Celebrating National Engineer's Week with Jake Wolff
It's #EngineersWeek and we celebrate our members who are engineers in the industry. We are spotlighting the accomplishments, thoughts, and motivations of a few of those who inspire us - including Jake Wolff, co-owner of Infenix, LLC.
Jake has been an engineer for 15 years and is a member of our WTS Phoenix-Metro Chapter. In a historically male dominated field, we thank members like Jake for supporting women advancing in transportation. On a typical day in the office, you can find Jake at the South Central Extension project representing Valley Metro. When not wearing an engineer hat (or hardhat), you may find Jake at the gym, taking in a sporting event, or planning a trip to a new destination.
In honor of National Engineers Week, we asked Jake a couple questions involving his career path:
What encouraged you to become an engineer?
From an academic standpoint, I was always strong in the field of mathematics and science. I had a high school counselor recommend that I consider a degree in engineering and that was enough to set me off on my journey to become a Civil Engineer.
What has been the most challenging feat you’ve faced in your career?
From a project standpoint, it was delivering the Valley Metro Central Mesa Extension in 2015. That project presented a number of unique challenges that I had not encountered early on during my career. Not only were we constructing a new extension through Downtown Mesa, but I had also been promoted to the Resident Engineer (RE) position late during the project and was ultimately responsible from the owner’s side for getting us to the finish line. Upon assuming the RE role, I quickly learned how many nuances there were to the position (mostly those I didn’t previously understand). I was concurrently very focused on proving to the client and my then employer that I was capable of not only filling the role but also delivering the project. There were a lot of late nights, early mornings, and weekend office hours as we approached revenue service date, but it was all worth it in hindsight. The challenges were simultaneously what made it so gratifying in the end. Going to the reception the night before grand opening and seeing all the people who had put years into the project was very powerful. Then witnessing thousands of people from the community on the streets in Downtown Mesa who were elated for the system to (finally) begin running the following morning; that was truly amazing.
What do you consider your greatest achievement thus far?
From a personal development standpoint, it was starting up a small business, Infenix, in 2017 with my business partner. I was always interested in starting my own firm; however, I had long concluded that it would not happen until later in my life. Much to my surprise, the opportunity came along much earlier than I had expected, and I decided to take the plunge.
What advice do you have for engineers just graduating / starting out in the industry?
Give yourself time to learn and grow in the industry. There are so many great opportunities and people to meet, but it takes time to build your network and find your own path. You never know what your future holds so developing those connections can pay dividends when you least expect it!
If you weren’t an engineer, what would you be?
I reckon I would be somewhere in the health, fitness, and wellness space. Fitness and activity have always been a passion of mine so I have no doubt I would have found a path in that industry one way or another. Maybe it would’ve happened if I didn’t have a high school counselor recommend engineering – who knows?