(upbeat contemporary music) (electric guitar music) - My name is Krissy Strode, and I'm an Engineering Lead at Projects Unlimited.

I would say ever since middle school, I knew I was going to be an engineer.

I'm a very hands-on learner.

That's why I chose engineering technology.

I just knew that I was a tinkerer, I knew I was a problem-solver, and I knew engineering was that place for me.

And I also enjoy the math and science.

I knew that I wanted to get a degree that was useful and then get into the workforce as soon as possible.

(soft music) The stigma was always to go and get a bachelor's degree, but I knew if I wanted to pursue a four-year degree, that I also wanted to have that work experience.

Both of my parents had jobs, factory jobs, and I knew that's not the path I wanted to go down.

I started at Sinclair right out of high school.

The key considerations for Sinclair was financial.

I didn't have any loans that I had to pay back because it was so affordable.

(soft music) One of the important things at Sinclair was the co-op program.

I started at Projects Unlimited.

That's how I was able to find a job so quickly and so easily.

A week after I graduated Sinclair, I started, and I was able to be hired full-time after a few months, and then that's where my career jumped started.

- Advanced manufacturing to me is innovative technology that is continuously changing and growing.

At Projects Unlimited, we make aircraft breaking systems.

AS you can imagine, that is constantly evolving.

- We manufacture circuit boards.

And when you think manufacturing or any type of factory, you think of dark and dirty.

And when I showed up for Projects Unlimited, it was totally the opposite.

And we wear lab coats.

We have to keep our facility very clean because of working with a sensitive product.

- And everything has to leave out the door at 100% quality.

It is going into aircraft, and it's a matter of life or death.

Our slogan is "we are mission critical."

- Projects Unlimited is different from your normal or typical manufacturer.

For one, it doesn't have the typical assembly line set up.

We have cells that we work in, and those cells represent different processes that we use to build our products.

- Every single day in manufacturing, you're gaining new technology, you're gaining new equipment.

- And so we always have to be in a state of learning new equipment or learning new software.

- It's just always evolving.

- As far as manufacturing the product, most of our floor is automated.

- But you absolutely need your operators.

There's still a lot of hand-soldering that goes into the boards, a lot of through-hole components, and certain assemblies that the machines aren't capable of doing.

You need an actual person, you need that skilled touch.

(soft music) - The skills I picked up at Sinclair were just the basics to electronics, and the more I continue in my career, the more important that I realize that the basics are circuit analysis, troubleshooting.

We might have a product that it could have failed the test, and now we have to dig into that product and figure out what is causing that.

And sometimes, you have to look at a circuit board with thousands of components and say, "Hey this one component is causing the issue."

- Technical trades, technical schools are very important to manufacturing these days.

Projects Unlimited has several managers who do not have a four-year degree, but they have the experience in that field.

- There are so many different outcomes to getting an EET degree.

You know, there's the software, there's a hardware piece of it, where the hardware is more hands-on.

- [Stephanie] We highly encourage someone looking for a two year degree to go into that technical trade, because the jobs are there, and we need that skill more than ever.

- So starting off as a new test engineer, I was making around 40,000 and then eight years later, leading up to my engineering lead position, I would say 70,000 to 100,000.

(soft music) - It's very critical to have employees like Krissy.

We need critical thinkers, we need problem-solvers.

- My career in advanced manufacturing has helped me to be, one, financially stable.

That's put me in a place where I can go up and travel or I can up and go buy another guitar (laughs).

So having that base, where I'm able to still continue to grow in my career, but also enjoy what I've worked for.

(electric guitar music)