While still working within New Product Development process, I changed roles to a Project Engineer. This change allowed me to see all aspects of the NPD process, while still allowing me to be technical and design products. This was a very educational experience allowing me to be hands on in all aspects NPD. To succeed in this role, I had to be an effective communicator, be willing to step out of my comfort zone, and manage my time and priorities as well as others.

I proudly accepted the role of Product Engineer as my first full time Engineering position out of college. Magnetek which was acquired by Columbus Mckinnon while I was employed was a part of the Material Handling Industry. Acting as a product engineer I was responsible for the upkeep of several existing product line offerings and establishing new ones, as well as acting as a Design Engineer. I personally was responsible for the festoon product line, crane brake wheel product line, and began development on the plug and play product line. My responsibilities didn't end there I also performed testing, design, and created tools to aid Sales Application Engineers.

I was originally hired on at Dell Services, but after two months of employment the company was acquired by L&T Technology Services. I had the opportunity to work onsite at the Harley Davidson Product Development Center. This was my first experience working with a global team where the majority of communication was done via email.

At the start of my engineering career, I worked within the R&D department at Charter Automotive. The department consisted of one full time engineer and two interns, I was fortunate enough to be one of the two interns learning from an engineer with over forty years of experience. The R&D department was very independent, giving me the opportunity to develop a wide range of experience and skills.