Filipe Araujo

Job Title: Staff Registered Engineer — Electrical

Company: Black & Veatch

Location: Overland Park, KS

Age: 30

Years on the Job: 5

Interests: Playing indoor and outdoor volleyball, riding motorcycles, playing music, and traveling

Filipe Araujo's journey to become an electrical engineer began in his childhood in Brazil.

“My dad is a retired electrician, and I heard a lot of stories about the trade growing up,” he said. “By the time I turned 15, I was already able to change the outlets or light switches in my house safely without flipping the breaker because he had taught me all the tricks.”

When he graduated from high school, he considered pursuing a degree in computer science, but he switched to electrical engineering, which he said was the best decision he ever made. In 2017, he jumped at the opportunity to study abroad and enrolled in a year-long exchange program in Pittsburg, Kan. The university partnered with Black & Veatch to develop a power systems emphasis and offered him a full-ride scholarship to create the coursework content for two semesters on substation design.

In 2021, he joined Black & Veatch, and then three years later, he earned his PE license in Kansas. That year, he also earned a scholarship from PMI and began teaching as an adjunct professor to share his knowledge with the next generation of professionals. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, his master’s degree in engineering technology, and his master’s degree in project management.

Each experience throughout his educational journey has helped shape his skill set to excel in his current position as a substation designer.

“The late nights studying for exams taught me perseverance, the mistakes taught me resilience, moving abroad taught me autonomy, and developing the coursework taught me analytical thinking,” he said.

When he first started at his company, he was the “main doer,” designing substation physical packages, routing conduits, placing equipment, working on grounding design, checking safety standards, and developing calculations. Over the last year, he’s been more focused on managing projects and helping other engineers with their designs. In the next five years, he hopes to serve as an engineering manager, helping younger engineers be the best they can be. 

“I have a passion and curiosity to be always be learning something new, and to teach others all that I know,” he said. “My favorite part of this role is the most challenging part of it, which is leading by example. When a challenging scope comes through my desk, that excites me because now I have the opportunity to create solutions and teach others how to get there.”

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