 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."
Download Full Profile as PDF
|
|
