Why I Joined Paperless Parts: Dana Wensberg (Head of 3D and Computational Geometry)
My family and I were always quite certain that I would become an engineer. From a very young age, I found building toys like K’nex and Legos infatuating. In school, I immediately took to topics like physics, chemistry, and math. So naturally, I embarked on an engineering major at Trinity College.
I first learned programming through an introductory computer science and robotics course. I was captivated by the power programming gave me. I started to write small scripts to automate tasks and complete homework assignments. As my assignments became more involved, my coding skills expanded alongside them.
My internship after my sophomore year helped lay down my path to Paperless Parts. I found the internship after my father connected me with a Trinity alum. This alum happened to be Jason Ray, the future CEO and co-founder of Paperless Parts. He lined me up a position at an aerospace metal additive manufacturing shop in New Britain, CT. The company hired me to design and build a liquid fueled rocket engine with an additively manufactured nozzle-injector assembly. While this was an enthralling exercise, I discovered my penchant for programming. My focus pivoted to using code to streamline different processes in the shop. Day to day, I worked on build stability and instant quoting algorithms that used 3D part geometry to generate results.
The next summer, I synced up with Jason to talk about my summer plans. Instead of talking about going back to the additive shop or some other internship, Jason offered me an internship at his new company, Paperless Parts. They were creating software to simplify quoting for job shops. I would be working on instant quoting algorithms that used 3D part geometry. Looking back, it feels like Jason had planned it all along way back to when we first met! The role was a perfect fit, as if my last internship was training for Paperless! I accepted Jason’s offer immediately. Halfway through my internship, I received an offer to become the company’s first hire. In this role, I established the company’s backend geometric interrogation and the platform’s part viewer. When I got to Paperless, I quickly discovered I had found what I was born to do.
I find great joy in using programming to manipulate geometry to impact tools used by manufacturers. I have been the geometry lead at Paperless and there truly is no looking back.
As our team has grown here at Paperless, my technical proficiency and business acumen has soared. We espouse the ideals of grit in the pursuit of excellence and intentionality. Alongside the stimulation of challenging problems, the culture of expertise, excellence, and passion is what truly makes Paperless an amazing place to work.
– Dana Wensberg
Dana is responsible for all things geometry at Paperless Parts. He is focused on our backend geometric interrogation algorithms that extract information from 3D part files to drive our quoting engine. He also develops our part viewer, streamlining communication of manufacturing feedback to our users. Dana received a B.S. in Physics and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity College.
Ready to start your Paperless Parts journey? Sign up for a demo today.