Hardware Podcasts

Robert States | How Engineers Can Thrive in Corporate R&D

Being an Engineer · 28 Aug 2026 · 47m · Episode 36

What this episode covers

Rob States, Vice President of Technical Services at Cormica and founder of AccelaTech, discusses how engineers can thrive in corporate R&D by understanding the business realities of risk management, budgeting, and layoffs. He contrasts the innovation-focused but process-light environment of startups with the risk-mitigation and scaling capabilities of large corporations. States advises engineers to build a personal brand and identify high-value patterns in project failures to become indispensable 'heroes' who can recover fast when things go wrong. He also outlines his vision for replacing paper specifications with physics-based digital models to predict recalls and reduce development time.

Most relevant to

large enterprises

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Cormica, AccelaTech, Stress Engineering Services, Pipeline Design & Engineering, Procter & Gamble, Newell Brands
Also
Penn State, Ashland University

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