Project Director Advises Others To Investigate Career Choice First Hand
Ken Timmins holds a bachelor's degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from Northwestern' s Kellogg Graduate School of Managements Executive Program. Timmins gravitated into project and program management and eventually found his way into Motorola's iDEN group, where the group was charged with designing, selling, implementing, and servicing iDEN systems throughout the world. iDEN was the technology used by Nextel for many years, and Timmins proudly says they were part of the team that helped start its success.
It was during these years that Motorola sponsored Timmins to apply for entrance into Kellogg's EMP program. After that two-year program, he tried his hand in general management as a divisional manager in Motorola's Antenna Site Group. Motorola sold-off this business in 1999 and finished his career at Motorola in 2005.
Timmins is currently project director for RET Antenna Systems at Amphenol Antenna Solutions. AAS is a worldwide organization that manufacturers base station and DAS antennas primarily for wireless networks.
What are the responsibilities of your current role?
"My current responsibilities include planning and managing our Remote Electrical Tilt (RET) line of antennas in North and South American and Asia. We are a relatively flat organization so much of my responsibility also includes post-sale and technical support of the product. I'm a member, and past officer, of the Antenna Interface Standards Group (AISG)."
What is your favorite part of your daily duties?
"While planning is a large part of my responsibilities, I still enjoy solving our customers problems and design challenges. I travel approximately 25 percent to 35 percent, both domestically and internationally, and thrive on meeting new people in my industry. I'm equally as satisfied discussing a newly envisioned product with an executive at a wireless carrier as I am working out an issue with a service technician at a radio site."
Do you feel your education prepared you for your current role?
"My engineering training taught me how to think analytically and in logical steps. I'll no longer be able to assist my son, who's an engineering major at UIC, with his calculus or physics homework, but I now realize those courses weren't so much as to teach you the subject, as they were to teach you how to be an engineer and to be a problem solver. My training at Northwestern taught me more of the financial aspects of an organization and how to use heuristics in managing situations."
Do you have any advice for people who desire to pursue a similar career?
"I would first advise them to see what an engineer does for a living first hand. I think there's a lot of confusion among young people about what an engineer actually does. I didn't actually know that until I got out of college – and I majored in engineering! I would then ask them to see how far we've come in the sphere of wireless communications in a relatively short period of time and then envision what more can be done. Then, ask themselves if they'd like to be part of an exciting ride!"
Michelle Guilbeau is a writer, reviewer, teacher and business owner living in Chicago, Illinois. She also has experience in school administration, literacy coaching and is proud founder of CraftKitsForKids.com and MichelleGuilbeau.com Michelle enjoys sharing her knowledge of Chicago, food, travel, education and parenting issues with her readers. Her work can be found on Examiner.com.