Talent Spotlight On Ian Schemp, Senior Mechanical Engineer
Talent Spotlight is a regular feature profiling the employees of Product Creation Studio. See the Talent Spotlight archive for more interviews.
What led you to a career in product development?
I’ve always enjoyed building things with my hands, and I knew I wanted to be a Mechanical Engineer the moment I saw a student built, remote control submarine on WSU’s website in 1998. Fast forward a few years, several vastly different companies and industries, a few different roles and the last several positions I’ve held I seem to have settled on product development. It’s a good fit. Also I found that submarine in a pile of junk in a lab when I was in school, it’s in my attic now.
What excites you most about your job?
I like that you never really know what project is going to walk in the door. One day you can be working on an LED bicycle wheel display and the next you’re working on an ultrasound machine. It means you have to learn and grow as an engineer. Also, it’s great to be back at a company that has in house prototyping and fabrication resources.
Describe your most rewarding work experience to date.
I was lucky enough to work at Valve Corporation when they started to develop the Steam Controller. It was simultaneously the worst and yet the most rewarding point of my career.
From early development to well into production I got to be a design engineer, manufacturing engineer, test engineer and quality engineer. It was the only time I’ve ever been a customer of the product I was helping create, and that was special. I was stoked to go to work almost every day.
What is something about you people would be surprised to know?
I was a United States Army Paratrooper.
What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?
Though I work professionally to develop the height of technology, off the clock I enjoy building things with old tools and ancient methods.
To that end, I’m currently looking for a reasonably priced, vintage blacksmith anvil that’s over 150 lbs with clean edges and a good rebound. But even if I found one tomorrow I don’t have a forge set up yet, so I’d just be tripping over it in my garage for a while. But for the right anvil that’s ok.