Hardware Podcasts

S5E21 Chris Julian | Failing Fast, Learning By Doing, & Curiosity

Being an Engineer · 24 May 2024 · 1h 00m · Episode 21

What this episode covers

Chris Julian, a mechanical design engineer with 35 years of experience in medical devices and a founding engineer at Intuitive Surgical, discusses his unconventional career path and engineering philosophy. He explains how he entered the field without a formal degree by working as a technician at startups like VentureTex and Ridge Medical, learning through hands-on prototyping and 'failing fast.' Julian emphasizes the importance of decoupling multidisciplinary systems to isolate variables, managing design-for-manufacturing (DFM) constraints early to avoid costly errors, and mentoring junior engineers to accelerate team velocity.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Intuitive Surgical, Ridge Medical, VentureTex, Ultima Sports, Pipeline Design & Engineering
Products
Da Vinci surgical robot, Ultimate GTR

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