It might be news here on TMC, but I love reading and learning about, driving and testing both cars and trucks. That’s why I’m so excited to debut the newest section of the site revolving around car reviews, news and stories.
First up is an interview with Jackie DiMarco, lead engineer on the Ford F-150 truck and recently featured in Parade magazine.. I talked to Jackie and asked her about how she oversees the best-selling truck line in North America and is the mother to twin 9-year-old daughters. Like anyone else life is all about finding the balance between work, play and family.
1. Is there a skill that you have learned as a mother that works well with your job at Ford? Communicating clear priorities and expectations. My kids are in a lot of activities. They know the after school drill– homework first, then extra math practice, then sports practice or playtime. It’s clear and consistent every day. When running a vehicle program, the team has a lot of competing workstreams. Engineers by nature want to keep working on their designs as long as they can. My job involves setting those priorities and hitting timed milestones. Communicating clearly enables the team to be its most productive.
2. Was there ever a time after since you became a mother that you felt you couldn’t find the balance and wanted to stop what you were doing? If so, what changes did you make? The nature of my job requires that I work long hours, and I can’t always attend the events I’d like to. As much as I’d like to lead the Girl Scout troupe or chaperone class field trips, my schedule won’t allow it. It’s often hard for me to find the balance, but I think more about enablers rather than diverting my career. When our girls started school, we became an au pair host family. The program is expensive, but knowing that the girls have a stable schedule and caretaker when I can’t be there is priceless. We’re also had the opportunity to host three wonderful young women from around the globe. In addition, I have learned over the years how to set limits. I attend nearly all of my girls’ hockey games which can be bet on 겜블시티 파워볼, and all teacher conferences. I’ve learned that not every “emergency” is a true emergency that requires my personal involvement – and distinguishing between what is and isn’t has given me back more control of my weekends.
3. Your 9 year-old twin girls are both interested in science and math. What activities do you do with them at home to foster that love? Kids are naturally curious and ask a lot of questions about the world and how things work. I try to give real answers, even when they might be too young to understand the answer. I’m amazed at how much they do absorb. This past weekend, my husband (who is a Ford Racing engineer) and I took them to the Detroit Grand Prix. They listened to the scanner conversations between the drivers and crew chiefs. We talked about what was said, and why, and how the crew chiefs take that feedback and can make changes during pit stops to help the driver have more control. But science isn’t just about cars. You’ll find it in gardening, in baking, in making pottery – for my own kids I try to connect the dots to why things work the way they do (and thanks to Google for supporting that effort when my own knowledge falls short!).
4. In Parade magazine (April 23, 2013 issue) you talk about not wanting your daughters to feel that they have any boundaries when it comes to a future profession. What were the boundaries you encountered with your work and how did you move past them? Early in my career, I had asked the advice of a manager I knew regarding a program management opportunity I had in front of me. He (very honestly) told me that he’d seen many young women shepherded into program management type roles early in their careers, probably because women get thought of as good coordinators/ less technical. Then they get stuck because they don’t get the technical expertise. I took that to heart and realized that I might have held that stereotype about myself. I went into a powertrain development job instead, which was much further out of my comfort zone but a much better experience. The lesson is that boundaries aren’t always overt; they sometimes accumulate with small decisions along the way.
5. If you could do something besides being the chief engineer for the amazing F-150 and Expedition at Ford what would it be? I’d love to be a dive master down somewhere in the Caribbean!
Thank you, Ms. DiMarco!
Really tons of fantastic material.