I really love to seeing a fellow Latina reach her dream and be a part of something amazing such as giving back to her community. Chevrolet is honoring Latinas that contribute to making every Chevy vehicle on the road safe and keep consumers’ needs at the forefront.  I had a special opportunity to sit down with Andrea Hidalgo, General Motors’ Diesel Engine Calibration Engineer to talk about her journey into the field of automotive engineering and the key steps she took to help her achieve her dream job!

Meet Andrea Hidalgo

Q1: As a young Latina growing up in Queens, how did you develop a passion for cars and the automotive Industry?

Andrea: I’d say I got my interest in cars from my dad. He would always point out cool muscle cars and classic cars on the street. By the time I was entering high school, I knew I wanted to go to a technical school. I attended Brooklyn Tech, which is one of NYC’s specialized public schools. That’s where I learned about what engineering is about the different types of engineering. Even still, I struggled with math, and engineering seemed hard. I went to college with an undeclared major and thought I would try to get into the engineering program. I didn’t do great with my first year classes, but I did find out about a club that built a racecar every year for a collegiate level competition. I joined and I was hooked. That’s when I decided that I would just have to power through all the math classes so that I could become an engineer and work on cars.

Q2: How has your experience been working with an amazing company such as GM? What type of opportunities were available to you as you continued to grow in your career since starting your internship?

Andrea: My first internship with GM felt so surreal. I packed up my car and drove to Michigan for the summer. I still remember my first day going into work – I remember standing outside of the building that said “GM Powertrain” and thinking that I could not believe it was real and that I was really there. My goal from the start of college was to get to the auto industry, but I didn’t know anyone that had gotten an internship or a job in automotive before. It lived up to all that I imagined – everyone was so helpful and willing to share their knowledge. I met so many great people that summer and learned so much, so I was thrilled when the following year they asked me to come back. And after that second internship came a job offer.

Since I started, I’ve only worked in two departments, but that’s been my choice. I started in transmission development & validation where I worked with hardware and developed durability tests for our transmission. When I moved to diesel calibration 8 ½ years ago, I thought I’d work here for about 3 years and then move on to a different department, but it has been so interesting and challenging and fun that those 8 ½ years have flown by. However, I’ve been involved with other functions during that time. For instance, I’m a lead on the Hispanic Partnership Recruiting team where I help plan GM’s participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineer’s (SHPE) national convention, which is a huge conference & career fair that takes place every year.

We also have many employee resource groups at GM, and they all hold great events throughout the year, so there is always something interesting going on, whether it’s professional development, community outreach or social events.

Q3: You have a very important position as a Diesel Engine Calibration Engineer, what are some of your favorite elements of your job & why?

Andrea: I work with a team of people and together we are responsible for the engine calibration for 4-cylinder diesel engines. The calibration is what runs on the computer that controls the engine. We need to balance fuel economy, drivability and emissions for each program, so it’s critical that we all talk and work together to really optimize the entire calibration. I really like my group and I love working together with my coworkers to get new features integrated and find creative solutions to problems.

I also love that I get to do a lot of my work in a vehicle and feel the direct impact of changes I make. Another fun part of my job is that I occasionally get to travel to really cool places. To make sure we get all the environmental conditions a customer can encounter, we sometimes travel to extreme weather. For example, we travel to Death Valley in the hottest part of the summer, and in the winter we go to Northern Michigan or Canada to get extreme cold. We also need to make sure we cover all the different elevations that a customer can go to because altitude affects the performance of the engine, so we often travel to Colorado for that. We have labs and facilities that help us calibrate to these conditions, but it is important to go and do final checks in a realistic environment.

Q4: There are so many Latina’s that are interested in Engineering because of seeing women like you succeed. What are some of the programs, opportunities and advice you can share for the future Latina Engineers of the world?

Andrea: If they are in middle school or in high school, I would strongly recommend they get involved with FIRST robotics. I coach a high school robotics team along with several other engineers and I wish I had known about this program when I was in high school. The students get a chance to work together to design and build a robot for a specific challenge. Every year the game or challenge is completely different. FIRST robotics gives students exposure to many different types of engineering like mechanical, electrical and software. On the FIRST website, there is a search feature to find teams near you.

If they are in high school or in college, I would recommend getting involved with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. On their website, you can find high school, college and professional chapters across the country. They hold different types of events throughout the year, and the annual National Conference is an amazing experience when you can meet engineers from hundreds of different companies and attend all kinds of workshops.

Also for college students, or even high school students looking at colleges – I would recommend getting involved with competitive engineering clubs or teams. I participated in SAE Baja, which gave me a lot of great experience to help me get an internship at GM, but there are a lot of other teams and competitions. Participating in something like this will give them experience collaborating with others, managing their time and setting and meeting deadlines.

It’s really important to keep your grades up in college. Unfortunately, it’s tough to get a job if you graduate with a low GPA. College will be tough, but make sure to attend office hours when you need help understanding something and find a group of friends that you can study with.

Finally, be sure to pay it forward! You can be a role model for the next generation and help others learn from your experiences.

Andrea is continuing to work the youth of Detroit and help other Latinas that are looking to get into the engineer profession by being a leader in General Motors’ Hispanic Partnership Recruiting Team and working with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation as a FIRST Robotics mentor, coaching high school students through robotics competitions.

Listen to our podcast episode below as we talk to Andrea and learn more about her journey!