Inspiring Dads: Interview with the Pokit Electrical Engineer, Stephen

This blog post was originally posted on June 30, 2021.

“I've always been inspired by my dad”

With Father’s Day coming up, we thought we would find out what impact Dad’s have on us, especially the tools they give us for life. So we decided to interview our very own electrical engineer, Stephen, to see how much of an impact his Dad had on him growing up.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and What do you do within the Pokit Team?

My name is Stephen Geary, and I’m an electrical engineer for Pokit Innovations. I work on developing products and designing products, testing them, and bringing them to market.

Q: How did you get into what you’re doing now?

So, I studied electrical engineering at University. I‘ve always been inspired by my dad… even if you had asked me and it wasn’t Father’s Day, I would have answered the same way. I was inspired by my Dad, who is also an electrical engineer, to study electrical engineering.  When I was in high school, I had the classic Year 11 (senior high school years) panic of not knowing what I wanted to do…then I saw what Dad was doing and thought, ‘That’s pretty cool’. I got really into it as I progressed through the rest of high school at that point, then into University.

“I had the classic Year 11 (senior high school years) panic of not knowing what I wanted to do…then I saw what Dad was doing and thought, ‘That’s pretty cool’.”

Q: Were you hesitant to follow in your Dad’s footsteps, or was it a wholehearted leap into engineering?

I had always enjoyed electronics. When I was very young, perhaps 6 or 7, my Dad gave us his electronics kit that he got when he was 6 or 7 from his parents, so my grandparents, to myself and my brother David. We both really got into it, and I was more into it than David; he’s more into computers. That gave me really early exposure to electronics, and it just kind of snowballed from there.

Q: What was the first thing you built when you were 6 or 7 with the electronics kit your Dad gave you? If you remember?

Well, the first thing I built was probably something very simple. I think it was literally a battery meter. It was either that or turning on an LED.

“Don’t touch the shiny…”

Q: What is one thing your Dad taught you that you will never forget to this day?

He explained to me the rules of high voltage safety, which I love telling everyone when I’m dealing with high voltages on Pokit Pro. The first rule of high voltage safety is, ‘Don’t touch the shiny’. And, for context, rule 2 only makes sense in Australia because the wiring colour is different in every country. But in Australia, he said, “If you’re wondering which colour is live, imagine which colour your pants will go.” And well the colour for live in Australia is brown. They’re the two golden rules that Dad taught me that I remember the most, I would say.  Sorry for the crude example, but it’s true!

Thank you for answering all my Questions, Stephen!

It was great to sit down with Stephen to understand the impact that Dad’s have on us every single day. Especially with something so significant as a career path. We hope everyone is preparing their Father’s Day celebrations and celebrating safely and happily.