Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Brown.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Matt. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in Detroit, and I went to school there for Architecture. While I was completing my BS Arch degree I realized that engineering was more of my true calling, so I ended up getting a BS Civil Engineering while I was at it, followed by an MS Civil Engineering with emphasis on Structural. While I was in school I worked an internship at the US Army Corps of Engineers which was very helpful, and gave me a leg up on getting a career position at a big Architecture/Engineering firm in Detroit after graduation. I worked at that firm designing hospitals and factories for a couple years.
In 2008, I was recruited by RISA, the company that makes the predominant structural engineering software in the industry. They had heard through the grapevine that I was really good at using their software, and that I had been training other engineers in it at the design firm I was working at. They offered me a position at their office in Orange County, California and I took it, leaving behind my friends and family to move by myself to a state that I had never imagined living in.
I worked at RISA for 9 years, during which time I became recognized as an industry expert. While I was there I obtained a California “SE” (Structural Engineer) license, which is the highest level of professional licensure in the country. I used this license to begin doing engineering consulting as a “nights and weekends” gig while working full time at RISA. My consulting business took off, and by 2017 it had reached a point where I had to choose between growing it further or staying at RISA. I decided to leave RISA and take Newport Structural Design to the next level by devoting all of my efforts to the business, and opening an office in downtown Orange.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road from college to owning my own engineering firm has been mostly smooth. I was lucky to get hired by RISA in 2008 immediately before the Great Recession. As a software company, RISA was not hit nearly as hard by the recession as engineering design firms (such as the one that I had left) were. Had I not taken the RISA job and moved to California I would have been laid off, which definitely would have stunted my career. I was also lucky that the owner of RISA at the time, Bruce Bates, was kind enough to permit me to open my own business as a side venture, while working as a full time salaried employee for him. I don’t think that most employers would be as permissive about such things.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Newport Structural Design story. Tell us more about the business.
Newport Structural Design offers Structural Engineering services for Commercial and Industrial projects. About half of the jobs that the company does are designs and stamped blueprints for industrial equipment supports, warehouse renovations, solar panel racking systems, grain silos, and airplane hangers. The other half of the jobs are in helping other Structural Engineers with their problems. The company has a reputation in the structural engineering industry for knowing how to solve difficult and unusual problems that other engineers may not be accustomed to facing. These engineers hire Newport Structural Design to help them on specific aspects of their projects, including computer structural analysis modeling. Newport Structural Design has more expertise and experience in RISA (the leading structural engineering software) than any other structural engineering firm in the world, and we are proud to be recognized for that and to help other engineers with their structural analysis models.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Hard work arguably had more to do with my success than luck. In order to make my business succeed, I have needed to be available to my clients at all hours, and I often have to put their deadlines before my own personal needs. This proved to be very challenging during my last two years of “dual employment” during which time I was working seven days a week, and had no time to even sit and watch a half hour of TV. In order to be successful, I had to sacrifice a lot early on, however those sacrifices have given me a reputation of reliability that has allowed my business to be as successful as it is.
Contact Info:
- Address: 134 S. Glassell
Suite G
Orange, CA 92866 - Website: www.NewportSD.com
- Phone: 949-244-5427
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Newport-Structural-Design-Inc-572854972733639/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/newport-structural-design-commercial-industrial-orange-3
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