Interview with Hayden Dondlinger – CU Boulder

Interviewer: Today we have Hayden Dondlinger joining us from CU Boulder and he is the first engineer we have had on Campus Overload. Hayden is in his senior year and will be pursuing his master’s in engineering at CU next year and he has been involved in several areas on campus including Greek life and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Well Hayden, I reached out because you have some great interests and experiences and what I want to learn first is how you ended up at CU Boulder.

Hayden: Let’s do it, yeah. So, I grew up in Chicago my whole life and my grandparents have a house out here in the mountains, so I kind of also grew up in Colorado, and CU Boulder has a pretty solid engineering school as well, so coming you know through my senior year of high school it was it was kind of a no-brainer for me. I love being outside and that was one of the major decisions that played into that college decision matrix for myself, so being able to drive an hour and a half, and get into the mountains having the flat irons in your backyard, that was super important for me. I’m super excited to be here and I’m super happy with my decision, absolutely love it in Boulder.

Interviewer: Yeah, so I’m fortunate enough where I got to go very recently to Boulder and it was my first time being there, and I don’t think you could put it any better than what you just said, the access to just so many things, so close. It is a special place.

What about the campus really drew you to CU Boulder?

Hayden: Yeah, it’s actually got a small feel for how many kids go here; it’s a very unique campus, it’s relatively small, very walkable. It’s probably a mile from one end to the other, so, I thought that was super nice. And there’s, they call it the Hill neighborhood area, but that’s where basically all the student housing is, and it’s, I mean, it’s a 10-15 minute walk max to all your classes, you know, you live with all your classmates right in the same area, so it’s small for how many kids go here. Boulder is pretty densely populated, and I, I found that that’s super fun coming up through my years here, that was awesome.

Interviewer: So, it was on your radar, did you tour it before applying and enrolling?It must’ve been easier since you were familiar with the area.

Hayden: Yeah so I toured it during COVID, there weren’t actually any students on campus so I kind of wanted to to come back so I toured it junior year and then I actually came back to re-tour senior year, there were some students on campus just to get a better feel, better lay of the land but I’ve been familiar with Boulder for a long time so it was more just getting the taste of campus itself and then once I saw students walking around I felt a little bit more energy on campus. I knew it was the right decision.

Interviewer: Yeah that makes sense, so just for my understanding, so you grew up in the Chicago area or in Chicago, and you you visited Colorado a lot with your family’s house there?

Hayden: Yeah, yeah, I did. So, my grandparents live out here for a couple weeks, a couple weeks out of the year, but I mean we’d be out here winter break spending a couple weeks throughout the summer here as well, so yeah, me and all my younger cousins would be out here, and yeah it’s a great spot.

Interviewer: Yeah, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t confused about where you grew up and went to school.

Yeah, that’s very cool and then your interest in engineering, is your family’s background in that at all or is that something that you’re the first one to do in your family?

Hayden: Yeah so I come from a long line of engineers on my Dad’s side of the family so my DDad was industrial, my grandfather and my great-grandfather both mechanical engineers, and they actually run a family business – they upfit railroad vehicles so I kind of grew up in the shop running around and it was pretty natural just growing up in that technical environment and it kind of just piques your interest from a young age so yeah I knew all along I wanted to go into engineering.

Interviewer: So you’re in the right place it sounds like. Has it been everything you expected as far as the CU program? Has there been anything that surprised you or that you thought is better than you were expecting?

Hayden: Yeah I mean to put it bluntly you have to really want to do it. Sophomore and junior year are definitely a battle academics wise so I think learning how to establish that school balance but also still doing the things that you love being able to hang out with your friends; that was a big part of it for me and once I got better at that I started really enjoying my time here more, but yeah, the school’s been great. The resources in the college of engineering have been fantastic, yeah you know Mike Stockman, so they offer a lot of great mentorship opportunities for the students and networking and you know resume building coffee chats, and so I think kids coming out of the CU engineering school are, I think, I think they’re typically a little bit better equipped than a standard engineer.

Interviewer: Mike Stockman, what a name to bring up. He’s just been amazing from a work standpoint and a mentorship standpoint for so many students and for me too. I have gotten to meet you and other students through him, and it’s clear how much people enjoy Boulder and giving back to the community there. Another thing I learned through Mike and the career team at CU Boulder is how many different industries exist there. They all interact in a way and there are even more opportunities just 30 minutes away in Denver. I haven’t seen overlap like that with other campuses or towns/cities, it’s just a different feel at least from what I got when I was there, and the people I’ve talked to.

So back to the engineering thing, it’s got that reputation of being really difficult academically and from a time commitment standpoint. Why is it so popular? How have you fit other commitments in as an engineering major?

Hayden: I think a lot of it just comes from what I said: you really just have to be willing to put the hours in and get your work done or you’re in trouble. During the week you’re working a lot, you’re spending a lot of your working hours on school but it’s pretty rewarding and it eventually does pay off and you do get some of that free time on the weekend but it is definitely tough. To explain exactly how you know, you kind of develop that balance over time but naturally it does kind of just form as you as you get older and mature a little bit as well.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah, for sure. What else have you explored in terms of student organizations or clubs or I noticed the Greek life as well.

Hayden: I spend a lot of my other time outside of school in the mountains so skiing, fishing, and yeah I was the president of my social fraternity when I was a sophomore so I was pretty involved in that when I was an underclassman. I’ve since kind of faded out of it a little bit, but I mean, I met all of my best friends there. I still live with a lot of the upperclassmen in our social fraternity, it was a great way to meet friends kind of coming into school and also get a little bit of leadership experience along the way,

Interviewer: Yeah for sure. And so when you’re going on these outdoor adventures, obviously you can do it alone, or through anyone that has a car or however you access it, but are any of these outdoor activities run through programs at CU Boulder, where they’re taking groups up or is it just you and your friends?

Hayden: Yeah, so they actually do – they have a ton of resources available to students. So, I mean, CU is a pretty ski-heavy school and they have something I’m not sure if you’re familiar with skiing at all but backcountry skiing, touring, when you throw skins on go tour up a mountain. They have a Backcountry Club that offers a ton of resources so avalanche training and then also like weekend getaways where you just kind of drive up as a group and go hang out in the mountains, go ski around. The free ski team does that as well. I mean there’s a ton of outdoor clubs I was involved with the fly fishing club a little bit my freshman year.

Interviewer: That’s sweet.

Hayden: I mean there’s, there’s anything you can think of, climbing clubs, camping, whatever you want to do is available.

Interviewer: You’re pretty spoiled out there. You asked if I’m familiar with skiing and back country. I grew up in Vermont and obviously it is much smaller, and icier and probably nnot even worth comparison, but I am definitely aware of all that Colorado has to offer for skiing. And I’m super jealous if you can’t tell. But I get up to the handful of mountains that are 30 minutes to an hour from my house when I can. But yeah, Colorado is special, and in that sense, especially compared to the East Coast and other options around the country. But I think that gives me a good sense of why a lot of students target this area just because the area Itself, in addition to the school, have a lot to offer.

At this stage of our conversation I just want to point out that I always try to touch on three key areas, academics, community or location, and then professional development and resources which we touched on a bit at the start. I wanted to give you the framework so you can start thinking about the next topic. But last question on Boulder itself, anything else to add about what it’s actually like living at the school and like what the community feel is like?

Hayden: I think it’s very unique, growing up in the Midwest a lot of my friends go to Big 10 schools and I haven’t been able to see their campuses and their communities. I think it’s a little bit different and Boulder is a great mix of college students and families and professionals. We live right up along family neighborhoods and it creates a lot of opportunities to get involved in the community. You get to be friends with your neighbors and their kids and start to build different relationships so yeah it’s really awesome and everyone in the community looks out for each other.

Interviewer: Yeah I remember Mike made me, well strongly suggested, I go on a walk and he gave me all these areas to hit before I went for a hike, and some of the neighborhoods they’re just beautiful so it’s easy to get an understanding of what you are saying. Some of it is similar to parts of Burlington, Vermont but you have the lake instead of the mountains. There are college kids and families and professionals and a lot more companies popping up than you’d think for a smaller city. It’s a very cool balance, but another thing I noticed is that kind of shifting more into the side and in your interests.

There are so many paths and directions depending on again which area of engineering you’re looking at. But I didn’t realize when I got to Boulder how close it is to Denver, which I’m assuming there are a lot more professional opportunities in Denver, but what’s that process been like for your professional development?

Hayden: Yeah, so actually, so I recently added an energy minor. I just found it super interesting. I took a couple of renewable, sustainable energy classes and that’s actually what I’m going to go get my emphasis in, in grad school. So like a clean technology track. And you did you did hit the nail on the head there. I’d say Denver does typically have a lot going on, it’s just a larger city; there is a ton of opportunity. It’s only a 30-minute drive, but Boulder is also it’s own very heavy tech startup spot. There are a lot of startup companies who are working on clean technology and they’re working on clean technology solutions. I mean, Apple and Microsoft both have offices here; there’s a ton of opportunity in boulder as well which actually makes it really nice. I have mostly been exploring internships right now and I just signed a job offer for this coming summer so I’ll be working as a thermal engineering intern at a company probably 25 minutes away from here. And then as I transition through grad school I’ll focus more on full-time options.

Interviewer: That’s awesome and so 25 minutes away is that just like in a town outside Boulder something like that?

Hayden: Yeah it’s a town that’s neighboring Boulder.

Interviewer: Quick question: How did you find out about that opportunity? Was it through CU Boulder or some kind of networking connection?

Hayden: Yeah, so I actually found it on Handshake, a lot of schools have specific, you know, opportunities for those certain schools and I found this company that has a bunch of ex-CU mechanical engineering professors, so I figured I’d shoot my application and I got an interview and eventually got offered an internship for the summer but I’m really looking forward to it. I think five of their engineers all came out of CU mechanical engineering, so yeah, we’re working together.

Interviewer: I don’t want to hit you with too many random or challenging questions, but like I was joking before, as someone that knows nothing about what you’re talking about with your engineering and the energy focus, what are these engineers teams looking for? What are they asking in the interview process? Are they talking about something they’re working on and seeing if you know about it or how you think about it? I’m assuming it’s different than like case interviews for consulting or business.

Hayden: Yeah, so I find that interesting you bring that up but, so a lot of like those case interviews are questions that can be fairly technical I guess you could say. Yeah, all the engineering interviews that I’ve actually experienced, I’ve only had one technical question asked in probably five to ten interviews, which it seems very counterintuitive but when when recruiters kind of look at it, I think they approach it differently. They look at your course work, they look at your GPA; they can tell quickly if you’re a relatively smart kid. So they focus more on the communication side of things and I think that’s a really good point, because obviously as an engineer it’s the majority of these students – they’re fairly smart, but it’s also about whether you can you communicate effectively and communicate your thoughts and break those down in a manner that anybody can understand. That’s what brings that unique skill set and that’s what makes you very hirable. That seems to be most of what these technical engineering recruiters are actually looking for is the personal side of things, which often comes easy to the majority of other majors, I think.

Interviewer: That’s a really good point.

Hayden: Actually tying this in with my time over the summer at Tuck in the Bridge Program, I made myself definitely more marketable being able to learn how to communicate and articulate my thoughts with a wider group of people working in finance, business, whatever that may be, sales, and marketing, yeah. And also tying that in with engineers, it’s proven to be very useful for me.

Interviewer: I’m assuming you’ve had a ton of conversations where the new idea or concept of the generalist is really important, where you’ve got like the engineering side and the business side, and you need those teams to be able to interact and understand each other a little bit within companies, so yeah, you being able to kind of combine those things I think is super important.

It always comes back to the faculty that are involved with their colleges but also companies and those connections often lead to an opportunity which I think is great for higher education as a whole. So on that note, have you had any really meaningful relationships at CU Boulder? Mike Stockman could be one, I know we’ve thrown his name in there a few times, but any admins or other professors that you’ve interacted with at Boulder that have been really helpful?

Hayden: Yeah I mean professors here, they take a very hands-on approach to teaching, so I think if you go to office hours and you spend the time getting to know them, I mean they become extremely valuable resources. They really look after you and they really want you to learn and succeed as much as possible. I think that’s even come out even more as you as you get older. So right now my thermo two professors, name’s Dr. Walker, fantastic professor. He’s always looking out for us, he’s always providing feedback. And then also our senior design professors are amazing resources, they both worked in the industry for a long time and they came back to teaching, and they lead that interaction between our clients the sponsors and then the senior design teams, so I have learned a ton from them. I’ve learned how to negotiate and manage scope; it’s how you negotiate with your client right it’s just the basics but I mean they’ve been so fantastic at helping us kind of navigate that space. I’ve had a bunch of other great professors as well so I’ve been pretty grateful.

Interviewer: Yeah I mean I hear it all the time and it’s mostly from students that take advantage of it like you’re talking about where it’s just an underutilized thing. People a lot of times throw faculty in that box of like they teach the subject, and there’s nothing else, but I think as you’ve found in a lot of cases, these faculty also work in their field in a lot of ways and they’re just very up on the current things that are going on in different industries. So yeah, I think they provide a lot of knowledge and expertise that they can give to students, and that’s why the networking piece is so important once you’re in college as well. So I just think it’s great and it sets you up really well for grad school.

Is the CU masters program overlapped a lot with the undergrad program? Or is it completely different?

Hayden: So the reason I can get my master’s in one year is because you start taking graduate courses as a senior in undergrad, so the undergraduate and graduate classes actually meet together they’re taught by the same professor the graduate level classes just have a few extra projects thrown in there but the coursework is identical. So yeah it’s going to be great to see that. I’m actually taking two more classes next year with professors I’ve already had, so it’s great to be able to still kind of continue those relationships and it’s nice to see the school blend those programs together. They definitely support the CU undergrads at least as they transition. I’m really looking forward to it.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah, so you definitely feel prepared, which is good. I had a couple classes like that where you almost have three levels at times of students in one class and like you’re saying it kind of just flows really well, they do different assignments which I think is good but yeah I didn’t I didn’t know for engineering if that was the same thing so I think that’s cool but yeah one other thing I was thinking about is just it’s kind of nice you have a an extra summer so you can have another professional experience in the area.

I think I asked this already but how many internships have you done total like including this upcoming summer?

Interviewer: So the summer going into my sophomore year, I was an engineering intern. It was a lot of CAD (computer-aided design) work; it was CAD redlining, manufacturing drawings to produce parts. And then, sophomore year, I studied abroad all summer. I was in Florence. That was a great opportunity. I couldn’t commit to a full semester unfortunately just due to the class load and some course credit transferring issues. But I went for the summer, and that was great. And then, so last summer, the first half of the summer, I worked in tech sales. I was a tech sales intern for a factory automation company called Keyence. So a lot of phone calls a lot of cold calling, I learned a ton about that experience. How can you talk to literally anybody on the phone? I got very good at that, which it’s definitely very valuable skill. And then I came to Tuck for the second part of the summer and then this summer I have another engineering internship.

Interviewer: Yeah, a lot of good experiences and you’re just again kind of picking something each summer which is really well rounded which is good. But I have one kind of last general question for you and the seniors tend to answer this best, what’s your best advice for making the most of undergrad?

Hayden: yeah that’s it’s a it’s a really good question. I’d say try as many things as you possibly can when you’re young too like right when you’re getting into school. It’s oftentimes also the most difficult time to do that when you’re fresh on campus you don’t know anybody but that’s also the best time to do it. So join as many clubs as you want leave your dorm room, prop your door open, that’s what I do and just talk to kids walking by just try to meet as many people as you possibly can, try as many things as you can, and you’ll kind of weed things out. and you’ll start to kind of funnel down on your specific interests as you get through school. But get as many lines in the water as you possibly can, right when you get to school that’s my best advice.

Interviewer: Yeah, that’s awesome! I think coming from somebody with your academic background all the internships and experiences you’ve talked about, I think that’s really good advice from you, and I think that’s a really good and you’re still going outside and enjoying the outdoors in between everything. It just makes it sound like it’s possible, which I think is a good one. Just want to say another huge thank you; I appreciate the time, I know you’re busy and I think people are going to learn a lot from the conversation.

Hayden: Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Will, I appreciate it.