“Scientists create problems. Engineers solve them.” Those words were the defining moment that inspired Jeff Janofsky to become an engineer instead of a scientist. His older brother, who was pursuing mechanical engineering at the time, responded with that statement when Jeff expressed interest in becoming a scientist.
Though Jeff certainly respected the work scientists do, he found himself leaning more towards engineering in high school. “I realized it was engineers who did the things that I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be in a lab all day, like a scientist testing things. I wanted to make, design, and build things that help people, and not just do research…,” he said.
Jeff, who’s from Connecticut, graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering from the University of Delaware. He grew up in the Danbury area with his mom, a former teacher and his father, who runs the family jewelry store. His two brothers are also in the medical field; the oldest is a mechanical engineer at medical device maker Medtronic, and the youngest is a first responder.
Jeff, now 31, currently works as a product design engineer at ICU Medical, a company that makes products such as IV catheters, endoscopic tools, and other medical devices.
He was a self-taught SOLIDWORKS user and found the SOLIDWORKS online forums and YouTube videos from other users helpful when learning to use the software. Today, he keeps his skills up to date by taking classes through resellers like TriMech.
Jeff prefers SOLIDWORKS over all the other modeling software he’s used. “SOLIDWORKS is definitely really easy when you’re doing super basic and rudimentary things.”
One tool Jeff uses most is the Draft Analysis tool because he does a lot of injection-molded designs. “Having proper drafts everywhere is super important, and knowing where the poles of the molds and everything will go. Make sure you have all the drafts in the proper directions. You want to see red on one side and green on the other. You don’t want to see a meshing of the two.”
One of his latest projects is a diabetes infusion device for ICU Medical’s Tijuana location. “You have to make sure this stuff works. People’s lives are in our hands,” and SOLIDWORKS helps to ensure that. “We do some simulations, not a crazy amount, but recently, there has been more of an appetite for more fluid simulations.”
Jeff finds his job very rewarding and is excited to be working in an industry that develops innovative products in demand in the medical market. “Being in the healthcare field, knowing that everything that I do has a positive impact on patients…”
When asked about emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI), Jeff said he’s not a fan. He’s played around with AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini and found some inaccuracies. “I actually dislike AI a lot,” he said. “I don’t trust it in any way…I find logic fallacies and problems all the time, especially with names and dates and things… It can’t keep history straight, and when we don’t remember our history, we are doomed to repeat it.”
However, Jeff is stoked on technology like reverse engineering and advances in 3D scanning, and currently does some reverse engineering at ICU Medical on old molds to ensure scans of those production parts match new drawings, so the proper design changes can be made. “If AI can help with any of that scanning stuff, then yeah, that would be great. Just like ‘hey, here’s the scan. I compared your model to the scan. Here are all areas that are out of spec.’ If AI can get to that point, that would be cool.”
Jeff also works with Stephanie Hayna, who was featured in this blog series and nominated Jeff as a candidate for the Behind the Design series. “I nominated Jeff because he has a strong reputation within our company for being an exceptional engineer and is highly proficient in SOLIDWORKS” said Stephanie. “He is always willing to help others and share his expertise.”
Helping others extends to his hobbies as well, as he teaches swimming and has worked with the Boy Scouts (now Scouting America) in the past. He says he also has expensive hobbies, such as collecting motorcycles, and will spend $800 on LEGO sets.
Other fun facts about Jeff:
He likes to travel, go camping, and hiking.
- He is a big fan of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. He also likes the show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
- He’s into video games.
- He’s a huge rock and roll fan. His favorite band is Led Zeppelin.
When asked about inspiring future generations, Jeff said that though he chose to study biomedical engineering, he thinks a mechanical engineering degree would have provided more flexible job opportunities. He said biomedical engineering would have been great if he were a systems engineer. For product design engineers, he recommends majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in biology or biomechanics if you are interested in the medical industry. When he was looking for a job, it was hard to get his foot in the door, but he’s noticed since then that the biomedical engineering industry has grown, and some of the new hires at ICU have biomedical engineering degrees, as well.
What’s in store for Jeff in the future? “My future goal is to get more involved with the innovation team at ICU Medical.”
Want to nominate an outstanding SOLIDWORKS user? In addition to this blog series, SOLIDWORKS has many programs that recognize the exceptional work of SOLIDWORKS users, including the SOLIDWORKS Champions Program and the SOLIDWORKS Certification Program.