Starting a career can be daunting. Luckily, Anthony Hagiu’s current role as a Simpson Strong-Tie Technical Support Representative is helping him create a knowledge base that he can use toward his ambition to become an engineer. Learn more about what inspired him to study engineering and what he hopes to do once he finishes school. 

My name is Anthony Hagiu, and I work for Simpson Strong-Tie as a Technical Support Representative, where I field support calls to identify, investigate, and resolve user questions with specified applications in connection with our products. It has been three and a half years since I started working at Simpson. At only 19, I first began working as an intern. I started off working three days a week before switching to a full-time schedule. I’m currently enrolled at Norco College and will be transferring to Cal State Fullerton in the spring for my junior year. My other current occupation is being a hockey coach. Coaching three separate teams, I instruct and develop athletes between the ages of 10 and 18. Additionally, I am also responsible for leading each team throughout their practices and games. Before starting my journey with Simpson, I was seeking for a job after returning from playing hockey in New York, so I started applying everywhere. Through an online application, I discovered Simpson where I originally applied for a position as a fabricator. Following my initial interview, I was offered a different role as an Assistant Project Coordinator where I could use the knowledge from my schooling.

I was first exposed to architecture and engineering in high school where I took advantage of a wonderful program that allowed students to take college classes while attending high school. I took advantage of this opportunity to explore my interests in architectural design and engineering graphics. Thus receiving multiple certificates—the first for architectural design and the second for engineering graphics—along with more than 30 college units when I graduated from high school. I’ve taken math, chemistry, and physics classes since starting college. I anticipate taking additional engineering related courses when I transfer, including structural steel design, engineering hydraulics, and mechanics of materials. I would also like to say that Simpson reimburses for my education, and I am very appreciative of this.

As a student and as an employee at Simpson, I’m beginning to research ways to make structures withstand earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural calamities. My passion is to enhance building practices, lessen the negative environmental effects of construction, and try to maximize the use of limited resources. I enjoy the notion of seeing my concepts come to fruition. Once a skyscraper, bridge, or house is constructed, structural engineering success and performance are obvious. Knowing that your abilities were crucial in bringing something into reality gives you a rush once you touch something you envisioned and developed. Record-breaking structures, stunning structures, practical structures, and occasionally just cool structures are all the work of a structural engineer; the work is gratifying. Making the world a safer place is another thing I adore. Structural engineers guarantee the safety of all of our infrastructure and buildings. They also help society deal with urgent concerns like disaster relief and climate change. Engineers can build bridges to help bring communities in developing nations out of isolation.

My advice to students interested in pursuing an education in engineering is to be as involved and creative as possible. From experience, I can personally see how engineers play an important role in pushing the boundaries of applied science, solving technical questions that enable construction, manufacturing, medicine, and numerous other areas to reach new heights. The industry is frequently on the cutting edge of innovation and plays a significant role in shaping the future of our society. I truly believe that our generation is the future of our society, thus we must make every effort to improve the way we live.