Tressa Norden

A Book Review for the public Square: I’ve always somewhat neglected to dig deeply into the backgrounds or history of any human inhabitants anywhere west of Omaha, NE (FarWest Midwest) - Historically I have looked to my local news-rag or talking box to inform me of folks & happenings on the coasts. However , since truth is getting to be a rarer commodity these days (unknown why) I'm amping my efforts to expand information streams outward, and I was pleasantly surprised when I was given a biography of @elonmusk for the winter vacation in the sun. I’m pleased to report that after diving into this tome -615 pages- I came away with shattered notions and opinions I had formed/heard/Absorbed? about Musk and his businesses. Listening to the mainstream media slant on Musk (my former uninformed self included) may lead one to believe he is some sort of James Bond super-villain intent on ruining society or at least somehow griftin$ off of it . However after much research , and learning of his background, I feel quite the contrary. As an engineer I have a deep appreciation for the math/physics and associated economic challenges he is and HAS already worked to solve. If one thinks about it - any of these industries he is currently maniacally dominating- no other business has done so as successfully as he - nor has there been as such a vibrant supporting manufacturing base developed in these emergent and formerly stagnant areas (electrification, space lift, world-wide internet coverage , autonomous driving , computational-mind-meld, etc.) -Overall this book showed the many sides of a wicked smart engineer & a complex interesting guy - Musk is A great story well worth the read if not for the story itself , but to get to know -in real time- someone who will eventually go down as one of society’s manufacturing + business greats . Tesla Neuralink The Boring Company SpaceX

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Resume writing is one of the most overlooked skills when we enter the workforce. It is crucial for career advancement to become proficient at writing a resume with the help of a mentor.

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I remember when Monster and CareerBuilder were the go-to job boards. I cut my teeth on both when I was starting in recruiting a decade ago. Very interesting to hear the news that they may be merging. I am intrigued to see what impact this may have on the broader TA, job board landscape. Could this be a catalyst for a push for consolidation in the industry? #StaffingIndustry #JobBoards #Randstad #Monster #CareerBuilder #TalentAcquisition

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We are so excited to share this article written by Mark Gauthier in the Michigan Tech College of Computing Gateway magazine! Read about Mechatronics and how it is shaping the future of engineering and technology here: https://lnkd.in/gHMiKwPk #DonaldEngineering Michigan Technological University

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#LinkedInTipOfTheWeek LinkedIn premium may be for you if you are looking to boost your job search capability and also learning on the platform. You can always do a 30 day free trial to see if it best fits you. Remember to learn, grow, and do as you go.! #LinkedIn, #Business, #Learning, #Networking, #Consulting

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Be sure to read the latest post on the Purdue University College of Engineering blog on Medium. Stephan Biller writes about the importance of things like scaled manufacturing, digitalization of business and the ability to transfer design models quickly and easily. https://lnkd.in/gEdayJus

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Are you feeling anxious going into summer because you're not sure if you'll be caught up in a layoff? The key to enjoying the summer and making peace with the possiblity of layoffs is preparation. Three things you can do now are: 1. Cultivate your network. 2. Get organized. 3. Know how to articulate your value. Direct message me confidentially and let me know if this topic resonates with you. #enjoysummer #youvegotthis #jobmarket

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Great tips here. It's amazing how just a set of pushups, or a walk up a flight of stairs is all you need to get the blood flowing so you can get back to the grind.

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Hello LinkedIn Network! I'm not one to post here but I have a story to tell that got me thinking about my time as a working professional, which recently hit 10 years! Crazy how time flies! 😅 When new grads or other younger people interested in the STEM field reach out to me asking for some advice or insight, I typically make the effort to provide them with whatever perspective I can. Recently, someone completing education in the STEM field emailed me a number of insightful questions about my career as an engineer. There was one simple question that I feel is worth sharing here, as it surprised me that I had not put "pen to paper" on summarizing the answer before. Here is the question, ❔ ❓ What are three key elements that have contributed to success in your career? ❓ ❔ This is a simple question that I'm sure many of you all have gotten before. Usually I get more specific questions about the industry I work in. So for me, this was the first time. I began to reflect on my career. I decided to answer with three things I learned hard and early that I consider most influencial to my "success" in being able to enjoy the work that I do. I will summarize what has worked for me here, 🔷 Vocalize desires for professional development and career goals 🔸 I have found not all companies are the same when it comes to facilitating employee growth. There is no one way to do it, but I believe one should ask about the programs and policies at work during the hiring period, and take advantage of review cycles to express goals and interests related to your desired career path. 🔷 Have integrity and be humble 🔸 It's important to understand that each and every one of us knows a whole lot of nothing about most things. Understand your limitations, be honest about them, and own your mistakes. People who think or pretend they can do or know will often disappoint people. It's much better to show leaders that you are capable of being independently resourceful and can learn to do things effectively. 🔷 Assess Risk, Fail Fast 🔸 The fail fast mantra has been fueling the tech world for a long time, and I strongly believe in it's message "it is wise to fail small and cheap rather than big and expensive". Learn to asses the risks involved with the problems you are tasked with, and tackle those risks head on in order to quickly assess the validity of solutions. ❔ ❓ Do any of these resonate with you? What would your answer be? ❓ ❔

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Capital upgrade planning takes...planning. And there are loads of factors to consider that make it very difficult to fit into a one-size-fits-all webapp. The Green Upgrade Calculator from RMI is attempting to make it easier. I took 20min this morning to put together the following plan: https://lnkd.in/ggQhtzPP My knee-jerk reactions to it: 1. Upgrades are only considered on a 1-year time horizon, which isn't really how capital upgrades work for homeowners. For my scenario, I didn't have anything that needs to be upgraded this year, so my "traditional replacements" costs were all $0, making it appear very expensive. 2. I appreciate breaking out home vs. personal transport. Makes it very easy to see the differences in the two. 3. For re-roofing a house, it doesn't consider the roof replacement cost as part of the "traditional costs". That's $10k-$15k difference. That should definitely be fixed. 4. It is overly focused on costs vs. value. I know that is the point of it, but I think framing it in this light, especially for a home-owner facing tool, sets the wrong precedent. And we've spent way too long going down the ESCO route for homeowners Selling home-owners based on an energy savings cost calculation is shoddy at best, and likely going to be wrong. They're not like enterprise customers where a 2% decrease in operating expenses could save millions annually. Sell based on value: 1. Is decreasing the risk of your kid developing asthma from natural gas appliances worth $5k-$10k? I'd pay for that. 2. Solar improves resale value of homes by ~4.1%. That's $16k on a $400k home. Forget monthly energy savings, there's value there. 3. Being uncomfortable in a house sucks. Would people pay $10k-$15k for weatherization work if it meant being more comfortable in their house for ~50% of the year? I probably would. 4. General energy resilience of solar + EV with vehicle to home technology is appealing to nearly everyone. What are your thoughts on the calculator? Nate Adams Tim Guiterman Allison A. Bailes III, PhD 🏢 Christopher Naismith Shawn Nienhouse, CGHP Edward Louie Ben Reed Ted Kidd

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Hello IEs of Indiana Please join us for a webinars about Healthcare System Transformation on May 13 at 11 am ET with the title "Understanding Comprehensive Healthcare System Transformation" In order to register, go to https://lnkd.in/gT9tsTBg #IISE #Indiana #Webinar #Industrialengineering #Healthcare #System #Engineering #Transformation

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If you're an engineer, you've no doubt seen some "weirdness" on the market the last 18 months....  I just had an engineer who had accepted an offer with a company (not through us), find out 5 minutes before putting in his resignation that the "higher ups" eliminated the position.  Not something anyone should go through - a job search is stressful enough! We are working very closely with him to land his new position so if you are hiring, get in touch with me. He led the development of a cloud native and containerized platform, building out Terraform and Kubernetes from the ground up. He’s also developed backend APIs in Python, developed the observability with Grafana, created new Github Action pipelines, wrote microservice templates for devs, and integrated security scanning tools to reduce vulnerabilities. #devops #hiringmarket

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I'm in the job market as evidenced by the green banner on my profile picture, and of course my resume is posted on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. It's great that I'm getting almost daily calls from "legitimate" sounding staffing agencies that are supposedly US based (despite the thick accents). The jobs they offer aren't actually listed on the actual company's websites (issue#1), and the wage is way higher than what would be appropriate for the job (issue#2). Obviously they are too good to be true. Another key is that several agencies call claiming to be representing Boeing. Boeing's website states that all jobs must be applied for through their website (issue#3). The nature of their communication is pushy as well (issue#4). After asking for an email containing the full job description, they send it immediately followed by a "contract" email that looks sketchy at best (issue#5). But here is my beef. Within a few hours of getting these calls, I get emails indicating attempted access to my LinkedIn account and my 12 year inactive (now deleted) Facebook account. These underhanded people posing as recruiters are giving the actual recruiters a bad reputation, and putting at least a bit of distrust in job applicants like myself. I'm sure that none of this information is anything new, and I don't know that LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, or any other job board can stop it. #LinkedIn #Monster #Indeed #GlassDoor #Boeing #Facebook #staffing #headhunters #opentowork

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I've been thinking about how unfair it is that we stigmatize job searching, because it stops people from being able to leverage their full network when looking for their next position. Anyway...I've tendered a resignation from my current role, and I'd like to find something amazing in the next few months. I've got a few leads I'm really excited about, but I'd love your help if there are other opportunities that should be on my list. Here's a dossier on me and my goals! Please connect me with folks that you think might get me closer to my goals, and let me know if you'd like my updated resume to distribute. - What I am great at: software engineering leadership, with strengths in production reliability, scalability, data, privacy, and infrastructure. I'm a world-class backend engineer with 18y Google/Alphabet experience. - Ideal title: Principal Software Engineer. Willing to consider Director/VP of engineering, head of data architecture. - Ideal sector: healthcare, education, green energy, or "making the world a better place." Hard pass on finance. - Ideal size: maturing startups with ~100+ engineers. I am better at helping scale things from 1 to 10 than building from 0 to 1. - Location: Boulder, CO or remote-US. I am not willing to move within the US. I am however open to UK or Spain positions with visa sponsorship. Gimme those leads! Or if you don't have any but have liked working with me at some point, a recommendation on LinkedIn might help me stand out!

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How much white space is in your calendar? 🤔 If you’ve seen any of my management practice posts over the past couple months, you may have caught a couple points . . . (1) I say “No.” to a lot of meetings others expect me to attend and the ones I attend are usually short attendance for me and (2) one of my employees stated one of my job description elements appropriately as “keep me out of meetings”. 🚫 I work in a corporation that is addicted to meetings and can hardly resist the temptation to fill white space, which insinuates that quantity is a higher priority than quantity. While that’s not exactly true, it does result in mixed messaging. 🔀 You see, it's easy to fall into the trap of filling every available slot on our calendars with meetings, tasks, and commitments. However, the true secret to maintaining productivity and well-being often lies in embracing the white space—the unoccupied time on our schedules. Here are a few benefits: 1. Creativity and Innovation: How many times have you solved a nagging problem while you were doing nothing at all. White space provides a mental break that can spur creativity and innovation. It’s during these moments of unstructured time that our minds can wander, leading to fresh ideas and solutions. 💡 2. Strategic Thinking: Having gaps in our calendar allows us to step back and think strategically about our goals and priorities. It offers the necessary breathing room to reflect on the bigger picture, rather than just reacting to immediate demands. 🌌 3. Stress Reduction: One organizational problem we suffer from is high attrition rates and money has less to do with it than one might think. Continuous back-to-back meetings can be overwhelming and lead to burnout. By deliberately leaving some time open, we can reduce stress and approach our tasks with a clearer, more focused mind. 😤 4. Enhanced Decision-Making: When we’re not rushed, we make better decisions. White space gives us the opportunity to gather information, consider our options, and make thoughtful, informed choices. ✅ 5. Flexibility for the Unexpected (one-offs, when absolutely required): Life is unpredictable, and having unscheduled time allows us to handle unforeseen challenges more effectively. This flexibility can be crucial in maintaining a balanced workload. ⚖️ 6. Improved Work-Life Balance: I include this one because a lot of people identify with it. I’d be remiss if I weren’t a little dismissive of the work-life part of it. Work is a part of life and all things in one’s life should be in balance to thrive. So, I genuinely feel that work-life balance is a bit of a misstatement. But, by not overcommitting, we create a healthier balance in our lives. This balance is essential for long-term well-being and all satisfaction, including job satisfaction. Check out the comments for tips for maintaining a healthy balance of scheduled and unscheduled time! #ProjectManagement #TimeManagement #Productivity #Balance #Burnout

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Is Intel delay a bad thing? For many of us living in Central Ohio, the answer is no. The four roads aren’t event developed yet and building a $20B project in less than 36 months wasn’t realistic. The “new” 5 year timeline is still fairly quick and as of now, is on target. Follow this link to read full article. $20B Intel project in Ohio hits delay

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The Illinois Innovation Voucher program is designed to foster research, development, and commercialization in key industry sectors to create new products and services that can lead to economic and job growth in the state. To support applicants, ISTC has gathered examples of projects from similar voucher programs and examples of business profiles that would be eligible for voucher support. Check out this example of a project that leveraged funds to support use of facilities research https://hubs.ly/Q02B98h20

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We're excited to announce our agreement with the ACEC North Dakota to facilitate engineering education and workforce development! As engineers across the country retire, there are not enough engineering students in universities to make up for the departures. Under the stipulations in just one federal law—the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)—the U.S. needs to hire an additional 88,000 engineers. A St. Paul-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Engineering Education Foundation of America (EEFA), has reached terms with the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) North Dakota in a significant step to bolster the engineering ranks across state lines. The agreement that was signed in May will allow the organizations in the two states to collaborate to advance the engineering profession through workforce development and education, including scholarships for engineering students. The agreement will allow the Engineering Education Foundation of America (EEFA), which was established by ACEC/MN, to operate in North Dakota as a charitable nonprofit to raise funds from engineering companies in that state. Under the agreement, 30% of the funds donated by North Dakota engineering firms will be earmarked for engineering scholarships to be distributed in North Dakota. Also, 20% of the funds will go toward North Dakota workforce development. If things go as both organizations hope, the agreement will facilitate a significant expansion of financial resources for education and workforce development. For more details, please read the full press release at: https://lnkd.in/ggwS3aKg

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