Wave-Maker Spotlight: Guillermo Gallardo

Over the past few months, we have been posting profiles on the amazing alumni that have come out of the Making Waves College and Alumni Program. These profiles are meant to both highlight our inspiring alumni and support young professionals in understanding their own career path. If you have questions for us or our alumni, please post them below.

Today, the spotlight is on a conversation that we had with Guillermo Gallardo, a 6th Waver from Richmond, graduate of Santa Clara University, and project engineer for Air Products and Chemicals Inc. Air Products is a company that deals with the selling of gases and chemicals for industrial usage. Guillermo manages the installation of large storage tanks for cryogenic liquids and gases, and is the lead engineer for a separate product line of small cryogenic tanks. He started this role about three months ago and previously worked as a Mechanical Engineer and Engineer Specialist for Fujifilm Dimatix Inc. for about 5 years. 

What does your job look like on a day-to-day basis?

My day to day activities are a bit chaotic since I just started about three months ago. My mornings are spent answering emails and receiving/making phone calls from customers and my sales representatives. After which, I spend about an hour doing some type of training, either in safety, product, or process training. After lunch, I then perform my main responsibilities as a project engineer, which include planning, executing, controlling, and closing projects. Those tasks can range from creating proposals, engineering drawings, having meetings with customers, and even traveling to installation sites. 

Describe your career path? What experiences provided insight along the way? Was your career path straight and planned, did you stumble into it, or was it somewhere in between?

My career path is definitely not linear, nor the norm for most project engineers. I had planned out of college to be a product design engineer in the biotech world. My goal was to work at Fujifilm and learn as much as I could about the trade. Eventually transitioning into a prosthetics or biomedical device company.

After three years in Fujifilm and interviewing at a couple biotech companies, I realized that this wasn't the path I wanted. Design work in itself is not fast and within the biotech world, the process significantly slows down. Therefore, I focused on what I wanted to do and what I enjoyed. To me that was working on something that had a beginning and end. I know that sounds obvious for any project, but within the tech world projects can last for years and just end abruptly without ever bringing them into fruition. I wanted something fast pace and something that I can control the outcome. I did a bit of research and project management seemed fit that desired criteria.

In order to get into project management I needed to validate that I am knowledgeable in the field, so I took some night classes from San Jose State in order to get an advance certificate in project management. Additionally, I worked towards getting certified as a Project Management Professional, also known as PMP. I figured with these two things I could at least prove I can be a competent project manager, even if I lacked the experience, as a result, I applied to project management positions. Luckily, I saw an ad for project engineer that not only I qualified for but interested me, within two months of applying I got an offer. 

Changing my career that I worked hard for in college was not easy, it was, and still is a risk. I still have moments where I worry that projects might not go as planned or that I might not be “enough of an engineer” to solve simple engineering problems. The best thing you can do in those moments is recall events or experiences you have faced that proved otherwise. Whether it is staying up late to finish your capstone, or overcoming a big life event. For me one of those experiences was solo traveling in South America. I went down there with no plan; I only had my flight and my sleeping accommodations. My goal was to explore new cities and see if I can survive. Even though this trip was one of the best I’ve ever had, I did run into a number of problems. Nonetheless, how I reacted and solved those problems is what I remember the most.

What advice do you give to those interested in your field and type of work? Are there any experiences and skills that you recommend them working on while in college?

For those interested in engineering, I would say go for it. Don't question yourself or your abilities. If you're an intern don't be afraid to make mistakes, own them and ask other senior engineers why it is wrong. Chances are you will never make that mistake again, and it might even be a point of conversation during a future interview. If you are a recent college graduate, trust in your skills and don't be afraid to ask for help; no one expects you to be an expert just yet. You have a degree that states that your professors and school believe you are a qualified engineer, why wouldn't you then believe you are one? 

For project management it all comes down to managing your time and understanding your stake holders. You are more than likely going to juggle multiple projects, some might take precedence over others, but it is you're job to evaluate them and figure out their respective order. The biggest skill you can work on in college to figure this out is partaking on projects in which you are a leader. 

What general advice do you have for college students still trying to understand their own path?

I have two brothers who are about done with college, my advice to them is to take their time to find out what they want their career to be. College students and recent graduates shouldn't be worried about exploring their career options. That isn't to say that they shouldn't be working towards a career path, but don't worry about taking an unpaid internship, a job out of the realm of your degree, or taking time to travel. A career should be taken seriously and shouldn't be rushed into. 

If you could give a piece of advice to your college self, what would it be?

There's a couple of things I would have told an earlier version of myself. Academically, it would be to study immediately out of class, create good study groups and build good relationships with professors. Outside of academics, it would be to travel more during breaks and realize the importance of having a balanced school and social life. 

What are your career dreams you have for yourself over the next 5-10 years?

I'm not sure where I will be 5-10 years down the road. I would like to say I would still be at Air Products under the title of Lead Project Engineer. However, my goal at the moment is to not focus too much on the future, rather, to perform my current job tasks to the best of my ability.

When you are 80 years old, what do you hope people say about you?

At the age of 80, I probably wouldn't care what people said or thought about me. My only worry would be, did I do what I wanted to do with my life. 

What does it mean to be a Wave-Maker?

To me being a Wave-Maker means being an advocate of where we come from. At Making Waves we were given the resources we needed to be successful. This success allowed us to do better for ourselves. For some this meant moving away from our communities into a world where we are either underrepresented or ignored. Through our stories and struggles we have the ability to give insight into our communities. As a result, empathy is not only created but a positive image is portrayed from our community to others. With this positive image, we give future individuals out of our community a chance to succeed as well.

Looking for more inspiration from our Wave-Makers - check these Wave-Maker Spotlights out!

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