 Matthew W.
Doan
Design Engineer
H.O. Mohr Research &
Engineering
Houston, TX
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 BS, Aerospace
Engineering, Texas A&M University |
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Design engineer and
project manager, focusing on offshore field development,
pressure vessel systems and stress analysis, and wellhead
systems. |
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Matt was given major
project responsibilities right from the beginning -- writing
proposals, working with clients, and implementing projects. He
feels that this has been a tremendous growth experience for a
young engineer. |
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"I think co-op and
getting some summer work experience is really important." |
Doan:
"It's very loose
here. You have the opportunity to make or break yourself, basically. You
take on as much responsibility as you can handle, and you are project
manager almost immediately on your projects, where in a lot of companies
you don't get that opportunity immediately. So you have to be very
hands-on, very personable, and you have to have some business sense as
well, because you can't go too far over on your budgets. And we write
proposals -- I was writing proposals from day one here."
Q: Matt, what is the
highest level you achieved in school? Just your baccalaureate?
Doan:
Yes. I got my baccalaureate degree. I began my
Master's degree, but I decided that going in the industry would be better
for me.
Q: Did you like
college?
Doan:
I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun.
Q: Do you feel it
helped prepare you for this job?
Doan:
Oh, absolutely. What it gave me was the background
and the theory. I'm a very hands-on person, and all throughout my
childhood I was always accused of taking everything apart. Now, I know why
things work, and that's what I think makes engineering perfect for me.
Q: Was this your
first job out of school here?
Doan:
No. I worked for another engineering firm for almost
a year. It was very small. It had about four engineers. And I wanted to
come to a larger environment. So, I knew of H.M. Moore through Texas A&M.
Q: Do you pretty
much do the same things?
Doan:
Yeah, most of it's sub-sea engineering,
predominantly design and analysis.
Q: When you were in
school, Matt, did you co-op? Did you have any engineering experience
before you graduated?
Doan:
Yes and no. I worked for DuPont for a while. That
was more of a civil engineering type position. I actually helped design
road bases. My degree is in aerospace engineering. So I was doing civil
engineering work and getting a degree in aerospace engineering. But, it
gave me a feel for what the industry was like.
Q: And, now your have your
degree in mechanical?
Doan:
No, I have my degree in
aerospace engineering. And most of my electives that I took were
mechanical engineer electives.
Q: So how did that come
about? Just explain how you got into mechanical engineering.
Doan:
Well, aerospace engineering
and mechanical engineer are very similar. Aerospace, you focus more on
fluids and structures, and my emphasis in school was structural analysis.
And, obviously, in mechanical engineering, that all meshes together well.
So, in the aerospace industry, as I got to the point where I wanted to
graduate, or where I was getting to where I was going to graduate, I found
that the aerospace industry wasn't what I wanted, and I wanted a more
hands-on industry. I'm a very hands-on person, so coming into the oil
industry/sub-sea industry was very natural for me, and especially coming
into an environment like H.M. Moore, it's very hands-on. We get to design
in the office, and go out and test what we design in the lab and put it
together. So it's very much a "turn key" type engineering position.
Q: Do you have a PE
license?
Doan:
I will. I have another
year-and-a-half. I have an EIT. In another year-and-a-half I'll have my
professional engineering license.
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