# Ashutosh Shukla | Engineering Premium Brands, Building Engineering Community, & Inventing MFG Processes

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2022-06-24
- Length: 52m
- Episode: 24
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent
- Listen: https://teampipeline.us/Ashutosh-Shukla-building-engineering-community/

## Summary

Ashutosh Shukla, Director of Mechanical Engineering at Rivian, discusses his career at premium brands including Bose, Apple, Snap, and Meta. He details the engineering challenges of using sapphire crystal for iPhone camera covers, which required developing a new laser cutting process and supply chain to achieve the necessary thinness and durability. Shukla also reflects on his time at Facebook Reality Labs working on VR hardware and offers advice on building engineering communities and avoiding blind adherence to processes.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=0) Introduction and Sponsor Read
- [2:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=138) Ashutosh Shukla's Career Path and Early Engineering Interests
- [6:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=394) Advice for Working at Premium Brand Companies
- [11:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=704) Work at Facebook Reality Labs and Oculus
- [15:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=950) Sapphire Crystal Camera Cover Development at Apple
- [22:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=1344) Apple's Small Design Teams and DRI Culture
- [26:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=1568) iPhone Development Timelines and Build Cycles
- [30:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=1811) Challenging Processes and Asking Questions
- [34:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=2078) The Fear of Stopping Production Lines
- [41:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2022-06-24-ashutosh-shukla-engineering-premium-brands-building-engineering-community-invent#t=2475) The Need for Mechanical Engineering Community

## Topics

- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Rivian (company)
- Bose (company)
- Apple (company)
- iPhone (product)
- Snap (company)
- Facebook (company)
- Meta (company)
- Reality Labs (other)
- Oculus (product)
- Portal (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [125: Pikachu Phone Cases](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/thoroughly-considered/2025-07-08-125-pikachu-phone-cases) (Thoroughly Considered)
- [10. Sustainable Fashion, Apple Car Insights, Sharper Bionic Eyes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2021-03-23-10-sustainable-fashion-apple-car-insights-sharper-bionic-eyes) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [296: The Art of Building in the Age of AI with Baukunst Co-Founder Tyler Mincey](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-07-17-296-the-art-of-building-in-the-age-of-ai-with-baukunst-co-founder-tyler-mincey) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [87: We Should Probably Cut This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/thoroughly-considered/2022-10-19-87-we-should-probably-cut-this) (Thoroughly Considered)
- [54: Big Keynote Boys](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/thoroughly-considered/2019-10-01-54-big-keynote-boys) (Thoroughly Considered)

## Citing this page

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