Cliff
Director of Quality Systems and
Reliability Engineering
Diabetes, Northridge, California, USA
Previous job: Communications engineer with the Los Angeles Police Department vice group. We sat in a dark van all day investigating and busting prostitutes. I was completing my engineering degree at the time, because I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life cooped up in a van.
Your role: I oversee a group that gets to do fun stuff like you see in commercials, where they drop things from buildings and smash them with cars. We design and conduct assurance tests to make sure our diabetes products can withstand all the crazy things that might happen to them, because patients wear our insulin pumps doing anything and everything.
Most memorable test: I got certified in scuba so I could test an insulin pump while scuba diving.
Most challenging test: We had to test what happened when a pump landed on any possible part or at any possible angle. That doesn’t happen just by dropping it. We had to build a holding mechanism and track so we could test it at various heights. Plus, we wanted to see what happened on impact, so we needed to have the drop captured on slow motion video, and we wanted to see what happened internally, so we had to X-ray it — all at the same time. We get into some very creative engineering.
How your work impacts patients: When we were kids, my brother said he wanted to be a doctor to save people’s lives. I said I wanted to be a biomedical engineer to make the equipment that doctors use to save lives. Both our dreams came true. I’ve been personally thanked by patients in unusual circumstances. Once by a judge who was interviewing potential jurors, of which I was one. Many of us had written reasons why we didn’t think we should be on the jury. Most of the excuses weren’t very good, and the judge didn’t allow them. But when she got to mine and read my reason — “because over 300,000 patients depend on my services daily” — she asked me what I meant. I told her what I did at Medtronic, and she stood up, showed me her insulin pump, thanked me and told me to go back and thank everyone I work with.
What you appreciate most about Medtronic: I’ve always lived in southern California, so I take diversity for granted. But I realize what a benefit it is that we have people from all kinds of races, cultures, and generations working together. You’ll see teams of Baby Boomers and Gen Y collaborating on a project.
Accomplishments you are most proud of: Being awarded six consecutive Star of Excellence Awards (2003 to 2008), the highest level Quality Award issued by the company, and then also becoming a Certified Lean Sigma Master Black Belt.
What you do for fun: Coach and practice Judo, which has been part of my family for 81 years. We have the largest dojo in southern California in our church, run by volunteers. I don’t compete any more, but my son and daughter were both national champions for their age groups.
Education: University of Arizona, degrees in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration
Woodbury University, MBA
Advice to engineering job candidates: Be prepared to supply lab notebooks so we can see a reflection of your technical work.
Medtronic is committed to providing accessibility to employment opportunities for people with disabilities. If you need technical assistance with the on-line application process, please call Medtronic at (800) 328-2518 (toll free within the US) or (763) 514-4000 (worldwide).
Medtronic is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to cultural diversity in the workforce.
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