A Day in the Life: Meet 6 Engineers Making an Impact

What I do as a #futureshaper: I’m part of a team helping to create a component of Solstice N41 (R-466a), a non-flammable, reduced global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerant used in home and commercial air conditioners.

Before work: Recently, I’ve been enjoying doing my daily Wordle. I always allow myself to enjoy the morning and do something fun to transition into my day.

Mornings: As a lead pilot plant engineer, I’ll start by getting an update from my team on the status of their responsibilities. I either assist my team by teaching them how to perform specific tasks or get them the resources they need.

Afternoons: I typically tackle tasks like verifying process conditions for plant operations, purchasing necessary equipment that has been requested to help produce the necessary chemicals we need or troubleshooting process issues that have arisen.

Advice for future engineers: The work of a chemical engineer can be challenging, but you have to remember why you love it. Find the fun in your work and what part of your career brings a smile to your face.

Shivangi Vierma – Senior Value Engineering Manager, Aerospace

Phoenix

What I do as a #futureshaper: I work across our aerospace and defense businesses to analyze and redesign procedures to help reduce manufacturing costs. My goal is to help make products easier to manufacture.

Mornings: I meet with my teams to manage cost-takeout projects. I start the day by reviewing budgets and financials, project milestones, qualification challenges and supply-chain deliveries across the aerospace business. My teams impact customer satisfaction, meeting targets and making sure suppliers can keep their costs low through engineering and redesigning activities.  

Afternoons: I evaluate project performance and lead strategic workshops targeting specific business and sourcing initiatives. I also train and mentor people in integrated supply chain (ISC) and engineering, and help with Six Sigma projects related to manufacturing, value engineering and new product development improvements.

After work: I like to go on a walk with my dog, cycle, swim or do yoga, then I watch TV, read a book and unwind.

Advice for future engineers: Run toward a challenge, not away from it. Someone told me that in my first rotation here! Some days, you think a problem can never be solved, but you at least have to try. 

Rakshit Chandrahasa – Advanced Systems Engineer, Intelligrated

Mason, Ohio

What I do as a #futureshaper: As a systems engineer for Intelligrated, I work on making sure system level requirements and interfaces are documented, detailed, tracked, verified and validated across lifecycles of product development and customer projects, which includes automation solutions for retailers and logistics companies.

Before work: I run early in the mornings and enjoy a great cup of coffee.

How do you usually spend your mornings at work? I coordinate with other engineers and colleagues on our plan for the day, and then I usually focus on development or design.

What do your afternoons in your role consist of? I’ll spend time working on design flows, test planning for products (automated storage and retrieval systems, sorters and software) or customer projects. I’ll then sync up with colleagues, have design meetings and address emails.

Advice for future engineers: Learn to understand how your task will meet the big picture within the product or project you are a part of. Oftentimes, we spend our effort on what and how to complete the task, and we forget to ask why it is being worked on. 

Fernanda Lopes – Principal Chemical Engineer, Honeywell UOP

Houston

What I do as a #futureshaper: I work with refineries to support the technologies they’ve implemented at their plants. 

Before work: I always like to organize my desk. I can’t start the day before this – or before having coffee.

Mornings and afternoons: It depends on the day, but typically, as a technology specialist focused on the gasoline sector, I support refineries by addressing requests they have about technologies at their sites, which includes answering their questions and helping them implement new solutions to be more efficient.

After work: I walk my dog and catch up on my Brazilian novelas.

Advice for future engineers: This is not an easy career, and sometimes, you cannot relate the equations that you may learn in college to the real world. Regardless of all the strong technical skills we need, at the end of the day, we work with and for people, so be respectful of everybody who crosses your way. You can learn from everybody everywhere.  

Mythili Belle – Director of Software Engineering for Flight Systems, Aerospace

Bengaluru, India

What I do as a #futureshaper: I lead the Flight Systems Centers of Excellence (COE) in India and am responsible for engineering transformation for flight management systems, flight controls and voice-activated flight deck product lines.

I specifically focus on growth, innovation, technology and talent development. I collaborate with global flight systems leadership and teams to enable customer pursuits in product lines, including new markets such as urban air mobility (UAM).

Mornings: My mornings at work start with catching up on emails and connecting with my leadership team at flight systems and electronic solutions on tactical priorities for the day.

Afternoons: My afternoon generally is about focusing on strategies for talent development, retention and hiring. I am also focusing on the launch activities as the chairperson for the upcoming India Women Employee Network that is launching soon.

After work: My day never ends without spending time with my family. I have a husband and two kids: a daughter who is 15 and a son who will be 7 soon. There is never a dull moment in the house when you have your family around. We ask each other how our day has been and always end the day with a funny incident that one of us invariably has come across. This really sets the tone for unwinding and gearing up for the next day.

Advice for future engineers: Have an inquisitive mindset and a penchant for continuous learning. Apply engineering toward making better future, and above all, learn to enjoy this journey.

Bhandan Kumar – Advanced Software Engineer, Honeywell Connected Enterprise

Atlanta

What I do as a #futureshaper: I work as part of a multi-region team to build Honeywell Forge Enterprise Data Management, a software solution that helps customers control industrial plants using a dashboard driven by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and data contextualization.

Before work: I always do yoga before heading into the office. It keeps me refreshed throughout the day.

Mornings: I start by taking care of important emails and brainstorm how I’ll map out my day. I also meet with people in multiple regions to collaborate on improvements for our projects.

Afternoons: I spend most of my time doing research to improve site reliability practices, cost optimization and one-click deployment of infrastructure as code for Connected Plant projects.

Advice for future engineers: Being strategic in how you solve problems as an engineer is one of my biggest tips. You’ll run into challenges in your work, but you’ll grow from solving them in creative ways.