Mechanical Engineering Overview - PowerPoint - Podcast

Dominick Vermet

Vice-President,
Midwest Sales
Detroit Diesel
Corporation
Detroit, MI

	BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
	Vice President who prospects and cultivates clients, and interacts with company personnel in finance, marketing, manufacturing, and customer service.
	"I always knew that I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. Frankly, I really didn't know what that meant as a young boy, and I guess even in school I really didn't know what that meant. I enjoy the relationship of moving parts, and the fact that they went bang, that you had combustion in an engine, whether it was gasoline or diesel, was always of interest. I thought I would go into engine design and then came to realize that my talents and my interest moved me away from the actual theoretical engineering into more of the "people side," the customer application, product application side of engineering."
	"Be very broad-visioned about what you can do with your engineering degree -- it opens a lot of doors for you. If you want to be an open, proactive person, you can go anywhere with a degree."

Vermet: "Your engineering degree really just opens the door to get you started someplace. Use it for that purpose and look over very closely what it is you really want to do because the opportunities are I think limitless, and you need to find out what your talents are. I told people I wanted to do different things. Just don't make an assumption that someone else is going to look out for your best interests. I mean you may well be in a big company, and their interests are in finding out how to utilize you, but they may not be specifically knowledgeable on what you need or what directions you're willing to go. I wouldn't assume that somebody is going to move you from position to position. I would make sure you identify the people, what it is that you would like to do and how you think you can accomplish that with their help."

Vermet: "The best parts are I get to travel; I get to meet new people. I get to coordinate activities, which I enjoy doing, and I get to see that the end results are hopefully what I had intended or certainly what we determined we wanted after we got stated."

Vermet: "In the business world, what engineering has taught me that was very helpful is the completion of assignments on time. It's very critical when you're in any kind of business to get something done effectively, but also just to get it done. And I found in the engineering school and the University of Michigan, we had to hand in assignments, and they were graded and critiqued. But they had to be in on time, and they didn't tolerate being late. At least my professors didn't, and I found that very helpful here, in that I've been trained to produce, and you can always critique what it is, but there was something to critique when the deadline was there."

Q: Did you always know that you wanted to study mechanical engineering?
Vermet: Yes, I always knew that I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. Frankly, I really didn't know what that meant as a young boy, and I guess even in school I really didn't know what that meant. I'd always been very good with my hands. I enjoy the relationship of moving parts, and that's why mechanical versus electrical or civil. So I like the moving relationship of mechanical parts, and the fact that they went "bang," that you had combustion in an engine, whether it was gasoline or diesel, was always of interest. So, I thought I would go into engine design and then came to realize that my talents and/or my abilities or my interest moved me away from the actual theoretical engineering, which I thought I'd go into, into more the people side, people-application, product-application side of engineering.

Q: Did you enjoy college?
Vermet: I enjoyed college immensely. It's why it took me 5-1/2 years.

Q: You said you co-oped for two summers?
Vermet: Yes. I co-oped for two summers at Detroit Diesel, but it wasn't an official co-op program. I started out with summer jobs at Chevrolet Engineering Center, at the Tech Center. I then went on to Ford Engineering in Dearborn, and I had applied at Detroit Diesel for a job in the engineering co-op program, and I wasn't accepted. They told me that all the positions were filled. But I didn't give up, and I got a call somewhat later from the sales department of Detroit Diesel, saying, "Hey, we have a co-operative job in the sale side of the business. Would you be interested in that?" And that was of interest. So that's kind of where I first made the transition from the real theoretical engineering to the sales side, and then I've been back and forth from sales to product service to sales consistently for the last 16 years.

Q: Do you feel, and we'll move off your education, but do you feel that your undergraduate education prepared you for the working world?
Vermet: My undergraduate education, I can't really say "prepared" me for the working world. What it did give me, part of the best thing it's given me, is the ability to logically think through something and try to get the desired anticipated results. Engineering, the problems you do, and the homework and the tests, really teach you about a logical thought process, applying theorems or known facts to get you to a conclusion. And that's really helped me in having a rational approach to try and get to a desired result. So it prepared me in that regard. Now differential equations, I haven't a clue. I wasn't real good at them a long time ago, and I certainly haven't used them in many years. So, the actual course content isn't specifically helpful to me. But the thought process, the structure of doing the assignments and handing them in on time is probably critical because in the business world, what engineering has taught me that was very helpful is the completion of assignments on time. It's very critical when you're in any kind of business to get something done effectively, but also just to get it done. And I found in the engineering school and the University of Michigan, we had to hand in assignments, and they were graded and critiqued. But they had to be in on time, and they didn't tolerate being late. At least my professors didn't, and I found that very helpful here, in that I've been trained to produce, and you can always critique what it is, but there was something to critique when the deadline was there.

Q: What would you tell college freshmen and sophomores? What could you tell them that you wish you knew when you were in school studying, that you know now, from your experience?
Vermet: Some of the things that I know now that I wish I had been more aware of I guess when I was 18, 19, 20 years old is that your engineering degree really just opens the door to get you started someplace. Use it for that purpose and look over very closely what it is you really want to do because the opportunities are I think limitless, and you need to find out what your talents are. I found out my talents are more on the organization of people versus the manipulation of numbers, or nowadays computer programs, to prove things. So, I guess be very broad-visioned about what you can do with your engineering degree, and it opens a lot of doors for you. But you're still in control. If you want to be an open, proactive person, you can go anywhere with a degree and talk and listen to people, and I'm going to say "perform."

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