David Kroesen:
CLASS OF 1983
Van Nuys High SchoolClass of 1983
Van nuys, CA
David's Story
Life
i have always had a love for old cars and anything from the '50s and '60's. my wife julia and i have been daily driving vintage volkswagens and porsches which we have restored. i met julia at csun where we were both engineering students working together on a solar powered car that we had to build and drive from florida to detroit in a competition with 20 other schools. julia had 4 young children and they have made being a stepdad very easy for me for the past 13 years. we live in calabasas and have remained friends with some very special people from vnhs.
School
i remember being the stupid kid in the honors and AP classes. but panicing about homework and tests that my classmates breezed thru changed my life. i always loved things mechanical, so i went to csun and got a mechanical engineering degree. i always worked thru college and gained experience working as a draftsman and designer for engineering firms.
Workplace
while at vnhs, i worked for a small manufacuting co.(laser technology), run by a 90 year old inventor, as a draftsman. there was an 85 year old french draftsman that taught me to have a very artistic style in my drafting. while at csun, i worked for a national design+build mechanical contractor (interstate mechanical systems) where i learned how to design mechanical systems for restaurants over the course of 8 years. ims went out of buisiness suddenly and i found myself 6 months fro...Expand for more
m my wedding without a job. my wife julia supported me to start my own restoration shop specializing in vintage porsche cars. i had the shop for 3 years and it was terific to have had that experience but i knew i didn't want to turn a wrench on other people's cars for ever. i got an offer that i couldn't refuse from an engineering firm in canoga park (environmental comfort systems) and was hired to run their engineering department. i was challenged mentally and physically each day and traveled the country surveying and designing construction projects. after 4 years, i was approached by one of my vendors to join them as a salesman. i always wanted to be a *salescum* and work 4 hours a week and drive around to jobsites and customers offices and work from home. this was very cool becuase with a young family at home, the engineering director job was killing me and i wanted to be home more. after 4 years and having that company (air cleaning technology) screw me out of tens of thousands in commissions, i started my own consulting company in 2001. i have a cool little office in woodland hills on ventura blvd. and i have some great customers like california pizza kitchen, barnes and noble and outback steak house. i guess the moral of my lame work history is that it is very easy to get into the trap of building other people's companies and making money for other people, and i encourage anyone to get out of that trap.
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