NJIT Grad Has a Top Job at General Motors

Written by Robert Florida

Marino Durán was born in a poor village in the Dominican Republic. When he was 5-years old, his family immigrated to the United States -- none of them knowing a word of English. Yet later this summer, he'll begin working as an engineer for General Motors, one of the world’s largest corporations.

It’s a top job and Marino, who graduated in May (2016) with a computer engineering degree, can hardly believe his good fortune: He is blessed now with the promise of professional success -- he and was recently featured in a video about successful seniors. But coming from such a poor background, his path to academic and professional success was strewn at every step with obstacles that threatened to overwhelm him. Yet he overcame all those obstacles by doing what came naturally to him: working hard and never accepting defeat.

Long Hours, Long Commutes
 

When he first applied to NJIT, for instance, he was rejected. The crushing blow could have decimated his self esteem but a high school mentor encouraged him to persevere. Soon, he enrolled in Brookdale Community College, where he majored in electrical engineering. He lived then in Middletown, New Jersey, and took a bus to the campus -- or more accurately, many buses to campus. It was a four-hour, round-trip commute and he toggled between six buses. When he had night classes, he’d ride a shuttle to the train station; take a train to Middletown; and then take a taxi to his house. His parents couldn’t help him much financially, so he worked full time to pay his tuition.

It took him three years, but in 2012 he graduated with honors from Brookdale with an associate degree in electrical engineering. He applied again to NJIT -- and this time he was accepted. But then more bad news ensured. Because of his immigration status, he did not quality for in-state tuition.

“The day I found out about this,” recalled Marino, “I literally sat on the stairs in front of the library and cried.”

He could not afford out-of-state tuition, so he took a year off to work and save money.  Fortunately for him, the following year President Obama’s deferred action executive order allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition so long as they graduated high school in the same state as their college. He thus enrolled at NJIT. He continued to work 50 hours a week, mainly as a manager at Ariana’s Grand, a banquet hall in Woodbridge, New Jersey, to pay his bills. But one semester he worked three jobs to cover tuition and the rent for his apartment.

“There were days where I literally slept on the couch at work,” he said, “because I missed the last train and would have to wait until 5 a.m. and walk 30 minutes to the train station so I could get home and rest. Sometimes while waiting at the train station, I’d nap on the bench.”

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Sleepless Nights,  Active Days
 

Though sleep deprived, he excelled in his major -- computer engineering -- at NJIT. He worked as a teacher’s assistant for an introductory class,Fundamental Engineering Design 101. He was also a member of the NJIT Student Senate, where he represented the computer engineering majors. And most importantly, in terms of his later career success, he served as event coordinator for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), helping manage more than 80 events.  He enjoyed helping students in SHPE to gain the confidence to excel professionally.

 “A lot of hard work and planning went into it all,” he says. “And I admit there were times I wanted to give up. But then I remembered that no one in my family had ever gone to college. I was the first, and now I had a chance to become something I always wanted to be: an engineer.”

When he was a senior, he was among the more than 100 SHPE members who attended the group’s national conference in Baltimore, which included a career fair. At that fair were managers from General Motors, who Marino interviewed with.  Articulate, well-mannered and passionate about engineering, Marino impressed them with his answers. Always a conscientious student, the night before he had stayed up until 3 a.m. reading a book titled "101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions." And as it turned out, the managers asked him four of the six questions he had reviewed that night.

“I hit that interview out of the park,” said Marino.

Eyes on the Prize: Engineering
 

A month later, GM flew him to Detroit for on-site interviews. Once again, he comported himself well and the managers gave him the choice of a few jobs. He ended up accepting an offer to work as an embedded systems integration controls engineer. In that job, he’ll examine the electrical design systems embedded in all GM automobiles and ensure that they meet specifications.

“So here I am today, six years later, where my journey started with a ‘NO’ and is now ending with me accomplishing my life-long dream of becoming an engineer,” he says. 

“It wasn't easy and many things went wrong along the way,” he adds. “But I stayed focused and persevered because my WHY was stronger than that NO. It was stronger than the four-hour commute; stronger than the restless nights napping on the bench; stronger than the three jobs; and stronger than those countless nights of studying. As Booker T. Washington wrote many years ago: ‘Success is not measured by the position one has reached in life, rather by the obstacles one overcomes while trying to succeed.’”