Alumni Spotlight | Quincy Lee
9/20/2019 1:58:02 PM | Men's Swim & Dive
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State Men’s Swimming alum, Quincy Lee made his way back to campus recently from his new SpaceX office in Seattle, Washington to talk about his career beyond the pool. Quincy graduated in 2012 with a degree in civil engineering and a minor in nuclear engineering and went on to receive a graduate degree in structural engineering at Oregon State with a minor in nuclear and mechanical engineering. He has worked as a mechanical engineer at SpaceX for the past six years and has been in his Seattle office for three and a half years.
Quincy had an impressive swimming career as a Buckeye. He set a school record, was an Olympic Trial qualifier, an All-American and a Big 10 Champion. His 200 butterfly school record set in 2011 has since been surpassed and is now held by current senior, Noah Lense. Quincy still holds the fourth fastest time at 1:43.57.
The Buckeyes Beyond the Pool series was designed to share professional experiences, expertise and perspective with current student-athletes. These ‘real life’ talks along with training the athletes receive from the Gene Smith Leadership Academy are helping the current student-athletes prepare for life after college. As part of the Alumni Spotlight and Buckeyes Beyond the Pool series, Quincy sat down for an interview about his time at Ohio State and how the lessons he learned from swimming help him as a mechanical engineer at SpaceX.
Any personal highlights since you graduated in 2012?
“After I finished swimming my focus switched over to professional work. My biggest accolade was recently launching 60 satellites that are part of the satellite constellation program that SpaceX is putting up to provide internet to the world. I’m a lead mechanical engineer and oversee a team of people who are responsible for part of that project. I felt a lot of personal and professional pride for that.”
What is the most rewarding part of your current occupation?
“The autonomy and ability to exercise ownership over a large group of people is the most rewarding. That’s really exciting and gets my heart pumping in the morning, both from an excitement standpoint and also a stress standpoint. It’s a very demanding job but I like that balance, and it’s a component of what provides meaning for my life. I oversee a team of three people and specifically we’re responsible for testing the satellites. We test, design, build and analyze test systems that simulate the physics of space flight. I’m now becoming involved in the ground segment which is all of the earth-bound part of our internet constellation that communicates with the rest of the internet, and I’m moving into a leadership role in that realm as well.”
What has been the biggest challenge of your job so far? How did OSU prepare you for the real world?
“The level of engineering at a company like SpaceX is so high, we’re literally landing rockets and sending things to space, so it’s incredibly demanding and it’s an incredibly intense work environment. Everybody is on edge all the time, but in a positive way. You’re getting the best out of your coworkers and employees. So I think the level of engineering rigor and the associated problems that we need to solve day in and day out in order for us to be successful as an organization is probably the most challenging thing. I think OSU and specifically swimming at OSU gave me a massive backbone and a huge boost of passion that I apply to all aspects of life. Passion will always pull you through, and you develop it in the pool. I think swimmers are incredibly intense individuals, and it really takes that level of intensity to chase a black line up and down the pool for thousands of hours of your life, but the passion and the ardent spirit of the sport really is what makes or breaks you as a swimmer, and that I have found is a very applicable asset in my professional work.”
What was your favorite memory at OSU?
“Winning the Big 10 Championship my junior season in 2010 was incredible. It was one of those weird moments in your life where everything just seamlessly flows, but it was at a macro scale because everyone individually around you was having that same seamless experience. So that combination of the individual perfection of the meet and then all of my brothers around me having that same Zen experience of achieving something that you’ve worked your entire life at, culminated in that incredible, forever memorable experience. And we beat Michigan so that was a bonus.”
What do you miss most about your time as a student-athlete?
“I really miss competing and training. I love swimming. It’s kind of nice to step away from the sport and focus on other things, just to add flavor and diversity to your life, but I really miss coming into the pool at 6 a.m. and doing kick sets with the other really fast kickers. It was such a thrill to train like that. The competition was incredible and intense as well and so much fun. Especially when you have success, and even when you don’t have success, it’s rewarding and fun to get up there and at the end of the season because you spent so long trying to prefect your craft and it’s an opportunity to implement it.”
How did your goals while you were at OSU change or stay the same since graduating?
“I think they’ve stayed the same in that I always try to do really well at what I do. It’s actually the motto of my Jesuit high school in Portland which says, ‘Age Quod Agis,’ which means ‘do well whatever you do.’ I think as a swimmer if you’re not trying 110% you’re just not going to win. That intense passion I’ve always adhered to and I’ve always kept and it has been a central goal in my life. The specific agenda has changed slightly to that of a professional pedigree and professional accomplishments for work that I find meaningful, but the central core is the passion, the intensity, the application of energy towards a specific meaningful goal. That’s the constant.”
