I flew a red eye on Spirit Airlines from Vegas to D.C. wearing a suit and sandals for my first real job interview.
I always knew I wanted to move to a big city.
So when I had an opportunity to get a security clearance and move to D.C. for work, I did not hesitate.
But, I did already have an epic, post-graduation cross-country roadtrip on the schedule.
My best friend and I threw a mattress in the back of his Honda Odyssey minivan and headed west for 2 weeks.
After hiking Angels Landing in Zion and seeing Old Faithful in Yellowstone, it was time to fly to DC.
The interview went really well and Hepburn and Sons LLC, a boutique Naval Engineering firm, decided to take a chance on a recent grad in a wrinkled suit.
Laser Shock Peening
My work revolved around transitioning mature technology in industry to military applications.
Laser Shock Peening is a technology originally used to extend the lifecycle of critical air plane parts, and I worked to find the optimal US Navy applications.
Here is a write up about one of my projects:
💥 Integration Of Scanning & Laser Peening Technology In Shipyards
SBIR Program
The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program provides $100k-$1.5m of non-dilutive funding to small businesses for R&D efforts related to government applications.
At Hepburn and Sons, I worked through every stage of the SBIR proposal and capture process dozens of times; find relevant topics, build out a winning team and proposal, present your heart out, win the award, and perform.
It is a great program and has some incredible success stories, such as Qualcomm and iRobot.
Skills Developed
- Proposal Writing
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Manufacturing Process Management
- Government Contracting
- Web App Development
Lessons Learned
I initiated coffee walks as often as possible with my mentors in the company, both my direct boss and wise folks on other teams.
- "Eye value is buy value" was a phrase my boss used often
- "Active listening" was something I learned from another mentor.
- "People love videos and pretty pictures," story telling is critical
That season was truly a great introduction to the professional world, and what it takes to win work and grow a business with integrity.
As much as I enjoyed Hepburn, I found myself itching to dive more into software which was out of their swimlane, so I took a chance and jumped out to start a software company with a friend from school.
