Hello, and welcome! My name is Alex Vidacs. I’m a design engineer, amatuer coder, and proud Cleveland native. I have a passion for learning and an obsession for design. I grew up in North Royalton, Ohio and went to school at Ohio University where I graduated with a bachelor degree in Engineering Technology and Management. I currently live on Cleveland's west side, in beautiful Ohio City.

While my degree might have taught me the principles of manufacturing and how to manage a project, I’m much more than just that. I love design, and I’ve been working with 3D modeling software since highschool. I’m also a novice coder with a growing knowledge base in C#, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

When I’m away from a computer some of my hobbies include gardening, cooking, biking. I have a small yard but know how to make good use of the space. Last summer I had more poblano pepper, tomatoes, and chillies than I knew what to do with. My kitchen is my favorite room in my house. I can make an awesome pizza, amazing burgers, and a spaghetti squash alfredo that has to be tasted to be believed. One of my oldest hobbies is biking. On a sunny day in the summer I can peddle the toe path for as long as six hours. I actually still ride the same bike I had in highschool, although at this point the only part that I haven’t replaced is the frame.

I went to North Royalton Highschool in North Royalton Ohio. It was during my time here that I was first introduced to AutoCad and found my love for engineering. My last two years in highschool I attended the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center, a technical school established by a group of local school districts, where I enrolled in the Architectural & Mechanical Design course. At CVCC I learned many of the basics of drafting and was first introduced to 3D CAD in the form of SolidWorks. My time at CVCC helped me get a jumpstart on college, even getting me a few credit hours I was able to take with me.

After highschool I attended Ohio University (not Ohio State). At OU, I majored in Engineering Technology and Management and minored in Business Administration. Through the ETM program I was able to experience a wide breadth of what the field of engineering had to offer. My coursework included classes in CAD, GD&T, fixture design, metal machine, CNC programming, general manufacturing, electrical engineering, micro controllers, C#, and SQL.

Contract Engineer

Robbins is a manufacturer of large tunnel boring machines. I was brought in through a staffing agency on a limited contract to help supplement their staff engineers. During my time there I worked as a designer, creating drafts of 3D parts and doing general design work.

My primary project was to design a hoist rail system to move material to the front of the TBM. This required me to analyse the machine assembly as a whole and determine open paths for the hoist to traverse, locate acceptable mounting locations for the rail, and design custom mounting brackets to fit the tight space.

Project Engineer

Verantis is a manufacturer of industrial, fiberglass fans and pollution control scrubbers. Their fans ranged in size from waist high, to twelve feet tall. Some of Verantis’s larger clients include BASF and Intel.

As a project engineer I managed projects through from initial quote to shipping. For new fan orders that came in I would create an approval drawing to send to the client and contact suppliers to get any necessary quotes. After approval and release, I would put together a manufacturing print to send to the fabrication plant. Once at the plant the job would largely be out of my hands, but I would remain the main point of contact for the client and a source of knowledge for the plant.

Ancillary to my main duties, conducted sales support, assisted in R&D, and made improvements to process flow.

Tester

Between graduating college and getting my job at Verantis I spent around a month as a tester for MTD. As a tester, my job was to—for eight hours each day—drive a riding mower up and down a field. The goal was to work the mowers until they broke then pass them off to the engineers to figure out why, though during my short time there I never had this happen.

Design Engineer

The Ohio University Innovation Center is a small business development center run by the university. It’s objective is to provide lab/office space for local businesses and to offer unique services to the community.

As design engineer my primary task was to run the 3D printing lab. My duties consisted of designing and printing prototypes for student groups and local businesses, giving tutorials on design software, and maintaining the university’s Stratasys resin printer.