Engineering Without a Straight Line: Two Careers, One Powerful Lesson
Careers in engineering are often described as a formula: early interest, a university degree, and then steady progression forward. But behind successful engineering careers lies something far more instructive: a path that doesn’t necessarily unfold exactly as planned.
Two leaders within GE Vernova’s Electrification segment, Lori Vogel and Sridevi Mutnuri, embody this truth. Their careers span different continents, disciplines, and life stages. Their paths look very different, yet both point to the same empowering lesson: engineering success is rarely about following a perfect script and more about curiosity and resilience.
From Production Floor to Global Leadership
Some STEM careers begin in lecture halls. Lori Vogel’s began on a production floor. Today, she serves as Executive Manager of Technology within GE Vernova’s Power Conversion & Storage business line, leading a global team delivering customer designs and advanced control systems for solar and battery energy storage projects. She also champions diversity as executive sponsor for the Society of Women Engineers.
But engineering wasn’t her original plan.
After initially pursuing business marketing, Lori realized it wasn’t the right fit and made the decision to leave college. That turning point led her to Lockheed Martin’s uranium enrichment plant, where she joined as Production Engineering Assistant. Over five years, she worked hands-on with instrumentation, completing a program to become a certified instrument mechanic before advancing into production planning. The work was deeply technical and also transformative. It also propelled her into something further.
At 24, Lori returned to university with a renewed sense of purpose, earning her electrical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a focus on automation and control. She then joined GE Vernova (then GE) as an Advanced Controls Engineer. For 15 years she built expertise across power generation.
Then came another pivotal moment.
At a Women’s Network lunch event, Lori heard GE Hybrids’ Chief Technology Officer describe a bold vision of combining renewable assets to solve global energy challenges. The passion in the room was undeniable. Three months later, she joined the team.
Today, Lori delivers integrated designs and control solutions that stabilize grids, power data centers, and enable more sustainable energy systems worldwide.
Designing the Invisible Infrastructure of the Grid
For Sridevi Mutnuri, engineering inspiration arrived much earlier and in a different setting. As a child in India, visits to her father’s workplace left a lasting impression, leaving her fascinated by the power of software. Early moments that shaped an entire career.
Today, Sridevi is a Senior Embedded Software Manager within the Grid Automation team, with more than two decades of experience in product development. She began as a software developer and progressed to architecting and leading software-embedded systems. Sridevi currently serves as a system architect for GridBeats™ APS, a next-generation platform that is redefining protection and control device management. Working alongside a global team, she helps design infrastructure that most people will never see – yet everyone relies on.
Her career has been guided by a deeply personal philosophy, inspired by a university-era reflection: if there’s no joy in work, one can only be met by deep dissatisfaction. Sridevi deliberately chose work aligned with both passion and technological excellence. She now shares three patents with her peers in protection and automation relay concepts and recently celebrated 25 years of service.
Her journey also spans borders and business domains. After moving to Canada, she transitioned from the Power business segment to Electrification.
The Hidden Strengths of Non-Linear Paths
At first glance, these two careers seem vastly different. While one began outside traditional academia, the other followed early technical inspiration. But both journeys reveal a shared truth: that neither career unfolded in a straight line.
Lori navigated every employment arrangement across her tenure – full-time, part-time, flex, remote, contract, and even took a five-year break to prioritize family.
Sridevi crossed geographies, industries, and evolving technologies, continuously expanding her expertise as the grid itself morphed.
These stories challenge a persistent myth that engineering careers must be uninterrupted and perfectly mapped out. In reality, adaptability may be the defining skill of modern engineering.
The energy transition that we are witnessing today demands professionals who can pivot, integrate, and rethink established systems. Non-traditional experiences often build exactly that capability.
The moral of the story? Detours don’t weaken careers. They deepen them.
Engineering the Future on Your Own Terms
Both leaders offer guidance that is grounded in lived experience. To learn from every experience, to challenge yourself, to push your comfort zone, and write your own story.
There is an expanding frontier that awaits the next generation of engineers. From artificial intelligence and machine learning to the growing importance of critical thinking and environmental consciousness. In fact, you could probably argue that there has never been a more dynamic moment to enter STEM.
As a result, there is a need for diverse perspectives that shape the technologies that power our world. The time is now to expand how we think engineering careers should look. Lori and Sridevi’s journeys remind us that there is no blueprint for success. Some careers begin with certainty, and others begin with accidental discovery. But what matters is not the straightness of the line, but for the boldness and motivation to keep going.