Darrell Ford

We get to see incredible things at Exponent, and most of them we can't talk about. I'm okay with that. Part of the culture here is client privacy is first. 

Build on Your Experience

I lead a small team of software developers who manage internal projects and support our scientific and engineering consultants with a variety of client projects.  

I have almost 27 years in the industry. My background is in consulting, where I primarily focused on SharePoint and data management/movement. Prior to this role, I ran a large-scale data moving project for a large company that does manufacturing of government assets.  

The People at Exponent

People are the big value at Exponent; the sheer number of people with impressive backgrounds and experience. We have veterans who have been here for two and three decades, and we have people who just started out in the scientific and consulting industry. Exponent is a very interesting place to start and grow a career because there are so many opportunities available.  

There's so much experience here, and a lot of people willing to share their knowledge.

It's a very dynamic, communicative company with an open-door policy. If I need to speak with a senior manager about something, I pick up the phone. If someone is interested in giving me feedback, they give me a call or drop by my office. Having that open dialogue in our corporate culture has a huge bearing on our ability to get things done. 

Variety Provides Opportunities for Creativity 

We open about 9,000 new projects every year at Exponent. That's a lot of activity. It means any given day, we could be presented with 10-20 different problems that require some level of attention — some might be quick, others might take a lot more thought — but it'll be different. You won't sit and do the same thing repeatedly. You might be on a five- to six-month long project, but the following project could be totally unrelated and stretch a whole different set of muscles.  

Having that variety gives you a lot of opportunity for some creativity. Every year or so, we review our platform decisions. There's opportunity for people to make recommendations and to influence the team. We're always looking at new toolsets and listening to new ideas on how to do things better. We ask ourselves how can we manage data? And how do we want to move data around? We've got some opportunity for people to bring in their own slant on how things can get done, and it's flexible.  

We have process here, but we welcome ideas. 

Our work supporting our consultants is also broad. One day I might be working on a large-scale data management project, where a client might come to us and want us to analyze data from different systems to give them solutions for a particular pain point. It's amazing and mind-boggling how much work we get done at Exponent, and all these unique challenges inspire me to keep coming back to work every day. 

It's never boring. We do a lot of work with our Exponent labs to help them organize data. We also work with businesses and ask, what kind of problems are you experiencing in your lab environment? Helping them work through their issues requires a ton of creativity. Each lab has nuance, depending on the people who run and work in the labs, the current projects, and the equipment.  

Colleagues Who Care 

My family got into sailing back around 2000. We sold our house, bought an old boat, refurbished it, and moved into it in 2009. My kids at the time were 7 and 9, and we homeschooled them on the boat. We took 2012 off and sailed around Mexico for about ten months before we returned to the States.  

Coming to Exponent, I've connected with people who also are boaters; one consultant even does Olympic sailing. We work with some really smart people, but also interesting, kind people. It's not just about making professional connections, you can connect on a personal level here too. Some of us have made lifelong friendships that go beyond Exponent. It's a cool place to grow a career.