Lam 1
Kon Hang Lam
Final Draft
LLD 100A
11/27/2016
Word Count: 1538
Discipline Investigation
Introduction
In this discipline investigation, my focus is to investigate the career of a manufacturing
engineer. Manufacturing engineering is a study of designing, processing, developing,
researching, and managing manufacturing system. As I pursue studying industrial technology in
San Jose State University, I find that this major can be out of focus at times because of its
broadness in the career field. This assignment guides and helps me to discover a clearer career
path and the job position that fits me the best.
In this discipline investigation paper, I had the honor to interview Kevin Clapton, an
experienced manufacturing software development engineer at Nutanix Inc. Mr. Clapton has been
working as an engineer for many years, and he has a lot of knowledge and experience about the
field of manufacturing engineering. Mr. Clapton humbly discussed with me the questions that I
prepared for this interview which is based on these topics: his background and career path, roles
and responsibilities, and communication skills that he uses in his position. Mr. Clapton’s rich
experience in the manufacturing engineering field gave me a better idea about what an engineer
does in his position.
Lam 2
Background and Career Path
Kevin Clapton, a senior manufacturing software development engineer at Nutanix Inc.,
got his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from UC Berkeley. An industrial engineer
deals with optimization of complex manufacturing processes and systems. Mr. Clapton was
always passionate about becoming an engineer since he was in high school, and he loved
designing and building with his own ideas. He mentioned that as an engineer we need to have a
continuous learning mentality to be successful in your career.
Mr. Clapton had worked in a few different positions in multiple companies, and the
variety of positions brought him great experiences and helped him to find the position that he is
most interested in. He started out as a junior automation engineer for a few years right after he
graduated from University. It was a small company that is located in Fremont, California.
