Dan BusquéDan R. Busqué

SENIOR DESIGNER / IT TECHNICIAN – MONROVIA

Where did you attend college and what did you study?
I went to Mt. San Antonio College to pursue a career in Architecture and Interior Design. After two-and-a-half years, I was not able to continue due to financial difficulties and was not able to transfer to a University to get the degree.

What drew you to working for Civiltec?
I was previously working for a civil engineering firm in Corona, California. My best man offered me a job as a drafter with no experience at all. I learned everything I could to be a good “ink pen to mylar” drafter and CAD drafter using Autocad 10. After five years working in the civil engineering firm in Corona, my friend told me about Civiltec and that they were hiring. Most of the work at Civiltec back then was still in hand-drafting stage and some CAD drafting. I heard good things about the company and applied for the drafting position as it would allow me to be closer to home and spend more time with my family.

What do you like best about working at Civiltec?
Civiltec is not just land development, it is also involved in water and surveying. Civiltec allowed me to grow and let me share my skills on hand-drafting and CAD drafting from the beginning. Civiltec also allowed me to share ideas on improving the technology in drafting by changing pen plotters to ink jet plotters in order to speed up production and help create CAD standards for more balanced plans. After 4 years with Civiltec, I became part of the IT side of the business as well. When I joined Civiltec, the Monrovia office only had 3 to 4 computers. Now we have over 20 computers and multiple printers and plotters. Being able to do drafting, designing, and work with computers keeps me busy. After 23 years with the company, I still enjoy my multiple responsibilities here at Civiltec.

What are some of your favorite types of projects to work on?
I enjoy every aspect of projects that I am involved in. Working on land development projects and water projects have their differences. I am currently working full-time on land development projects, but I hope someday I can work on both types of projects again. School projects are great to work on due to their complexity. Pipeline improvements, reservoirs, and wells are also good projects to work on. I enjoy plan checking projects for drafting standards and making sure the plans are visually balanced before submitting. I hope to do more plan checking in the future. Being part of the IT technical team has been great as well. Technology changes rapidly and you need to keep up with its constant improvements. I am blessed to learn from great IT managers, past to present.

When you’re not working, how do you like to spend your time?
Well, family comes first. That is what’s great about Civiltec: the flexibility allows me to spend time with my family and be part of my children’s activities when they were growing up. I love watching British comedies and dramas with my wife. Thanks to Diana, she got us hooked. I love to play tennis and volleyball, and hope to someday take ballroom dance lessons. I also love to swim laps. Being slightly under water and swimming 25 yards each lap feels very serene and stress free. I like to keep busy when away from Civiltec. I like to do things with my hands and create things. Though even away from Civiltec, I still can’t let go of work; I’m always thinking of ways to improve myself or improve our process of creating improvement plans before submitting.

Is there a particular hobby, interest or skill you have that other employees might not know about?
I would someday like to have the skill to do sign language. It’s been a longterm goal of mine and I would like to volunteer at a special needs facility to communicate with adults and children with the use of sign language.