Rachel Reid
Interview Posted By: Ashley Smith
1. Can you tell us a little about your background? i.e. Where you grew up, what education do you have, a summary of your resume, did you always want to do what you are doing now, when did you start to become interested in STEM, what internships/ volunteering
I grew up in Vermont. I started becoming interested in science in 7th grade when I had a teacher who had a passion for teaching science. I don’t remember “liking” math until I realized that I was good at it. It wasn't “cool” to like math; most people complained about it, but I seemed to have an innate skill to be able to learn the material and solve the problems (having my dad as an at home tutor helped). In high school, I preferred math and science to English and history, so I applied to UVM to be a math major. I had no idea what I would do with a math major and I wasn't sure I wanted to teach. My dad read through more of the majors available and suggested I look at Engineering Management (I had never heard of it before) – I changed to that major when I signed up for classes at orientation, still not having a clue what I’d do with that for a major. I joked that I stuck with that degree because I couldn't find anything else to change my major to. Part way through, I realized I could get a math minor for only one additional class, so I signed up for that as well. I experienced several companies and people who didn't know anything about the major and I describe it as 2/3rd Mechanical engineering classes (my focus was mechanical, the other options I had at UVM were civil or electrical) and 1/3rd business classes. I applied for a few internships during my sophomore year, and lucked out getting a mechanical engineering internship at IBM where I evaluated a software – CAD type program that was being looked at by the department. By the end of the summer I knew I didn't want to do that. Junior year I had an operations business class and an engineering class that talked about lean manufacturing and it intrigued me. I was able to get an industrial engineering internship at General Dynamics the summer after my junior year where I assisted with a plant’s transition to lean manufacturing. I read Lean Thinking and thought that I could really enjoy this type of work. My senior year I was looking for an engineering job and was able to find one called “CPI engineer” – continuous process improvement engineer – which was exactly what I was looking for at what is now Keurig Green Mountain. The company was just starting on their lean journey and I quickly learned a lot more about lean manufacturing and about manufacturing in general. I've been with Keurig Green Mountain for 7 years, and for the first 5 years my job title and role adjusted – mechanical engineer, industrial engineer. Now I’m part of our continuous process improvement team (lean manufacturing coach might be another way to describe it). This is a great fit for me because I learned that I’m not good at being a technical engineer, but I think like an engineer and I like to improve things.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
The great thing I have found about engineering is that each day is different. It’s really hard to describe a “typical day.” When I was a CPI engineer, I worked on projects to help the company improve – reduce downtime, reduce scrap and helped the employees and overall production floor “run smoother.” Some of my projects were team projects – we’d look at data and come up with a solution together, other projects I worked with equipment vendors on solutions, I’d coordinate between the departments on testing our plan or solution. As a mechanical engineer, I still worked on projects – team and individual – and looked at machine data to find our priorities for what should be worked on. I was also an escalation point for maintenance to ask questions and help to get a better solution in place if something was failing. I’d help with the installation and debugging of new equipment and products. What I do now is teach people different tools they can use to solve problems, I help facilitate groups to solve problems, I lead teams on improvement projects and coach the other departments on using the tools. (Examples of tools are a Pareto chart, fishbone analysis, problem solving.) I currently spend a lot of my day coaching others so that they can work on improvements in their areas – helping them to read the data that is available and look for problems in their areas. I facilitate problem solving sessions – where a team will analyze a problem to determine what causes it and develop solutions to fix the causes. I lead teams or participate on teams for larger problems.
3. How does STEM relate to your job? How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
A lot of what my engineering degree taught me was how to solve problems – understanding what the problem is and how to dig into the issues to identify and solve; thinking critically and objectively. I use direct information that I learned in my operations management classes and from workshops and classes I took after I graduated. I’m not sure I could easily say, “I use blah blah blah that I learned in X class 101” but I know that a lot of what I learned has helped in various ways from basic knowledge to a vague recollection from a class to direct applicability.
4. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
I would say that the best part of my job is that I’m able to work on different types of projects with a variety of people and skills - each day or week is different. The worst part of my job is I can’t tell people what to do – I do not have any direct reports, I work with people in all departments who report to other people, so I can’t force them to complete action items. It can be a challenge to get them to understand their ownership and how their piece is critical in an improvement. Similar to team projects in school, there will always be people who prioritize differently than you do – finding the best way to communicate with people helps (and it’s different for different people). I struggle with not being able to do it all – sure I could go complete some of the items myself, but that’s not teaching and I will repeatedly have to do it for them.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
This is a hard one for a lot of people. What I've come to realize is that work will always demand more. If you put in 60 hour weeks consistently, the company isn't going to complain, they’re going to give you 60 hours worth of work and then more. You have to be your own advocate. Yes, there are days or weeks where I’m working overtime for specific projects, but I make sure that I have the work-life integration that I need. A secret? Take a lunch break – seriously. I took a one day class called “The Energy Project” which talked about people’s capacity and ability to accomplish tasks. You need time to renew in order to be productive. When it comes to having children (I currently have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old) – plan ahead when you can. The United States when compared with other developed nations has a terrible maternity leave. Know what your company offers, save vacation time/sick time, etc. Your kids are only little for a very short amount of time –adjusting to children and work (if you choose to stay working) is challenging, ease back into work if you’re able (start back part time, for instance).
6. What do you define success as?
Being happy with where you are (your job, work/life balance, personal life, etc.)
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Genuine interest in other people – and smile! In a STEM career, many people think about the “stereotypes” of the majors and think about someone who can’t communicate with others. Smiling when talking with people and being genuinely interested in what they have to say and working with them goes a long way. It helps you communicate with others and build a relationship for when you need to work with that person in the future.
8. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
I think it’s important to start with the understanding of what a mentor is – someone who can challenge you to do your best and helps you to grow in your career. It took me several years into my career to understand that – I think it hit me over the head when I read the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. She clearly stated that a mentor is not someone who you meet with weekly to talk– that’s a therapist. And it hit me that’s what I had been picturing as a mentor, and I thought I didn't have one. When I changed my perception, I realized I have always had one. My dad was my first (and still is one) mentor – he has always challenged me and guided me towards success. When I first started out at Keurig Green Mountain, my mentor was the person in the role I’m in now. I worked with him on several projects in the first year of my job, and he helped challenge me, while teaching me or showing me where to find additional resources to learn. He helped me understand that it was OK not to have all the answers – and that I should always be continuing to learn. We met once or twice in a few years to discuss how I saw my career moving forward and what the steps were that I needed to get there. When I changed jobs from engineer to my current role, my manager is my mentor. He is an excellent coach – when I’m stumped in a situation he’ll ask questions to help guide me to the course of action or think differently. He encourages reflection on completed projects and when things could have gone better he’ll ask “what will you try differently next time.” My dad has a similar job to mine in a different company and we’ll frequently talk about the challenges in our jobs and ask each other questions in order to see what might be done differently to get better results. Someone can be your mentor for a short period of time or a long period of time. They should be someone who helps guide you – or coach you – through obstacles and towards success and I've found that the mentoring process tends to be free flowing.
9. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
I don’t know if this is the best advice I’ve ever received, but it’s what comes to mind when I think about starting out – “Fake it until you become it” which I think was also from Lean In. As an example - Don’t have confidence talking in front of people? Pretend you do – practice, put yourself in situations where you have to do it, you’ll learn different things in each situation to help you gain the confidence because before you know it, you’ll realize that you’re doing it without stressing about it. More advice? Self-reflection / after action reviews – after you've completed a project or presentation or based on a time frame, reflect on how you did – what worked well? What didn't work well? What would you change in hindsight that you can in the future? Don’t forget to praise/celebrate yourself when things go well. Lastly, continue to learn. Attend workshops or training's, read books/articles/etc. to help you grow in your field or work on new skills that you want to learn.
I grew up in Vermont. I started becoming interested in science in 7th grade when I had a teacher who had a passion for teaching science. I don’t remember “liking” math until I realized that I was good at it. It wasn't “cool” to like math; most people complained about it, but I seemed to have an innate skill to be able to learn the material and solve the problems (having my dad as an at home tutor helped). In high school, I preferred math and science to English and history, so I applied to UVM to be a math major. I had no idea what I would do with a math major and I wasn't sure I wanted to teach. My dad read through more of the majors available and suggested I look at Engineering Management (I had never heard of it before) – I changed to that major when I signed up for classes at orientation, still not having a clue what I’d do with that for a major. I joked that I stuck with that degree because I couldn't find anything else to change my major to. Part way through, I realized I could get a math minor for only one additional class, so I signed up for that as well. I experienced several companies and people who didn't know anything about the major and I describe it as 2/3rd Mechanical engineering classes (my focus was mechanical, the other options I had at UVM were civil or electrical) and 1/3rd business classes. I applied for a few internships during my sophomore year, and lucked out getting a mechanical engineering internship at IBM where I evaluated a software – CAD type program that was being looked at by the department. By the end of the summer I knew I didn't want to do that. Junior year I had an operations business class and an engineering class that talked about lean manufacturing and it intrigued me. I was able to get an industrial engineering internship at General Dynamics the summer after my junior year where I assisted with a plant’s transition to lean manufacturing. I read Lean Thinking and thought that I could really enjoy this type of work. My senior year I was looking for an engineering job and was able to find one called “CPI engineer” – continuous process improvement engineer – which was exactly what I was looking for at what is now Keurig Green Mountain. The company was just starting on their lean journey and I quickly learned a lot more about lean manufacturing and about manufacturing in general. I've been with Keurig Green Mountain for 7 years, and for the first 5 years my job title and role adjusted – mechanical engineer, industrial engineer. Now I’m part of our continuous process improvement team (lean manufacturing coach might be another way to describe it). This is a great fit for me because I learned that I’m not good at being a technical engineer, but I think like an engineer and I like to improve things.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
The great thing I have found about engineering is that each day is different. It’s really hard to describe a “typical day.” When I was a CPI engineer, I worked on projects to help the company improve – reduce downtime, reduce scrap and helped the employees and overall production floor “run smoother.” Some of my projects were team projects – we’d look at data and come up with a solution together, other projects I worked with equipment vendors on solutions, I’d coordinate between the departments on testing our plan or solution. As a mechanical engineer, I still worked on projects – team and individual – and looked at machine data to find our priorities for what should be worked on. I was also an escalation point for maintenance to ask questions and help to get a better solution in place if something was failing. I’d help with the installation and debugging of new equipment and products. What I do now is teach people different tools they can use to solve problems, I help facilitate groups to solve problems, I lead teams on improvement projects and coach the other departments on using the tools. (Examples of tools are a Pareto chart, fishbone analysis, problem solving.) I currently spend a lot of my day coaching others so that they can work on improvements in their areas – helping them to read the data that is available and look for problems in their areas. I facilitate problem solving sessions – where a team will analyze a problem to determine what causes it and develop solutions to fix the causes. I lead teams or participate on teams for larger problems.
3. How does STEM relate to your job? How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
A lot of what my engineering degree taught me was how to solve problems – understanding what the problem is and how to dig into the issues to identify and solve; thinking critically and objectively. I use direct information that I learned in my operations management classes and from workshops and classes I took after I graduated. I’m not sure I could easily say, “I use blah blah blah that I learned in X class 101” but I know that a lot of what I learned has helped in various ways from basic knowledge to a vague recollection from a class to direct applicability.
4. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
I would say that the best part of my job is that I’m able to work on different types of projects with a variety of people and skills - each day or week is different. The worst part of my job is I can’t tell people what to do – I do not have any direct reports, I work with people in all departments who report to other people, so I can’t force them to complete action items. It can be a challenge to get them to understand their ownership and how their piece is critical in an improvement. Similar to team projects in school, there will always be people who prioritize differently than you do – finding the best way to communicate with people helps (and it’s different for different people). I struggle with not being able to do it all – sure I could go complete some of the items myself, but that’s not teaching and I will repeatedly have to do it for them.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
This is a hard one for a lot of people. What I've come to realize is that work will always demand more. If you put in 60 hour weeks consistently, the company isn't going to complain, they’re going to give you 60 hours worth of work and then more. You have to be your own advocate. Yes, there are days or weeks where I’m working overtime for specific projects, but I make sure that I have the work-life integration that I need. A secret? Take a lunch break – seriously. I took a one day class called “The Energy Project” which talked about people’s capacity and ability to accomplish tasks. You need time to renew in order to be productive. When it comes to having children (I currently have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old) – plan ahead when you can. The United States when compared with other developed nations has a terrible maternity leave. Know what your company offers, save vacation time/sick time, etc. Your kids are only little for a very short amount of time –adjusting to children and work (if you choose to stay working) is challenging, ease back into work if you’re able (start back part time, for instance).
6. What do you define success as?
Being happy with where you are (your job, work/life balance, personal life, etc.)
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Genuine interest in other people – and smile! In a STEM career, many people think about the “stereotypes” of the majors and think about someone who can’t communicate with others. Smiling when talking with people and being genuinely interested in what they have to say and working with them goes a long way. It helps you communicate with others and build a relationship for when you need to work with that person in the future.
8. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
I think it’s important to start with the understanding of what a mentor is – someone who can challenge you to do your best and helps you to grow in your career. It took me several years into my career to understand that – I think it hit me over the head when I read the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. She clearly stated that a mentor is not someone who you meet with weekly to talk– that’s a therapist. And it hit me that’s what I had been picturing as a mentor, and I thought I didn't have one. When I changed my perception, I realized I have always had one. My dad was my first (and still is one) mentor – he has always challenged me and guided me towards success. When I first started out at Keurig Green Mountain, my mentor was the person in the role I’m in now. I worked with him on several projects in the first year of my job, and he helped challenge me, while teaching me or showing me where to find additional resources to learn. He helped me understand that it was OK not to have all the answers – and that I should always be continuing to learn. We met once or twice in a few years to discuss how I saw my career moving forward and what the steps were that I needed to get there. When I changed jobs from engineer to my current role, my manager is my mentor. He is an excellent coach – when I’m stumped in a situation he’ll ask questions to help guide me to the course of action or think differently. He encourages reflection on completed projects and when things could have gone better he’ll ask “what will you try differently next time.” My dad has a similar job to mine in a different company and we’ll frequently talk about the challenges in our jobs and ask each other questions in order to see what might be done differently to get better results. Someone can be your mentor for a short period of time or a long period of time. They should be someone who helps guide you – or coach you – through obstacles and towards success and I've found that the mentoring process tends to be free flowing.
9. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
I don’t know if this is the best advice I’ve ever received, but it’s what comes to mind when I think about starting out – “Fake it until you become it” which I think was also from Lean In. As an example - Don’t have confidence talking in front of people? Pretend you do – practice, put yourself in situations where you have to do it, you’ll learn different things in each situation to help you gain the confidence because before you know it, you’ll realize that you’re doing it without stressing about it. More advice? Self-reflection / after action reviews – after you've completed a project or presentation or based on a time frame, reflect on how you did – what worked well? What didn't work well? What would you change in hindsight that you can in the future? Don’t forget to praise/celebrate yourself when things go well. Lastly, continue to learn. Attend workshops or training's, read books/articles/etc. to help you grow in your field or work on new skills that you want to learn.