Joe Spinozzi, owner and founder of engineering firm Cyth, declares that “my hiring strategy is to visit Point Loma”
Joe Spinozzi owns and runs Cyth Systems, which is an engineering firm that specializes in automated factory equipment and embedded control systems.
“The idea is, if a factory wants to automate something like moving parts or measurements or cutting or testing, we do it. Along with that, we also build control systems, which might mean if you see a piece of scientific equipment or medical device, and you take the cover off, there’s electronics inside. We make that, and we help customers design the product.”
Cyth deals with both hardware and software, which requires various kinds of engineers to deliver products and value to customers. Early on in his business, Joe connected with Point Loma through his sister, an alum of PLNU. He now serves on the board for the Department of Physics and Engineering in addition to being involved with the Department of Mathematics, Information & Computer Sciences.
“I actually went to Northwest Nazarene University,” Joe said. “I grew up in the Nazarene Church and I decided I wanted to go to one of the Nazarene schools, but I think at the time NNU had a better physics and engineering department. I went there for four years, and then said, ‘Well, now what am I going to do?’ My sister was at Point Loma, so I thought that would be a good place for me to plug in, make friends, try to find a job in a metro city.”
Joe had started the volleyball club at NNU, and promptly started one at PLNU, despite not being a student. He reconnected with old friends, made new ones, and stuck around after starting his business. One of his first employees was a Point Loma graduate.
“I hired this young man, and then when he mentioned he has other student friends that graduated with him,” Joe said. “[I thought] I should plug in and get to know the engineering department, and start getting to know these young people while they’re still juniors or seniors. That clicked. I’ve hired maybe 18 or 20 students over the years in groups of one or two. I found that when I’m near the school, and I’m interacting with them on their senior projects or their internships, I’m meeting the kind of people I want to be meeting.”
Joe mentioned that it can be an interesting challenge to recruit on various university campuses because he’s going up against bigger companies like Space X. Hiring on a one-on-one, relational basis with PLNU graduates is where he sees the most success because getting to know each candidate and forming that relationship is crucial to him as a business owner.
“If you’re the type that wants to build things that have an impact on the world…a lot of the machines we work with get involved,” Joe said. “Something that might be for spinal surgery, or to combat Parkinson’s, or something that could help with better vision, we work with a lot of medical and biotech designs.”
One example is the production of pipettes, which are often used for IVF. Cyth has worked on an automation system that helps the pipettes be made with fewer resources, which allows for lower production costs which in turn lowers the barrier for other countries to access the reproductive technology. Wanting to be a part of helping change the world is a part of the company culture, Joe said, and PLNU students tend to fit in well.
“The students at Loma are, in general, a well-chosen bunch of young people. When I meet them, they’re intelligent, they’re honest, they’re super friendly, they’re outgoing and fun, and they want to make something of their lives.”
Although learning in an engineering classroom at Loma is crucial to being prepared for a full-time position, Joe is equally concerned with how a student learns to learn.
“You’re really learning how to learn through school,” he explained. “You should be learning what’s in your textbooks and what’s in your classrooms and apply that to the world, but there’s so much that you can’t do at school. You’re learning how to learn, or you’re becoming the right kind of person that can learn. That’s what I expect.”
More often than not, Joe finds that PLNU graduates from the engineering program are the kind of teachable employees he’s looking for.
“If I need somebody who’s a really good learner and has a really good character, I’m finding that quite often at Loma. That has to have something to do with the recruiting they do, because they tend to more often than not come out just like I hoped.”
Joe sent his own sons to PLNU after it became clear that college was a good fit for them. He knew they’d get the education they’d need in addition to being formed in their thinking and their character.
“I told them, ‘I think you should go to Loma. You will get everything you need, you’ll have a great time.’ By the way, one of the things I like [about Loma] is they’re going to mold your character, which is what I really care about most. In the end, if I had the choice of sending them to any one of the schools they could have gotten into, or Loma, now that I’ve had this much interaction with [the engineering department], I would gladly say you will get everything you want out of going to Point Loma.”
