People ProfilesSeptember 30, 2024

Meet the engineer whose mentorships changed his approach to work

Fabian Quintero’s work with start-up deltaVision has been eye-opening for him as an engineer.
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Avatar Dassault Systèmes

In Fabian Quintero’s role as an Industry Process Consultant for SIMULIA at Dassault Systèmes, he mostly works with large companies. They’re for the most part enterprises with existing solutions looking to optimize existing processes. But as a mentor in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, he’s rolling up his sleeves and working with small, young start-ups looking to bring fresh life into tried-and-true software.

deltaVision, which Quintero mentors in the lab, is a Munich-based fluid control systems start-up. They’re developing an orbital refueling system that aims to reduce waste in space exploration. To do so, they needed some expertise in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). deltaVision’s product manager who had previously worked at Dassault Systèmes, reached out directly to the SIMULIA team in Germany and ended up being matched with Quintero.

With a background in aerospace engineering and plenty of knowledge in CFD, Quintero was the perfect fit.

For him, the mentoring experience has been more than simply doling out guidance or troubleshooting assistance when needed. He’s been able to work alongside the deltaVision team in a more end-to-end role, providing a wide range of support.

At one point, Quintero explained, deltaVision was having an issue with the results of an experiment not aligning with what they expected them to be. To solve it, they consulted with Quintero. He guided them through the simulation process and how to compare it to the experiment, and also helped them understand how to optimize their testing process, streamline the data and ensure that the subjects of their tests matched the same subjects in the simulations.

His most memorable moment was a true feat of engineering.

“They did an experiment, and when they checked it after, they realized that a part of the experiment that hadn’t actually been included in the simulation was generating a deviation in the results,” Quintero said. “Because of that, they then understood that their experimental system wasn’t fully accurate, so they had to modify it so that it would be more reliable for the future, and that the trigger for realizing this came from our discussion.”

Overall, mentoring has been a rewarding experience. It’s created value for deltaVision, for sure, but for Quintero, too. Working with the start-up has provided a collaborative channel in which he can best understand the tools he uses and advises companies large and small on.

“Start-ups are really open to giving feedback that can improve some aspects of the tools,” he said. Using the information from those real-world experiences of users lends itself extremely well to making adjustments on the back-end.

If he had the bandwidth, Quintero said, he’d love to work with more start-ups. But as it is, he’s got his hands full, particularly with a five-month-old baby at home.

Fabian Quintero is part of a cohort of Dassault Systèmes employees lending their knowledge to ground-breaking start-ups. Check out how some of his other colleagues are driving progress.

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