Tom Cordova-Caddes, an engineering graduate, believes the most useful skill developed at HMC that he has used in his professional career has been the ability to approach a problem with an open mind and a focused direction. He said that one of the most useful functions on any team is asking probing questions.

“Being able to offer advice that is outside the box without breaking the box is more difficult than it may seem,” he said. “The multi-disciplinary approach taught at Harvey Mudd gives us exactly that skill.”

After graduation, Tom spent eight years with Everett Charles Technologies where he had the opportunity to develop solutions that made measurable impacts on the company’s success.

“Although my job title never changed, I carved out my own type of leadership position by recognizing the potential inherent in the project that was given to me. What was originally handed to me as an in-house side project for upkeep and maintenance has become an enterprise solution that requires four full-time engineers to maintain.”

Although he is no longer with ECT, the contributions that he made to the project are still making the business better and improving the way ECT customers do business.

“The best suggestion that I can give to students when they start out is to remember to ask why. It is not disrespectful to ask your boss to explain the reason behind something you are asked to do. It shows that you want to understand the context of the problem.”

Tom said that there were countless times that he fielded requests from customers that said, “We need a button that does X.” Actually, what they really needed was a way of tracking something much larger. Understanding the problem on a deep level is the core to making good decisions about design, said Tom.

After spending almost 10 years enduring the daily grind of bug-fixes and hacking code (including part-time work with ECT while still a student), Tom made a choice to change careers.

“The education that I received at Harvey Mudd was invaluable in learning how to master the LSAT and now my law courses. I approach the legal material in a similar way as software tasks: gather information, identify the core decisions, and ask the whys and what ifs.”

Tom said that HMC instills students with a good work ethic as well as the ability to focus and drive toward a goal, which, he believes, is the key to any success in life