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Lyn Gomes
Mechanical Engineer

Lyn's project

Lyn is responsible for the general design of heat ventilation and air conditioning for a wastewater treatment plant. Wastewater treatment is a process that discharges chemical and physical contamination from human waste to produce clean water, so people can reuse water and properly dispose of it back into the environment. She also designs pipes that carry gases and works on pump systems so toilets will flush and sink water will run smoothly. 

Why mechanical engineering?

Lyn loves what she does everyday. The fact that she can solve challenging problems inspires her to work harder. She likes being one of the only women in the engineering field.

A day in the life of a mechanical engineer

Lyn arrives at work around 7:30 or 8 a.m. She checks her email, returns phone calls, and reviews what she will do for the day. Then she creates drawings and sketches for her projects, such as equipment, duct work, or piping. She performs calculations to decide which equipment would be best for the job. If there is a chance, she goes out to the field to check on the construction for one of her projects. At the end of the day, Lyn continues to return phone calls and figure out what she has to do the next day.

The best part of being a mechanical engineer

Lyn loves technical projects that involve calculation, lots of calculation. She enjoys working with numbers because they are simple to deal with and challenging at the same time. Lyn can easily make changes to her calculations and determine whether or not they work properly for her projects.

A proud moment

On one particular project, Lyn had a chance to design a cooling tower to cool water before it returned back into a creek. Creek water in that area had been warmer and the fish could not survive. By improving the system so the water was cooled before it was put back in the creek, Lyn’s project helped save the environment and the fish. Lyn was very proud to use her problem-solving skills to help the environment.

Challenges along the way

In college, Lyn was diagnosed with a learning disability. Though this was a challenge, it forced her to work harder to compensate. Today she is a successful engineer.  She didn’t let her disability get in the way of her dream to be an engineer.

Other hobbies

Lyn enjoys reading, dirt biking, snowboarding, gardening, sewing, and ballroom dancing. Since a young age Lyn has been interested in sewing. Lyn explains that sewing relates to engineering because it involves creating a 3-dimensional object from a 2-dimensional picture. The process of sewing is the same as engineering, both things Lyn loves.

How Lyn got to be a mechanical engineer

In high school, Lyn liked to draw but not free hand. So, she took some drafting classes. She also took jewelry classes for 3 years. She noticed that those classes related to engineering because she had to make sketches of the jewelry, calculate how much material was needed, and learn to not overestimate since raw materials (like gold) are expensive.

Lyn also used to work a lot on her car. She felt satisfied working hard fixing the engine and seeing it work. She mentions that, “not all guys working in the engineering industry work on their cars,” and she points out that they still can be engineers.

Course-work related to engineering

The classes that Lyn took in college definitely relate to what she does now. She went to a junior college then transferred to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She enjoyed fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, chemistry, and physics. Lyn advises that differential equations can help, depending on which engineering field, but no fields use calculus.

Lyn’s explains that engineers definitely need a 4-year bachelor degree. There is an engineering test, the EIT, which seniors must take and pass with at least 2 years of work experience. After all this is completed engineers may take the Professional Exam (PE) to get their engineering license. Having the PE certificate can provide engineers with more options in the type of work they can look for.

Advice to young women

Lyn advises girls be persistent because she believes hard work will pay off. She thinks getting a challenging project to work on can be more rewarding than something that is effortless.