MDE Alumnus and 1st Gen Grad Devin Becktell’s Candid Conversation about MDE, Careers, and More!

Event Date: November 4, 2019
Devin Becktell, ’19 MDE General Engineering, stopped by the Nest while he was on campus recruiting for John Deere at Industrial Roundtable.

Devin Becktell in the MDE Homeroom

Devin gives us a candid conversation as a newly transitioned college graduate to working full time as a Quality Engineer. He also shared his path to Multidisciplinary Engineering from Mechanical Engineering, with a unique perspective on the desired skills he learned through our degree program.

Tune in on Apple PodcastSpotify, Podbean, or wherever you get your podcasts.


What is the most challenging part of being in Multidisciplinary engineering? 

“My “go to” is explaining the major would be the biggest challenge. I think it’s finding how the pieces of the puzzle fit is the biggest thing. Even going into FYE, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go and I joined Mechanical Engineering because I wanted something that was broad. So just begin able to understand the curriculum that you want to build and then how you take what you’ve created and push that into the workforce. And then to say, “Hey, this is me, wholly me and I’ve created this and I want to move and push this into something that is distinctly a fit in the workplace. I’ve combined all these different areas and skills to basically show you that I can take all this and become something and be productive.”

1st Gen College Graduate

“I always look back, just being a first gen college student and how going into engineering was such a struggle. But now I can look back on it and all of that pain is gone. Those four years are culminated into where I am today.”