Alicia Lee

Interview Project
Communication 1010-042
04/05/2015

Interview Analysis Memo

DATE: April 5, 2015
TO: Professor
FROM: Alicia Lee
I interviewed a Mechanical Engineer at Colledge Machine in Lindon, Utah. I study at the University of
Utah every weekend. Thats where I met him. I was able to get his contact information through a friend
of his.
I am planning to enter the pre-engineering program at the University of Utah next year in order to be
admitted to Mechanical Engineering. During the interview, I gained confidence that the major is right
for me.
This memo summarizes the useful advice what I learned from conducting the interview.

Summary of Lessons Learned

Getting Started in the Mechanical Engineering Field
I learned that the mechanical engineering field requires creativity, problem-solving skills and field
experience as well as a Bachelors degree. Many mechanical engineering degree programs include
courses in Math, Physics and Computer Programing. Every technical industry (such as aerospace,
automotive, national defense, energy conversion, energy resources, transportation, manufacturing and
recreational equipment, etc.) needs mechanical engineers.
During the interview, I learned from Julio that Weber State University offers straightforward mechanical
engineering programs that focus on essential subjects. Also, tuition and fees at WSU are more
affordable than the University of Utah.
Julio emphasized the importance of hands-on experiences in order to learn how to apply theories and
equations learned from books. His hobby has been repairing cars since he was a teen. It helped him
build a car engine. Due to my interest is in aerospace and national defense, he recommended visiting
one of aviation classes at SLCC to be familiar with mechanics of airplanes.
When I told him that I worried about not being creative in designing a product, he said anyone could
become creative by studying and being inspired by anything around us. Sometimes, he looks outside
through windows at work in order to get ideas for designing.
A Typical Day
Julio works with his assistant as a team. He starts his day with setting up priorities of each tasks assigned
to him. He gets 4-5 projects a day and work on the highest priority task is done first. Every 2 to 3 hours,
he reports his progress to his manager and client. Then, he continues his work until receiving another

instruction. He repairs or creates machines and parts. He often uses a graphic computer program to
design a part.
His job allows him to work any hours during a day as long as all of his tasks are well-completed. Also, he
was never asked to work extended hours.
Julio is proud of himself due to his confidence of understanding components and how machines work.
He said Datelines often gave him pressure. However, he learned how to handle the pressure. Other than
that, he was happy with his job.
Continuing Education
Because of affordable tuitions and different culture in engineering fields, Julio is planning to go back to
Germany in order to achieve his Masters degree. According him, engineers in Europe focus on their
tasks during their office hours and complete their tasks in a shorter amount of time than American
engineers takes.

Interview Analysis
This interview taught me about how to develop my skills to become a professional engineer and how to
conduct and interview.
Analysis of Mechanical Engineer as my Career Choice
Julio said mathematics was the hardest subject to him. Ive always enjoyed studying math and applying
math to real world situations sounds very interesting to me.
Julios father and uncles were police officers, and he thought he would work in law enforcement as
following their path. At the age of 17, he wanted to do something more creative. Thats why he chose to
become an engineer. His story made me think that I was wrong to underestimate my potential abilities.
Every time being frustrated with my busy schedules to handle both school and work, I blamed my
parents for not being college graduates. Julio chose a different path from his families and became an
engineer by his own efforts. If he did it, I can do it, too.

Analysis of my Interviewing Progress

I was nervous during the beginning of the interview. However, his sincere answers helped me feel
intimidated talking to him.
For the interview, I saved questions in my cell phone and highlighted primary questions. I thought it
would help me stay on topic and keep eye contact when asking questions. However, in the beginning of
the interview, the questions were saved in a different folder, and it took me a couple minutes to locate
them. I apologized to the interviewee. As well as answering to my questions, he encouraged me to be
persistent and to believe in myself. I asked additional questions besides what was on my memo and
realized that there was no reason to get nervous.

Closing
At the end of our conversation, he suggested to talk to other engineers such as one of his coworkers. I
would like to interview more engineers in future in order to stay inspired and learn more about the
engineering field.