Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

Carl La Russa

North

9/18/14

Blog 6

   1.) My mentor, Del Shindell, has worked at several companies that manufactured tracking devices for the military and for civilians. Before he started his own company, Mr. Shindell worked at Hughes Aircraft, which designed and built GPS tracking units for the military. The units were installed in torpedoes, submarines, planes, and other military machines. Del was in charge of the finances at Hughes the entire time he worked there. He rubbed shoulders with a lot of other people who designed the tracking units and other military contractors who worked at Hughes. 18 years after retiring from Hughes, Del started his own company called Sygmatech in 2003 with a couple other guys who also worked for Hughes. Del is currently the President of the company, he is also in charge over the marketing of his tracking devices. Currently, he is contracting with Odyssey Tours, a bus company located in Placentia, California and provides them with units that he personally installed in each bus that track each one of their buses. 

2.)      - How did your experience at Hughes affect how  you run your company today?

          - What were your specific duties at Hughes aircraft?

          - What lead you to get the job at Hughes?

          - Were you ever required to report to the military on specific projects or just to your own boss?

          - What other people worked with you and what did they do?   

Blog 5 Mentorship and Research Reflection

Carl la Russa

North

Mentorship and Research Reflection

1.) The process of finding my mentor actually wasn't that difficult. My next door neighbor Del Shindell, has been working with GPS systems for about 50 years and has a vast knowledge on this subject including a number of people he has worked with or met while working. Over the past two years I've been doing various jobs for him around his house but I wasn't sure where I was going to do my mentorship. I knew Mr.Shindell worked with tracking units but I wasn't if that's what I really wanted to do until I started asking him about what he did. After about a week of going over to his house and having him talk to me about he has worked with and what he is doing currently, I couldn't resist asking him if he could mentor me over the next year on his job and how his products work. He finally said yes and then began working with his devices and I even got one installed in my own car.

2.) The most important article that I've read so far has been the article on how GPS works by Business Insider. This article really helped grasp how GPS actually works and how it serves our many needs on this planet anywhere from tracking a car to tracking a missile in mid-flight on it's way to its target. The article went into depth on how the military's use of GPS is a whole lot different from the civilian's use. The military receives super accurate readings on an object or person's location whereas a civilian gets a much less accurate reading.