Early Career – Instrumentation, Systems and Automation
My professional life started in the power generation industry. For the first half of my career, I operated nuclear power plants, installed fuel cells, fixed instrumentation and control systems, and kept natural gas flowing to millions of customers. My area of expertise was in instrumentation, I worked on instrumentation systems dating all the way back to the 1960s, and all the way up to modern PLC/DCS systems.
Pivot Point – The Great Designer Search
In the mid-2000s, while pursuing my MBA, I entered into a contest called The Great Designer Search. After an initial 24-hour submission of 10 essay questions, 1000 contestants were selected to take a test on the design philosophy of a game called Magic: the Gathering. From those who completed the test, the top 16 were selected to compete for an internship with the MTG design team.
While I did not make it to the top 16, I did find that my brief participation in the contest served as a bit of a “road to Damascus” moment for me. I reflected deeply on my career and began to rethink my long-term career goals.
Segue into Technical Training and Instructional Design
In the years that followed I reignited the love of art, design, and games from my childhood. I volunteered at game conventions and became part of a wonderful artists community. I learned to use Photoshop and sold artwork at gaming conventions. I worked on my writing skills, learned the fundamentals 3D animation, and I began developing training videos. While continuing to work in instrumentation, I began integrating these new skills into my day job.
The combination of technical aptitude in instrumentation and media development allowed me to transition into technical training and adult education. I pursued a second master’s degree in educational technology from Boise State University. In that program I learned about teaching and learning in virtual worlds, games and simulations in education, and other aspects of integrating multimedia with learning. Eventually, I transitioned from technical training into instructional design, and learned to develop training programs across a variety of industries.
Pivot to Change Management
IN 2015, I was blessed with the opportunity to apply my trade on an organization change management team on a major IT installation project. While most of my training and development experience was in developing cognitive and psychomotor skills, I learned to appreciate how change management allowed me to focus on affective learning. Instead of conveying just knowledge and skills, I was able to change attitudes and promote adoption.
Today, it is at the intersection of project management, change management, instructional design and game/simulation development that I find the most joy in my work. I took the long way around to get here, but I think it was worth it.
The Purpose of this Site
If you’re on this site, you probably received the link through a business card, resume, LinkedIn profile or other networking document. I encourage you to look through my portfolio and the case studies on this site, and to reach out to me if you think I can bring value to your organization.