Engineering Associate

W.L. Gore & Associates

Full Profile PDF

Advice to Students

“Lots of companies don’t understand what materials engineering is. Apply for chemical engineering and mechanical engineering jobs. Be prepared to do it all! Target companies which specialize in Polymers, Ceramics, or Metals.”

Education

1996 – BS Materials Engineering, Drexel University

Job Description

Research & Development

Interview Segment

Typical Day 7:00 AM – Get to work, check e-mails, answer any questions and ask some (via e-mail), prepare for the days work.

8:00 AM – Set up the test station for reproducibility or lifetime testing our products. 9:00 AM – Prepare samples for quality testing for the afternoon.

10:00 AM – Find an experienced associate to help me solve a statistical or technical problem.

11:00 AM – Check test station, run performance test. (Hopefully it’s a high performance.)

12:00 PM – Go to lunch- hopefully somewhere healthy, but usually pizza.

1:00 PM – Travel to another (nearby) plant to use their equipment to do quality testing (characterization).

2:00 PM – Help another associate solve a statistical or technical problem.

3:00 PM – Travel back to my plant and do a quick analysis of my data.

4:00 PM – Check test station, run a performance test- shut down or leave overnight

5:00 PM – Check e-mails, finish analyzing data. Answer questions, ask some, prepare for next day’s work.

6:00 PM – Go home, work out, cook dinner, watch the Simpsons, feed the cat.

7:00 PM – Go out to a club or over to a friend’s house to watch a movie, or play rehearsal if I’m in a show.

Career Experience:

  • 1996-Present: W.L. Gore & Associates, Engineer

Internships and Coops:

  • 1995: Engineer, W.L. Gore
  • 1993-1994: Research Engineer, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals

Best Preparation: “Co-op exposed me to ion exchange materials, and my curriculum, (especially labs) prepared me for much of the characterization work I do.”

Getting First Job: “I co-oped with Gore and was offered a job at the beginning of my senior year of college.”

Advice: “Lots of companies don’t understand what materials engineering is. Apply for chemical engineering and mechanical engineering jobs. Be prepared to do it all! Target companies which specialize in Polymers, Ceramics, or Metals.”