He began his engineering experience in the U.S. Army, serving from 1967- 1970 as an artillery surveyor, providing coordinate and elevation control at the division artillery level. The state-of-the-art technology at that time required the use of chaining, plumb bob, coordinates and azimuth, as well as the use of an ephemeris and transit. He served in Germany, state-side and in Vietnam.

Upon completion of his military service, he returned to college, enrolled in the cooperative education program and completed the requirements for a B.S.C.E. from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. His coop experiences utilized his survey skills for mapping the field layout on the I-5 extension for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority on stream cross-sections on the HUD floodplain mapping project. He developed his manual drafting skills in the preparation of contract plans for various clients, including the Cook County Highway Department and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

His practical experience was founded upon the pre-computer-aided drafting skills required to plot topography from survey books using scales and lead holders, tee-squares and plastic triangles. The topography was then photographed for use as base mapping, from which plan sheets showing existing conditions could be developed. The proposed conditions were hand-drawn in red pencil and traced with ink on starched linen or plastic mylar sheets. Back-checking was performed using light tables or by holding one sheet on top of another against a windowpane. He also served on construction assignments as assistant resident and resident engineer on several federal-funded projects for which he provided design.

After receiving his P.E., he left consulting to join the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and served in a variety of staff positions in the Design Department. At the end of his nine-year tenure, he held the title of Engineer of Design, and had reviewed the plans for over 350 projects, including the construction of I-355, the North-South Toll-Way, which was a 17-mile expressway with a multi-billion dollar budget.

He returned to the private sector, where computer-aided drafting and design was just beginning to take hold. For the next seventeen years, he served in various roles such as Operations Manager, Director of Engineering, Chief Civil Engineer and Senior Project Manager with a number of firms. His primary duties always revolved around his talent for plan review, so that he was able to retain a hands-on role in numerous roadway projects at the municipal, county and state transportation levels.

He was a member of the faculty of Midwest College of Engineering in Lombard, Illinois. The school was founded on the basis of presenting an engineering education using practicing engineers, rather than using academics. He has developed courses on pavement design, highway geometrics and mass transit, and presented classes for three years, after which time the school was purchased by Illinois Institute of Technology. He has also served for the past 22 years as an instructor for a variety of topics as a member of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers Review Series, a refresher course for candidates taking the state licensing exam.