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Outside Magazine, September 2005

Dream Jobs 2005
The Life-Expanding, 24/7, Work-and-Play (& Change the World) Adventure Plan
Timm Smith: Product Developer

By Kimberly Lisagor


	Timm Smith (Illustration by Joe Ciardiello)

Product Developer
Timm Smith
26, Wilmington, DE

Job Description: Employed by W.L. Gore & Associates, the Newark, Delaware–based product-development company that invented Gore-Tex in 1969, Smith works with teams that invent materials used in products like the Gore-Tex Soft Shell.
Why This Work Rules: Hiking in the German Alps and ice-climbing in Ouray, Colorado, are both on-the-clock activities when testing prototypes. "It's a ‘work is part of life is part of work' kind of thing," says Smith. "I've found a good fit."
Turning Point: While earning his chemical- engineering degree from the University of Delaware, Smith worked for a year as a process engineer and hated it. In 2001, at a University of Delaware job fair, he met a Gore recruiter who sold him on the company's unusual modus operandi: a less hierarchical structure and plenty of creative freedom to stretch his designer's mind.
The Balanced Life: Smith averages a 50-hour workweek, but 10 percent of that is company-sanctioned "dabble time" spent dreaming up new projects. When he's not working, he's hiking, mountain-biking, running, and hanging with his wife, Rachel, and their two German shepherd mixes.
Reality Check: Bouncing between Gore's offices in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. means at least one week away from Rachel every two months.
The Bottom Line: Product-development salaries in apparel and footwear range from $50,000 to $140,000. A survey of product-design jobs can be found at the Outdoor Industry Association's Web site, at www.outdoorindustry.org/classifieds.php. Engineering degrees aren't mandatory, but they can help. Reputable schools (where Gore in particular does its recruiting) include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Lehigh University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, the University of Utah, and the University of Delaware. Postgrads can investigate professional development courses in product design like the one at Stanford University (scpd.stanford.edu).

Next Page: Jessie Stone: Health-Clinic Director

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