Alumni Profile: Ted
Design Visualization
BFA in industrial design, class of 1984
When you first came to UIUC did you know for sure what you wanted to do as a major/career?
Yes.
How many majors/careers did you "go through" during your years here and how did you finally come to a choice?
I was certain I was going to be a mechanical engineer, that way I could design things. I found out halfway through my freshman year that there was actually a career called "industrial design" as I was taking a short cut through the Art & Design building
What was one UIUC event, memory, person, class, that made a substantial difference in your career choices?
Without a doubt it was the on-campus lecture given by visiting UIUC ID alumni, Craig Vetter during my junior year. One of our visiting instructors had earlier told us that we had to be in industrial design for the love of the game since there was no money in it.
What was your first job after you earned your degree?
I worked for my father for 3 1/2 years in the tool and die industry. Industrial design jobs in the mid 80s were few and far between. I learned the fundamentals of business from my dad, which made me a lot more knowledgeable and marketable once I got back into the field.
How did you land your first career related job?
My mother knew I was miserable working in the tool & die business and told me of a person she had met who just bought a small point-of-purchase display company. He wanted to bring CAD into the business, which was fairly new technology at the time.
Pleas list all positions that you have held since graduation.
- Project manager
- Industrial designer / design engineer
- Computer graphics specialist
- Creative director
- Director, design visualization
What is your current occupation and how did you come to it?
I am the director of design visualization for a multi-billion dollar global technology services provider to the media and entertainment industries. I received a call from a professional acquaintance of mine who told me about the position because he thought I would be a good fit.
If you changed career paths after school, did you make a conscious choice to make the change, was it forced on you or did it naturally evolve?
I actually chose to get back into design after initially working in the manufacturing industry due to lack of decent design jobs out of school. The rapid acceptance of 3D CAD and then 3D CAID provided all kinds of opportunities in design fields to those that knew how to use it.
What steps did you take in making the transition?
I busted my butt working 12 hour days to learn 3D modeling, rendering, and animation software. There was almost no one at the time who had these skills and I knew if I put forward the effort to train myself in this new media that numerous opportunities would come to me.
What advice would you give to an FAA student who might be interested in your current or past careers?
There will be plenty of time to take it easy in life. Differentiate yourself in your first job or two out of school by putting in the extra effort to ensure you're one of the people everyone wants to hire because you have something special to offer.
What advice can you give an FAA student who is currently undecided about their future career?
Don't get too wound up over it. My current career wasn't even on the horizon when I was going through design school. Work hard and always have your antenna up to detect emerging opportunities or possible opportunities.
Additional Comments?
Never underestimate the power of one person sitting in a room somewhere—anywhere—thinking. Great contributions to the world can just as easily come from rural Illinois as anywhere else, but you must ACT on your ideas otherwise there is no possible way to make a difference.