cutters, 3D printing machines, and wood shops that I could have taken advantage of. Now if I want to do any of that stuff I have to pay for it haha.
More specifically, if this is the type of field you want to get in to, I would suggest strengthening your SolidWorks skills. I thought I was good at SolidWorks, but the first week here threw me for a loop– Although everyone is understanding and I’ve been assured that everyone feels that way when they get here. Also, I wish I was better at Photoshop and design sketching (but these are just insecurities I have).”
Were there any other career paths you thought about entering?
“I had a lot of trouble deciding what I wanted to do. It was probably a year ago when I decided I wanted to do industrial design for consumer products.”
