Ashley Hirsch 
When I hear the term “why statement”, I think about a defining, short proclamation that explicitly states my purpose – the reason I get out of bed in the morning, what fuels my passion, what motivates me, and why I do what I do. Why statements can be personal in nature, but they can also exist at the company level.
If you’ve read any of our Halloween blogs from the past, you already know that Halloween is my favorite. While this year’s annual parade of costumes was hosted as a virtual event again this year, we certainly didn’t let that discourage our fun! Please enjoy a look at this year’s costumes!
In Part 1 of this two part series, we heard from DISTek Software Engineers Gerardo Zamora and Chad Stapes, who recently completed DISTek U 210 – a DISTek training course offered internally to engineers wanting to embark on a path of growth and prepare themselves for the next engineering tier level. Gerardo reviewed the book, Eat that Frog!, and Chad reviewed the book, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader.
In this Part 2, Michael Barnhardt, a Software Engineer at DISTek for over 5 years, discusses, The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, and provides an overview of the final component of the DISTek U 210 course, the mentor-ship program.
DISTek U210: E2 Track is a new DISTek course offered internally to engineers wanting to learn and prepare themselves for the next engineering tier level. We use a classification of E1-E5 here at DISTek with E1 being entry level. Although, it is mostly geared towards E2s looking to set themselves up for success in becoming an E3 or senior engineer, the track also welcomes E1s wanting to learn about E2. In this class, we went over three books, had a panel discussion with senior engineers, and a mentorship project managed by the students in the class. This course also offered the benefit of networking and interacting with other DISTekians who we may not normally get the chance to work with.
In this two part series, we will talk about each of the books and the mentorship program, with the first two books being discussed by Gerardo Zamora and Chad Stapes here in Part 1, and a final book and mentorshiop being discussed by Michael Barnhardt in Part 2.
This year marked the 25th year of occurrence for the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference (AETC). This year looked a little different, as it was hosted exclusively virtual on Open Water, a Zoom based platform. Attendees gathered from February 8-10 to attend the AETC, which is hosted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. ASABE serves as an educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems.
While the holiday celebrations may look very different this year, here at DISTek we’re not about to let that dull our holiday sparkle and are doing our best to remain festive and connected this holiday season!
Halloween is arguably my favorite holiday and DISTek’s Annual Halloween Costume Contest never disappoints. However, in true 2020 fashion, things looked a bit different this year. We knew in the months heading into the fall season that we would probably not be assembling together in our training room for the traditional parade of costumes, so we set out to come up with a virtual event to stand in its place.
She’s been on the job for two years now. Well, two years four months to be exact and over time she’s become…. shall we say, extremely spirited. You see, things didn’t start out that way, but over time her confidence on the job has grown, which has made her pretty comfortable exerting her opinion in the workplace.
Right now, I find myself sitting squarely in the calm before the storm. The final edits for the new pull up banners have been approved. The tradeshow materials have been shipped. Travel plans and final reservations have been made. Now, all that’s left is to pack our bags and catch a flight to Vegas. Over the next several days, five DISTekians will be making the trip to Sin City for ConExpo-CON/AGG 2020.
Arguably, the BEST day of the year at DISTek is Halloween. Now, not everyone would probably agree with that assessment, but it’s one of my very favorite work days of the year. Today has been full of far more treats than tricks with our Annual Halloween Costume Contest followed by a Halloween potluck. Please enjoy a peek at our costumes from today!
A month or so ago an employee reached out to me asking about information regarding arranging a group volunteer event at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. We’ve done such volunteer …
After 27 years of selfless service to DISTek, our founder, Matt Dickinson has taken on a new journey…. RETIREMENT! All of us here at DISTek thank him for all he has done for not only the company as a whole, but for all the individual employees as well. We will miss his guidance, generosity, and fun spirited nature. Here’s to filling his days with plenty of St Louis Cardinals baseball, quality time with the grandkids, and social events around his hometown of Carthage, IL.
