Dara Whitlock

Background

About Dara Whitlock

I'm an engineering technician at 3D Systems and a part-time student at OIT, where I'm earning my Bachelor’s degree in Embedded Systems Engineering. I also hold an Associate of Science in Electrical Engineering from PCC. Balancing full-time work and school has taught me to adapt quickly, learn efficiently, and stay motivated while keeping a tight schedule— skills I bring to every project I tackle. I’m passionate about hands-on engineering work and technical problem-solving, with 8+ years of soldering experience (down to 0201 SMT), PCB CAD design in Allegro and KiCAD, and embedded system development using Arduino, ESP32/8266, STM32, and standalone Atmel microcontrollers (ATmega328P). I'm also comfortable in Linux/UNIX environments, fluent with the command line, and experienced in technical writing and documentation through maintaining my blog. My work experience has covered everything from root cause debug (in laptop electronics and also industrial MJP 3D printers) and spearheading R&D projects to deploying/maintaining a remote-access system and build coordinating new designs from first prototype through production. I love both the technical and the administrative process. Outside of the lab, I’m a licensed ham radio operator (General Class, KJ7AGN) and enjoy learning new technologies and tools to add to my ever-growing toolkit. One of my favorite projects to work on has been a hive-monitoring setup for my beehives: using mesh networks to send data and tracking the health of my hives over the season. Whether I’m optimizing a technical process or build, managing a project, or digging into a new technology, I enjoy connecting and collaborating with multiple people in engineering disciplines, building innovative solutions, and thinking toward the future. Myers-Briggs: ENFP-A Gallup StrengthsFinder: Strategic, Arranger, Futuristic, Individualization, Positivity