S5E47 Ryian Williams | Finding Purpose as an Engineer, & How to Improve Faster

In this episode, Ryan shares his inspiring journey into engineering, overcoming challenges through relentless persistence, and developing daily habits to drive personal and professional growth. He discusses the importance of finding your purpose, the power of rapid prototyping, and strategies for accelerating engineering progress.

Main Topics Covered:

• Ryan's background and how he discovered his passion for engineering
• The role of hard work, persistence, and a growth mindset in achieving success
• Developing daily routines and habits to support personal and professional development
• Navigating complex engineering projects and building confidence through problem-solving
• Advice for young engineers on finding their niche and accelerating their careers

Books discussed during the episode:

• Think and Grow Rich
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Crucial Conversations
• Failing Forward

About the guest: Ryian Williams is an energetic and ambitious engineer who has built an impressive career in product design and development, particularly in the medical device space. With over six years of experience at Alcon, a global leader in eye care, Ryian currently serves as a Senior Engineer in Technology Transfer. His role involves bridging the gap between design and manufacturing, ensuring that innovative medical products are successfully brought to market. Ryian’s passion for engineering is matched by his dedication to continuous learning and self-improvement, which has also led him to become a TEDx speaker, author, and content creator. He holds a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and has been involved in a wide range of engineering roles, from CAD draftsman to product design and R&D engineering.

Links:
Ryian Williams - LinkedIn

About Being An Engineer

The Being An Engineer podcast is a repository for industry knowledge and a tool through which engineers learn about and connect with relevant companies, technologies, people resources, and opportunities. We feature successful mechanical engineers and interview engineers who are passionate about their work and who made a great impact on the engineering community.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Chapters

• 0:03 Ryian Williams' Early Influences and Career Path
• 5:45 Transition to Engineering Education
• 14:05 Challenges and Persistence in Academics
• 16:31 Professional Growth and Career Advancement
• 29:17 Daily Routines and Personal Development
• 39:05 Finding Your Niche in Engineering
• 47:44 Rapid Prototyping and Strategic Planning
• 49:15 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Transcript

Aaron Moncur: 0:03

Do you want to automate but don't have time to develop the skill set, try our Easy Motion hardware and software bundle. It's like T slot extrusions or automation programming. The functional elements are already built for you. All you need to do is connect them together to create fast, easy and endlessly customizable motion solutions. Learn more at Team pipeline.us.

Ryian Williams: 0:31

One thing I learned when I just came in is that hard work, that relentless persistence is what's going to get you up to speed and then eventually separate you from the rest.

Aaron Moncur: 0:55

Hello and welcome to the being an engineer podcast today. We are so excited to be talking with Ryian Williams, who is an energetic and ambitious engineer who has built an impressive career in product design and development, particularly in the medical device space, with over six years of experience at Alcon, a global leader in eye care. Ryian currently serves as a senior engineer in technology transfer. His role involves bridging the gap between design and manufacturing, ensuring that innovative medical products are successfully brought to market. Ryian's passion for engineering is matched by his dedication to continuous learning and self improvement, which has also led him to become a TEDx speaker, author and content creator. He holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, and has been involved in a wide range of engineering roles, from CAD draftsman to product design and R and D engineering. Ryian, welcome to the show, and thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you very much for having me. That was a great introduction. I like that. Great. Yeah, I've been excited to talk. I think you have a really interesting background, Ryian, and you're doing some things beyond just engineering, and I don't mean just in a derogatory sense, engineering, and you're doing even more than than just the engineering. So you described yourself as the little engineer that could, which I thought was a catchy phrase. Can you talk a little bit about your background, like how you grew up, what, what exposure, or lack of exposure, you had to engineering? And then there was, there was a an event in particular, an experience that you had that kind of opened your eyes to engineering and what it is. So maybe if you could kind of just go through some of that with us and introduce yourself to the listener, sure. So yes, I am Ryian Williams.

Ryian Williams: 2:56

Stage name Ryian inspires, aka the little engineer that could, as Erin said. And first of all, I'm honored to be on the podcast, being an engineer Podcast. I'm excited to be here today and share and have this discussion. But yeah, so I grew up in the Twin island of China and Tobago, population of about 1.3 million. It might have grew since last I checked. I don't know, but I wasn't exposed to engineers in my neighborhood or in the family. My mom, she worked a government job. My dad worked for, like the local phone company, driving trucks. So was a lot of exposure to engineering. But again, Caribbean family, so you have to be a lawyer, engineer or doctor. That was preached to us, right? I didn't, yes, it's, that's the right learning exchanger. Now, I mean, there's as there's more Avenue, there are more avenues that parents are seeing, that it's also, you know, reputable occupations. But my mother growing up, it was okay, doctor, lawyer, engineer, like, business was not something that we could just, hey, we want to go to business school. But there was one particular event that really grabbed my intention. I think my mother just had the foresight to see based on what I was interested in, I was the kid that you bought toys for, and was always trying to figure out how it worked. I would have a toy for Christmas on the 25th and by the second of January, I've already destroyed it by opening it up and trying to put it back together. So my mother, although that could have been frustrating. She saw that. Okay, maybe he's an engineer. Maybe he is interested in how things work, how you can put things back together, use it using his hands. But there was one particular time our ceiling fan went out and we Caribbean style you have. Are people in your neighborhood who are very nifty. And we had this one person who actually was an electrician, so he was well knowledgeable on how to fix a ceiling fan. And he came over, and I saw him on the ladder fixing the ceiling fan on a hot Caribbean day, uh, sweat beating down my forehead, and he was up there in all black, you know, he got that belt, utility belt on. He's looking like, you know, to me, like a bootleg version of Batman. I say, right, he's just up there. I mean, this is cool. I'm really interested in this. And I remember telling my mom, like, Mom, that's what I want to be when I grow up, like, that's what I want to do. I want to be do what he does. And she looked at me and she said, that's great. Like, you could be electrician, or you can become an engineer. That's, I think, the first time I really started hearing the term engineer. And she didn't know what an engineer did. She was just saying based on what she may have known general information of being an engineer. So fast forward my aunt one time when I told her, hey, I want to everybody. Keep asking, What do you want to be on? Be an engineer? And then she said, Yeah, you're the little engineer that could play off of the little, this is where, this is where I came from. So my aunt. Shout out to my aunt. She said that to me and totally forgot about that name for like, 15 years. It wasn't something that I was walked around at 10 years old saying, I'm the little engineer that could know it was it was nothing. It was more of, I want to be a soccer player. That was the the the what I wanted to do. That's what I was telling everyone, I want to be a soccer player. It wasn't I want to be the little engineer that could so that's where that came from, and that's what inspired me to become an engineer. It was actually being exposed to someone who was an electrician, and my mother then guiding me in the direction of, hey, you can even take it further, one step further, and become an engineer. So

Aaron Moncur: 7:07

very cool. Do you remember? How old were you then?

Ryian Williams: 7:10

Man, that's a good question. So the time when I was looking up at the Buddha version of Batman, I think I had to be around maybe 910, thank you. Australia, it's pretty young, nice. I went to high so I started high school when I was 11, so I was really young in high school.

Aaron Moncur: 7:33

Wow, is that normal in the Caribbean, or is you just accelerate? Doesn't know.

Ryian Williams: 7:39

I don't think I was. I think because of my age, I started school early because of my birthday, August. It's not like in America where you have to I think the cutoff date is like September or something. It's a little bit different in the Caribbean. So I started school fairly early, which just led me to be almost like one year I was always the youngest in the class. Got

Aaron Moncur: 8:00

it all right. So you had this experience when you were nine or 10. Saw this cool, like Batman esque figure, fixing the ceiling fan. Thought that that's what I want to do. Started down this path of engineering. And then how did you get from there to current day, working professionally as an engineer.

Ryian Williams: 8:21

So that is the, you know, like everybody wants to be something, and you could say it, but then there's the word that comes in between before you can actually become what you set out to be. So I had two sisters who were, they're older than me, and they basically paved the way, right, like I saw nobody in my family went to college before them. So my sister went to become an optometrist, came to the US. She became an optometrist. My other sister, I don't know how she got away with this, but she went into business and finance. I know how my mother loved that. She found a way somehow. But again, she's having a stellar career, but I so I almost had a blueprint. I had a blueprint of so I knew when I was young I wanted to go over to study to become an engineer. I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know what classes I would have to take. I just know that people said, Oh, you better know math and science. I was like, All right, math and science it is. I will not even think about this English class I'm in or this literature, right? But we do. So I graduated high school, and then we do something called a levels. It's using the British system, so it's almost like an associate degree. So you do two years. So after I got to high school again, I'm 15, I'm like, Mom, I want to go away to study. That's what I want to do. She's like, Absolutely not. You're 15, so you're going to go back to school and do two years, and then we can talk about going to school. So I went back to school for two years. Then I did a year, just under a year, where. Looking at an insurance company, and then I went to school to do engineering. And again, because I looked at an electrician, my goal was to be an electrical engineer. That was the goal. The school that I went to, Midwestern State University, they only had a mechanical engineering program. So I fast forward to 2010 I come to the US. I go to Midwestern state. The goal was, okay, I'm gonna do the prerequisites, and then I will transfer to another school where it has electrical engineering. Turns out I hate electrical engineering,

Aaron Moncur: 10:36

me too. I mean, I'm gonna raise my hand there. I took one double E class in college, and we did not get along.

Ryian Williams: 10:42

And I'm telling you, I did my electrical classes. And I was like, yeah, so I'm going to be a mechanical engineer. Yeah, no, we don't need to transfer. This is where it's at. I'm staying. It's like, the World Festival street ready? I'm not going. I'm staying. I was like, Yeah, I'm not. It's fine. I don't need to be electrical engineer anymore, and that's what that's that's how it came about. I did my four years as my with my bachelors, got some industry experience, then went back to do my masters at Uta. And that's how I became an engineer per se.

Aaron Moncur: 11:16

Terrific, terrific. And were you a straight A student?

Ryian Williams: 11:19

Absolutely not I so it was funny. I was just talking to my friends, and we were just talking about high school. I was the kid when you saw him raise his hand in class. You did because you know that the question was going to be something the teacher already covered. So all my friends in the class would be like, Oh my God, he's gonna ask a question again,

Aaron Moncur: 11:44

not again.

Ryian Williams: 11:45

I will not. I was not a straight A student. I was the student where it took me extra work to get the grades that I got, and I did pretty good in my bachelor's. I really struggled with my master's. Master's was a really tough but rewarding degree for me, because it really pushed how much I wanted it. It really, like, tested, how much do you want to be a Masters of Science and mechanical engineering, engineer, like, how much do you want it? It really pushed me, but was not a serious student. It I probably was making C's in high school, couple of B's here and there. Bachelors, I was a little bit a little bit better with my engineering classes, as opposed to some of the other classes I would have, like the history and the political science and stuff. I was struggling those but my engineering classes, I would be a little bit better. It just always took extra study and late nights, early mornings, meeting with professors, meeting with teacher assistants to get the grades that I got. I'm

Aaron Moncur: 12:52

seeing some parallels in your educational journey. And my school did not come easily to me. I felt like I really struggled in school. It was hard, and I was constantly getting help from TAs and in study groups, and, you know, on campus, from early morning until nighttime every day, just just trying to make the grade. And I ended up doing okay. I was not straight A's, but I did well enough. But it was a struggle, right? It was, it was really a grind to do that. What, what, what kind of, I guess, how did you change during that time? You know, really having to put in the effort and the hours to make the grades and like, what was your mindset during that time? And maybe, if you had to speak to an engineering student right now, maybe there. I know there are engineering students listening to this right now, and maybe they're struggling to get through the engineering curriculum, which is very demanding. What? What advice or encouragement would you get to that?

Ryian Williams: 13:52

Yeah, for sure, it's it definitely. Again, back to my masters. I think that's where I can I can tell every engineering student out there focus on why you're doing what you're doing. That's the only thing that got me through my masters. I had a semester left, and again, every for the two years or the year and a half, and then I have like a half a year left. I'm putting everything behind it, just trying to get past and I'm an international student, so I have to maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to remain in the program, otherwise they kick me out the school, which will then trigger me having to either find another school or go back to go back home. Right? So my why was the people that invested in me, my mother, my sisters, my mother was already planning to come up for my graduation, my sisters, especially the one that lived here, invested so much into me that it. Just felt like I needed to give them a return on their investment. And I remember the point where I felt like I cannot do this. It was one class, and I actually, actually got in the class. Met with the professor, and I told him, Hey, I want to do a thesis under you. He was like, Ha, if you're gonna in my class, then we can talk. I was like, I could do this. You know, I'm talking myself, positive, encouraging myself. I got into that class and did the first homework, and I was like, oh, no, this is not happening. I was like, Yeah, I'm probably gonna aim for a B or a C, but I know that C's are going to bring my GPA down, and if I get lower than a 3.0 I'll be kicked out. But I say that to say once you remember why you're doing what you're doing, I remember when I was on the brink of all right, maybe I just need to quit. Maybe I need to regroup, take a semester off. I just kept remembering your mom is already planning to come and watch you walk across the stage, and it's in me she's not planned for December. You can't take this semester off. You can't drop this class. You have to stick with it. And to a student out there, it's going to be tough, it's going to be challenging, it's going to break you. But how bad do you want it? And why do you want it? If you could answer those questions, you will always find energy. You always find the strength to keep going. Wow.

Aaron Moncur: 16:37

Amazing words right there. That's phenomenal, just finding your purpose, right, and letting that drive you. Phenomenal advice, wonderful. Thank you. You. You emphasize hard work. And this is another parallel with us. There's a phrase that I've I like to think I coined it. I'm sure millions of other people have had this same thought. So it's not an original thought of mine by any means, but the words I like to use are persistence beats brilliant. Yeah. And I think at 99 out of 100 times, it is the persistent person that finds great success, not necessarily the brilliant persons. Of course, if you can have both and give them better, but I, I am not brilliant, but I do know how to be persistent, and I'm getting the sense that that might be the case with you as well.

Ryian Williams: 17:33

That is, that is exactly the case. I am not the most talented I am, not the most brilliant I am average Joe, but I know that I can be, as you said, persistent. I know that I could be relentless. I know that if I can find it in myself to figure out why I'm doing what I'm doing, there's no stopping, there's no quitting. There's no giving up. It's just like I would, and I've heard a motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, said it's like, don't cry, to give up. Cry to keep going. I've been there where I started crying because I know I'm gonna keep going and this is gonna be painful. It's like, I just know that, okay, tears wound. Tears like, Oh, this is tough. I'm going to quit. It was tears knowing that, man, I know I'm going to have to go through this for the next six, eight months, because I know myself I'm not going to stop. I'm going to feel this pain over and over again until I get it. But I just had to be relentless with my masters, especially. I had to go to teacher assistants, like you said, Aaron, I had to go to teacher assistants. I had to go to different places to study with different people, like in the class, like I had to stay back late. I had a wife at the time. I had to let her know, hey, I'm coming home late today because I'm studying. I had to start drinking coffee to stay up late. I had to get up earlier when I didn't want to get up. It was relentless, just going after it, going after my books, going after my studies completely to ensure that I got the grade that I needed to pass the class. And that applies to anywhere. I can't

Aaron Moncur: 19:18

wait till this episode goes live for people to hear this. This is so inspirational. I love everything that you're saying. Tell me a little bit about how that mindset, that this perpetual, hard work, persistence, relentless mindset has has contributed to your career, and your advancement in your career, working professionally as

Ryian Williams: 19:46

an engineer, for sure. So again, it's like the same. It's a cycle, right? It's the same in life, you're going to go through the same things. It's just going to be different scenarios. So it's you already had the test. Test and you low key, have the answers, you just don't know that you had the answers. So now you have a formula that you apply to. It's the same formula that you can apply to different tests. It's just that you have to figure out that you had the formula. So my Masters is hard. You're around other smart individuals. It's very easy to feel like I don't match up. But how do you stand out? How do you keep up, per se? So you walk into a company that's a global medical device company, you're a bunch or you're around a bunch of other smart people, like, it's not like, it's not the Little League, there's the big leagues now, right? You're around PhDs and people who've been in the industry for 26 years and 30 years, and you're trying to figure out, okay, how do I contribute in this scenario? In this situation, how do I contribute in this environment? How do I add value? And again, it's being relentless, being able to go and do things on the side, for your own career development, you might take a course here or there, or meeting with people and talking to people, networking and China's soaking as much information as possible so that you too can become a subject matter expert in whatever field it is. But it's the same thing. So instead of going to teachers, teacher assistants, now I'm going to the person who's been at the company for 30 years and saying, Hey, how was, how does this work, and why did we do this? So you ask that question, why that question? Why gives you a lot of information, and if you keep asking, why? Eventually you eventually you'll get to so much and get so much information that now you're becoming a subject matter expert, but it's hard work and taking tasks that nobody else wants to do, or volunteering to do things that nobody else wants to do. One thing I learned when I just came in, find a mentor, find somebody who can guide your career. And is that hard work, that relentless persistence is what's going to get you up to speed and then eventually separate you from the rest?

Aaron Moncur: 22:10

There is a an engineer who worked at pipeline for a while. He was brand new out of school. He had a little bit of experience in an internship before working here, but he was a very new engineer, and when he first started working here, we were already surprised by how quickly he caught on to things. And what we what we learned very quickly was that it was just like you said, at any time, there was an opportunity to do something, even if it wasn't, maybe the most glamorous task, boom, this guy's hand would go up. He volunteered outside of work. He was doing personal projects that were engineering related, right? He got a 3d printer, and he was always printing things and trying new tricks and CAD and so he was always working on his craft, right? And it really allowed him to accelerate his his professional growth, and before long, he was leading projects. Here he was like doing project management. And this is, you know, he was, at this point, maybe a year out of school, but he had just moved so quickly through increasing his skill set that we were feeling comfortable saying, all right, yeah, why don't you lead this project? I had another individual who worked here asked me, this is quite a while ago. He asked me, How do I accelerate my my progress becoming an engineer? He was, he was very young as well, and still kind of learning the fundamentals and at the at the time, I didn't have a great answer for him, but if I could go back in time, the answer I would have given him was spend more time you. You spend more time practicing. That's how you accelerate your your advancement in engineering, just like this. This first engineer that I mentioned, right? He was just tenacious. He was every time there's an opportunity. Oh, me, I'll volunteer. I'll do it after work. I'm still gonna be working on my craft. Yeah, so 100% just

Ryian Williams: 24:09

like you nail on the head right there. That's, that's solid advice. Yes, get the time machine, go back and tell that person that, because that's exactly what it is. Man, I was aware. How will that? I mean, you, you go in and you're using this. For instance, when I transitioned from the job I had before to Alcon, we were using SolidWorks, and it's a software where you, you know, it's a cloud software. But at the company we were at Alcon, we were using creo. I just had to you ask questions during work, of course, right? You, but people, it's only so much time somebody can sit with you and show you the ropes, right? There's YouTube. There's so many things now that you can do. So I was on YouTube after work just trying to figure out how this, this software, works. I'm following along on YouTube tutorials and making simple parts, and that's really how I hold. My craft. So that's, that's, that's actually really good advice.

Aaron Moncur: 25:03

I think that is just the mark of people who are destined for, for some level of of success in their lives, is that they're willing to do more than the minimum. You know, they're driven to spend more than the minimum required time. When I was what was I 21 or something like that. I worked a summer job at at it was a ranch. This is back in Hawaii where I grew up. There's a tourist ranch called Color ranch, and they've filmed a bunch of movies there. Like part of lost was filmed there, and can't remember part of Jurassic Park was filmed. There's a bunch of other movies, right? This is like shoot. This is almost 25 years ago now. So the movies are a little dated, I guess. But anyway, they had a bunch of stuff that was filmed there, and it was a tourist trance, so we'd take tourists around and show them the attractions. There were other things to do. You could drive quads, do muggies, and there's a shooting ranch and some things, right? But a lot of the tourists were Japanese tourists. And the way I got the job there was I lived in Japan for a couple of years, and I learned to speak Japanese. So I was hired to, like, take these Japanese tourists around and show them the ranch. And they had a script for me. I wasn't the first one to, you know, speak Japanese and take Japanese tourists around, but they had a script for me, and it was a few pages long. And I was supposed to give this script in the bus. We'd pick the tourists up in kind of the other side of the island, and it was like a 3040, minute drive to the ranch. And during this time, I was supposed to give this few pages, and I remember getting this, like, the first day of work, and they're like, Okay, you need to memorize this. So, you know, take a week or whatever, and then, and then you're gonna start doing this. And I was like, I'm not gonna take a week. I'm gonna go home, right? Going to go home, right? I'm going to, like, memorize this tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to be ready. And that's what I did. You know, they weren't paying me extra to go home and, like, memorize this thing on my own time at night, but that was just what I felt like I needed to do. And I just, I think that's like, what a lot of high achieving people do is they just spend more time practicing.

Ryian Williams: 27:24

Yeah, that's true. I mean, you first again, that's, that's very impressive. Just two years of Japan, and then then in Japanese, and then that's, that's very impressive. But you're right. That is exactly what the people it's like, the people who are successful, they leave little, little trail, trails, and little, you know, little breadcrumbs for you to see. And if you observe enough, like if you observe the Kobe's, you observe the LeBrons, you observe the Cristiano ronaldos. And you know, the people that we might look at and be like, Oh, my God, they're really successful. If you look at how, how much they do outside of the actual job to be good at what they do, you will realize that, oh, okay, it's not just what you do when you're when it's lights on. It's what you do when lights is off, right? Like, when everybody's not around, nobody's Yes. What you do when nobody sees totally, Yep, yeah, yep. I study in Japanese script. People didn't see that. But when you come the next day and you're able to give the spiel, everybody's looking like, how does this dude know this already?

Unknown: 28:39

Yeah, how did that happen?

Aaron Moncur: 28:43

Right? All right. Well, let's let me take a short break here and share with the listeners that the being an engineer podcast is brought to you by pipeline design and engineering, where we don't design pipelines, but we do help companies develop advanced manufacturing processes, automated machines and custom fixtures, complemented with product design and R and D services. Learn more at Team pipeline.us. The podcast is also sponsored by the wave, an online platform of free tools, education and community for engineers. Learn more at the wave dot engineer, today, we are privileged to be speaking with Ryian Williams. Ryian, let's, let's talk a little bit about personal development and daily habits. What are, what are some of the routines that that you follow to push yourself and give yourself the best chance of success, both personally and professionally. Yeah.

Ryian Williams: 29:47

So I have there are certain things I do every day and again, trying to hit mostly, I try to hit all of them, right? So it's like personal. Stuff. So mind, body, spirit. Then professionally, I try to hit where I am and where I want to be. So every morning, it has to be have to pray as soon as I get up. That sets the tone for my day. During the day, at some point I have to move so I'm either in the gym, working out, or I'm playing soccer. That happens probably six out of the seven days I'm doing one of those, and I have to also, I try to read personal development books that I have around. I'm on a leadership book right now, so even if it's just like a page or two, but then the other thing that I do for professional that I think everyone should be doing, is I have something that's sent to me every single morning from a second industry. I met the optimally ophthalmology met device magazine, per se, or, like, a newsletter. So every day, I'm seeing what is happening in the industry, and I'm reading, I might read all them, but I'll definitely read the most interesting ones. I'm like, okay, oh, this company acquired this company. Okay, I see what they're doing or or they're gonna, they're already going to clinical trials with this. Okay, I see what they're doing, but it helps me to stay abreast of what's happening in my field, and then where I'm going. I'm currently working on that. PMP, so I'm doing listening to the videos every day. I'm trying to listen to a video until I finish the training course, but something as simple as just having a newsletter blast out to you in your field helps you just stay you continuously learn what's going on in your industry. So that's the main things I would say, like, that's my routine. That's things that I do every single day.

Aaron Moncur: 32:02

That's great. That's great. I mean, the newsletter thing, it's so simple, right? Like, just sign up for it, and then you spend maybe five minutes in the morning looking through it. But those five minutes day after day after day, that's gonna add up, and you're gonna have all this extra knowledge that you wouldn't have had otherwise. Reading, I think, is huge, and that's books, to me, are the best investment that anyone can can do. Certainly there are other things that a person can do for their own growth that are very valuable. But if you're looking for like dollars invested versus dollars you get out of it. I think books that just hands down are, are the best ROI are there? Are there any books in particular that you really love, that you would like to share on the podcast?

Ryian Williams: 32:52

Put me on the spot there. So I currently, currently, so there, there are a few books. I mean the first one, the first book that got me into personal development. I always say it is Think and Grow Rich. That was the first book I did. Then I did Richard Porter classic.

Aaron Moncur: 33:08

Oh, so did I. Oh, my God, twins doing all the same things. And then

Ryian Williams: 33:16

I did How to Win Friends and Influence People. There's a book that I just got done listening to. Now, I don't usually do audiobooks, because I like to have the physical book in my hand, but I went to a leadership three day workshop, and they mentioned it, and I had, like an hour and a half drive back, and I was like that. I really struggled in this area, being fully vulnerable and transparent. Here it was crucial conversations. That was the book. So I listened to that book. That book was really good, and I'm bad with, like, remembering authors. There are people who could spit out, like, you know, titles and authors. I'm not that person. But crucial conversation, either was one of the books that I read that I listened to this year, actually listened to again, just certain chapters, because it's something that I want to improve in. And I felt okay this book, and the way they laid it out, it was just, that's the book. I was like, I'm probably gonna end up listening to it again this year. But I'm also reading a leadership book right now, and I can't remember the title, because I also got that book at the leadership foundation. I was like, Okay, this is a good book, but the positive thinking, I say another book if you want to read that one.

Aaron Moncur: 34:31

I have not heard I think I've the title sounds familiar, but I've not read this book crucial conversations, and it is going on my list right now. So thank you for for suggesting that one. I'll add a couple that I've really enjoyed. One is the culture code by I think it's Daniel Coyle, maybe the COVID one of the culture code and not one of it is the best book

Ryian Williams: 34:57

I have ever No, I gotta write it down. I saw. Back. You gotta

Aaron Moncur: 35:01

run it. It's such a good one about like, building a team and building culture within a team. Oh, this is so perfect. This is perfect. It's like the universe is bringing us together here, Ryian, it's about purpose, which is exactly what you started our conversation with today. It's all about like, defining purpose. Well, the purpose is one of the three pillars of building a culture, so says the author, Daniel Coyle, who I happen to agree with, but it's a great, great look. I just finished this one is not a book. It's an it's a video series. It's called the art of negotiation. With Chris Voss. That one is a master class. Is masterclass.com. They've got all these different master classes. They call them Chris Voss was a lead negotiator for the FBI, so he would come in when, like, bank robbers had hostages, right? Or someone in Siberia was kidnapped, or whatever, like crazy stuff. And that was so good. I mean, just the like the practical tactical prints that he taught, which just excellent. I'm

Ryian Williams: 36:13

definitely adding those to the list. I'll have to look at the masterclass or masterclass.com but I'm definitely adding the culture code, because I know Thanksgiving, I'm going to be off. I'll have, I'll have something to read now. I love it. Thank you. Yeah,

Aaron Moncur: 36:28

I've list I, I guess I do depart a little bit from you here. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobooks. And I've listened, listened to that one probably four times now, culture code, that

Ryian Williams: 36:39

was, it was that after I read it, I could probably, because I know I've listened to Think and Grow Rich a couple times too. After I read it, I can definitely listen to it, but it's something about having a physical book. It just makes me feel like, all right, I'm reading y'all look, I

Aaron Moncur: 36:52

got my wife is the same way, yeah, my wife is the same way. She likes holding the thing in her hands. What I like to do is I'll have my phone with me. So typically, I'll listen to an audio book while I'm driving somewhere, maybe to work or from work or wherever, and as something I think is really important is said in the audiobook, I'll just get my phone and I'll be like, Hey, Siri, add this note, right? And I'll just have, like, a notes document that's specific to that book. So it's easy to, like, quote, unquote, take notes, you know, while I'm listening to it. Because I do agree that that is one of the that's probably the biggest downside of audiobooks, is that you can't highlight things easily and go back to that thing and just read it. So I like to take notes using Voice Memos. And then at the end of the book, I'll have, you know, a, whatever, a page of voice memos. And that's my that's perfect. So

Ryian Williams: 37:49

it's funny you say that, because I don't highlight either, but I would put everybody like, so I like the physical book, but I don't highlight, but I would do what you do. I would make notes in my phone, so I have, like, a bunch of notes for different books. And I Oh, the other one feeling forward. That was one I just read too, that was really feeling forward. That was a really good that changed my entire perspective on failure. Terrific,

Aaron Moncur: 38:13

terrific. Wow. What a great conversation. Already. We still have a little bit of time left too. What? What else are we going to discover in the next 10 minutes here, see All right, so let's talk. Let's talk a little bit more about engineering. You have quite a bit of experience in product development and design. Can you walk us through one of the most complex or rewarding projects that that you've worked on, yeah,

Ryian Williams: 38:42

um, can't go into specific details, but I could tell you that the most complex, I'll say, Okay, now let's, let's, let's do this one of the most rewarding ones that actually had some complexity, complexity to it. I had to create something from scratch. It was something that the company is accustomed making, but I had to create the models from scratch, which is not usually what is done. And why it was complex is because everybody else was like, well, even people who work there a while, right? They're like, well, we don't remember how to do it from scratch, like we've been doing it from the way we do it so far that from scratch just seems like it's like a fond memory, distant memory for them. So having to figure it out. Then when you figured it, when I eventually figured it, eventually right after being persistent, eventually figuring out. It felt so good to know that I was able to, one, figure out how to do this, and then two, I'm able to pass that information on to other people who may have the same task later on. And then the third thing was it. Made me feel like an expert, like a expert in modeling. At that point, it was just like, that's when I felt like I'm good to go on to another role. Because I felt like I wouldn't, I wouldn't say, I would definitely say, if it's always room for improvement, I wouldn't say I'm the I was the master of it, but I felt very confident in my CAD modeling skills that I felt like, Okay, I could, if an opportunity comes, I could move on to another rule. And another opportunity did come, I did move on to another rule. So that was definitely fantastic.

Aaron Moncur: 40:35

Yeah, that's, that's awesome I have in the past, and to this day, sometimes I have struggled with imposter syndrome, you know, feeling like I'm not good enough. All these other people out there, they're good enough, they're smart, they know what they're doing, but but not me. And I've found that maybe the best way to combat that feeling and to really develop your own confidence is to figure out something hard like solve a hard problem, and it probably is going to take a lot of time, but if you have the dedication to commit yourself to solving something hard, once you solve that thing, Man, the confidence that comes from that is tremendous, right? Like, no longer do you have to hope and believe that, that you're good enough, like, you know, because you just solved this hard problem. And you can look at that and say, I did that, and that's been, for me, a really powerful way of developing more confidence and getting out of that, that imposter syndrome mindset,

Ryian Williams: 41:45

that's a really good point. It's a great point, I think. So just to touch on that a little bit, that's the perfect way. And I realized that, like again, just observing the really successful people in corporate America, outside of corporate America, just entrepreneurs. They also there. It doesn't necessarily have to be like you said, right, like it. They do hard things, and they figure out hard things. And it doesn't necessarily have to be, especially people who in corporate America, in their field, when I speak to these successful people, they all have something that they do that is just difficult. So whether it be they hiked up Mount Kilimanjaro, or they do marathons every three weeks. Whatever it is, it's just always something that requires some type of crit, some type of persistence, some type of I'm not going to quit. I'm going to accomplish this. They all have something that they do, or they might go learn a whole new language. They always, they're always pushing and always challenging themselves to try and figure out or do something that's difficult or hard. So that's I love, why I love when you said that? Because that's, that's a great way to battle imposter syndrome. Yeah,

Aaron Moncur: 43:11

it has been for me, for sure. Yeah. So for for younger engineers, especially, sometimes there's this challenge with not just mastering the the technical skills, but also kind of figuring out, like where you fit in the industry or in your company, or just in your your career. How, how did you go about discovering kind of your your niche? And what advice would you give to engineers out there who are still looking for their place?

Ryian Williams: 43:40

Yeah, I would definitely say to the young engineer out there, I didn't find my niche by just waking up one day and be like, Oh, this is what I want to do. You might have a general idea, but it's worth it to try things, especially when you're young and you can move around a little bit more so rotational programs at companies, if you can, if you can get one of those as a great way to like touch different departments within a company and kind of figure out what you like to do, because each profession is going to have it, or each department is going to have different skill sets that you may need to possess, and you may figure out which ones you have, or which ones you like to tap into more. And for sure, you will at least know what you don't want to do, which narrows down your what you want to do, list. And from there, you can figure out, okay, which ones really connect with me, or which ones I really enjoy doing, and that's how you can find your niche. And even once you find it, now you can start adding value by becoming so involved and so dedicated to that now you're becoming a subject matter expert in whatever that niche is. So that's how I would say go about doing it.

Aaron Moncur: 44:59

I think. It's really good advice, and I think there's a great parallel there with the engineering process as well. So how do you find your niche? You try a lot of things, right? You? My friend Chris Julian likes to say you maximize your number of shots, as many shots as you can in a given period of time. And the same thing is true in engineering, especially in the R D stage. When you've got a blank piece of paper, you don't exactly know how to get from A to Z. You just need to try things right as quickly as you can maximize the number of shots on goal. Go out and get some duct tape, get some cardboard. Try something fast, right? Prototyping, it's the same thing, exactly, right? Rapid Prototyping. Maybe that's 3d printing. Maybe that's literally glue of duct tape or whatever Legos. Just do something fast and do as many things as you can, and that it's same is same thing is true, just like you were saying for finding your place is try as many things as you can, and you don't need to limit yourself to what you can try at work. This. This goes along with kind of the theme of what we've been discussing on this episode is you can do things on your own right, spend extra time practicing that can be outside of work, go home and do a personal project on something you think you might enjoy and use that as an opportunity to try something else. Definitely,

Ryian Williams: 46:25

that is top tier advice. And also, if you're like you say, if you're already in the industry and you're trying to figure out what's next, or, again, trying to find your niche. I always tell students this when I go back to do at my alumni UTA to do like the speed mentor that we do and stuff. Go on LinkedIn and look at what people are doing. Go and look at people's job descriptions. And if you think that their job description, look at their job title, whatever industries that they're in. And if it looks interesting to you, reach out say, Hey, I would just like to know what your day to day looks like. And then you might find someone who says their day to day looks like exactly what you would deem an ideal day for you. And you're like jackpot. And now you have the blueprint. You go look at what schooling they did, what roles they took to get there. You got your D pick it up. Yes,

Aaron Moncur: 47:19

yes, right. No. Need to reinvent the wheel. Go out and find someone who already does what you like, and then figure out what they did to get there. That's great advice. Great, great advice. All right, let me ask you one more question, and then we'll wrap things up. What is one thing that you've done to accelerate the speed of engineering? So maybe it was a project that you're working on, or a particular task, and what is one thing you can think of that you've done, or maybe you've seen others do that really like moved the needle in terms of moving faster on a project.

Ryian Williams: 47:54

It's gonna tie back into what I said, just how rapid prototyping is, something that can really move things along quickly, because when you're trying to design something, and you may need to machine it, or you may need to send it into the manufacturing side to get made, it can be a process. So when you're rapid prototyping, you could have at least a proof of concept on how something might go. But what I've realized that with the rapid prototype in it, it streamlines. It may streamline a process, but you do need to involve a lot of strategic planning in the rapid prototyping, and also a lot of collaboration in the rapid prototyping. So that's three things, but that is how I've seen it done, and what I've started practicing doing is involving a lot of strategic planning when you're working on projects, and also a lot of collaboration. And it's okay to do a proof of concept and do some rapid prototyping, just so that you're able to say confidently, okay, this is feasible. It's gonna work. Okay. Now let's go spend a lot of money on the manufacturing tools to create the product outside

Aaron Moncur: 49:07

of 3d printing. Are there any rapid prototyping tools or technologies that you've really liked using?

Ryian Williams: 49:15

That is a good question. A lot of so you might not again like you strike. You might have to reinvent the wheel, but let's say you're building on a product you could just use. You could Frankenstein something together using historic or previous products, and Frankenstein so you're not necessarily to the printing, but you might be cutting something from an old part and gluing it together, or welding it together, yeah, but it's, you know, you have, like, this Frankenstein version of what you eventually want to produce. But that's, that's one of the things I've seen done, and I've speaking to other engineers. That's what they do as well. Even, like. Personal, personal projects as well.

Aaron Moncur: 50:02

I think that's such a great solution. I mean, as engineers, our time is really expensive. You know, it might cost a company who employs us. When you fully burden an engineer's time with overhead and everything that goes into running a business, an engineer's time internally might be $100 $150 per hour to just to employ this engineer. And so if we're spending hours trying to, you know, put together a quick prototype, that money adds up really quickly. And so if you need to buy something, that's 100 bucks that you can tear down in Frankenstein, like you said, and you can just buy it and have it, instead of having to, like, 3d print, a dozen boom man that that pays for itself really quick. That's

Ryian Williams: 50:47

a good point, because there, there are other things in other industries that you can also you might be able to go in lows and get something that you think is going to work, similar to what you what you're trying. Yep,

Aaron Moncur: 50:57

exactly. You know, I agree, yeah. Go on to Amazon, find something whatever, and go do that today, shipping, goodwill, yeah, whatever Exactly. That's a great point. All right. Well, Ryian, what a treat. This has been a super fun conversation with you. Thank you again for being on the show today. How can people get in touch with you?

Ryian Williams: 51:18

Yes, again first before I go. Thank you so much for the opportunity. This was great. I enjoyed every single minute of it, and I appreciate you even saying yes you can come on so I love it. Thank you very much. But if you do want to get in contact with me, I am on LinkedIn, Ryian Williams, my actual name, if you're going to get in contact with me on Instagram. I'm Ryian inspires. That's R Y, I A n inspires, no. My name is not misspelled. I think my parents were just being funny and they wanted me to be confused and confuse everybody else. And then I'm also tiktok and inspires. Facebook. Ryian inspires,

Aaron Moncur: 51:59

fantastic. All right. Well, for those of you listening today, thank you, first of all, and second of all, if you have questions that you would like to hear discussed, maybe you're looking for advice. Maybe you're looking for career advice. Maybe you have a technical question that you would love to hear discussed, hit me up on LinkedIn. Send me a message and let me know what that question or that topic is, and I would love to include it in one of the future episodes. You can find me. Aaron Moncur, A, A, R, o n, m, as in Michael O N, as in, Nathan, C, u, r, I'm active on LinkedIn. Hit me up, and let's find something interesting to talk about and to share with the rest of the engineering community. Brian, thank you again. So much. What a treat it was to get to know you better today. And I'm super excited for everyone else to hear our conversation.

Ryian Williams: 52:47

I'm excited, I'm excited, I'm excited to hear what people have to say about the conversation. So thank you very much.

Aaron Moncur: 52:54

I'm Aaron Moncur, founder of pipeline design and engineering. If you liked what you heard today. Please share the episode to learn how your team can leverage our team's expertise developing advanced manufacturing processes, automated machines and custom fixtures, complemented with product design and R D services. Visit us at Team pipeline.us. To join a vibrant community of engineers online. Visit the wave dot engineer, thank you for listening. You.