User Stories

Colton Brown, EIT, MBA. Letters behind a name that have that presence of success behind them. Not only achieving a notable engineering degree and successfully passing my Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, but also in the mix completing a Masters in Business Administration Degree while working full-time. Talk about reward.

In Matthew McConaughey's Oscar Speech (2014) he shared a story about someone who asked him, "Who's your hero?" In which he replied it was himself in 10 years. At the ripe age of 28 I thought to myself "When I was 18, who did I see myself as in 10 years?" I can assure you the image of Colton Brown, EIT, MBA was not who I pictured.

Colton Brown grew up in a split household. He was managed on an IEP (individual education plan) from kindergarten for behavioral issues and found himself lost a lot of the time growing up. There weren't a lot of family his age, so he depended on the influence of friends and environment to play a role in his development. Freshman year of high school he was diagnosed with a series of mental health issues including Extreme Depression, Extreme Anxiety, Bipolar II, ADHD, Impulsive Explosive Disorder, and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. He graduated high school with a 2.2 GPA ranking 110 out of 220 in his graduating class (2014). After his first semester of college he failed out and moved back home to try another semester. Before he he could attend back home he realized he owed his last school $1450 and some change to even be able to register. After his first year completing in May 2015 he had an astounding 0.9 GPA. Yes, you read that right. Zero-point-nine. Something had to change, and he started with going off medications for depression and ADHD. He kept going. Two years later he graduated from Williston State College with an Associates in Arts and an Associates in Science. That next year he stuck around Williston State to finish out another year of generals before transferring to North Dakota State University. Everything was working out fine until the second semester.

One evening in March of 2019, he called his mom and asked her "If you were doing something that you were unhappy doing, what would you do?" She replied with "Well, I would stop doing that and go do something else." Without a second of hesitation he replied on the phone with "Okay, I'm dropping out of college."

Within two weeks of dropping out of college, he was back in Williston, ND working two jobs both 40 hours a week. A month and a half later he transitioned into a job that was within the Oil & Gas industry working as a service technician for National Oilwell Varco (NOV) tearing down and rebuilding Mud Drilling Motors. As it all unfolds, he worked pretty closely with an engineer working on smaller design components within our shop figuring out how to make the motors be more efficient, tear down/build easier, and overall make life easier. Once we got into the nuances of talking about stress/strain/shear forces the engineer of the facility asked "How do you know about this stuff?" Through conversation of sharing a brief story and that he had taken Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials the engineer promptly said "You need to go back." Low and behold, March of 2020 when Covid-19 came across the world. May 4th, 2020 he had been laid off for the first time with nothing to fall back onto. He applied to go back to NDSU and started in the Fall of 2020, which is arguably one of the hardest times on education as a whole. The thought was "We go back to try and finish the engineering degree. If the fall goes well, we finish it out. If it doesn't go well, we transfer into another degree that will get us done within two years."

The fall career fair happened and as he was talking to different employers there was one that he was fond of that would've taken him back home. "If we have the work, we'd love to have you on." In which when the time came in the spring they didn't reach out and now the clock was ticking to find an internship. His thoughts were "Who would want a graduate if they didn't have even one internship?" As all things that are meant to happen, happen. There was an email that popped up for an internship position at the City of Fargo and he sent his resume over immediately through the application portal. Things went along the lines to landing an interview and the position he wanted: Construction Inspector. Lots of hours, hands on, and being outside.

After the internship ended and back to the final school year, the goal was to get done in two years. So year 2 consisted of 18 credits of 300 level+ civil engineering courses the first semester, and 20 credits of 300 level+ civil engineering courses. Through the process of job hunting again through the career fair, three job offers came through and one was accepted to be taken in South Carolina. Come January, pre-acceptance to the MBA program through NDSU came across the plate. A decision was to be had of work in South Carolina or Grad School in Fargo. Long story short, he flipped a coin. The title says it all.

Throughout the next few years after graduation he was worked in different sectors from structural, transportation, and construction. A lot of credit is to be given to his time learning and growing at Stantec (Fargo) and his current place of employment; Bolton & Menk (Fargo). He currently serves as FM Engineers Chapter 4 Secretary and Membership Outreach Chair. He is actively involved with Prairie Heights Church volunteering in their Youth Group (Oxygen), Men's Group, and other volunteer events through them. His love and appreciation for volunteering and making an impact comes from the American Legion Post 37 group in Williston, ND where they've spent countless hours and years growing their group to give back to their community. He is the creator/sponsor for the Golden Heart Scholarship for high school seniors graduation from Williston High School through the Coyote Foundation.

The moral of all of this is this: You can have a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year. What you choose to do with tomorrow is what determines what your future is going to look like. We are a result of consequences based on what our actions are. It is up to us whether they are good or bad consequences. We are the result in which our habits define every day.

There are things we can control and things we can't. One thing we can control is our attitude on how life events happen to us. Life isn't always fair, and by all means it never will be, but finding healthy outlets to help deal with the daily life struggles will always be superior to self destruction. With struggles and hard times comes our greatest opportunity to grow. We are undefeated in our fight with hard times.

Discover your passion and feed it with every ounce of who you are. Don't pretend to be someone you're not as authenticity is a gold mine in a world full of technology and distractions. We show the world the tip of the iceberg, but there are miles of depth within who we are as people.

Don't be afraid to challenge yourself and having conversations with people who have different ideologies than you. We can always learn something from one another. Go outside of your comfort zone. Don't let fear stop you from chasing what you want. Be patient with the timing of life, and when you see an opportunity; jump on it.

Lastly, give yourself grace in the decisions you make in life. We are meant to make mistakes. We are not meant to be perfect. In the mistakes come times for us to learn and be better than yesterday.

Read More

When I first chose to join the Industry Connections Program, I thought I would simply be speaking with an engineer who would tell me about what’s happening in the industry and maybe share their career story. However, I have been joyously surprised to discover that it has been that and so much more.

My mentor, Austin, has been an incredible addition to my life. After just our first meeting, I learned so much about what the power distribution industry looks for when hiring. He helped me understand the importance of the FE exam not just that I “need to get it done,” but why it truly matters. He explained what completing it meant for him and how it shaped the career paths of many engineers who have passed it. Later on, he told me about his company, Ulteig not in a promotional way, but simply by sharing what they do. I was intrigued, so I decided to apply for their Summer Substation Engineering Internship. He later went in depth about his role and even showed me examples of what to expect if I were to work there—which is exactly the kind of insight I had always hoped for.

He also broke down key concepts behind different roles, such as protection and controls, which deal with relays that safeguard substations from large-scale damage. He introduced me to ideas like 3/2 configurations and general assemblies, which have deepened my understanding of substations not just in theory, but in practice. I’m truly excited to continue this journey. I’m also deeply grateful to Dr. Pryor for connecting me with this opportunity, and to my mentor, Austin Houle, for being such an open-minded and genuinely supportive person.

Read More