Gene Sherman

About Gene Sherman

I have a passion for making things (Product Development), entrepreneurship, and vocational education. Having spent 35+ years learning and using maker skills, my goal now is to share what I have learned and my experiences with others. I was born in Kyiv, Ukraine (the Soviet Union) and immigrated with my family to United States at age seven (in 1977). I became a US citizen in 1985. As a child, I lived in the Chicago area until we relocated to California in 1982. From model making as a teen, to machinist / tool-maker at age 21, I have interacting with hundreds of manufacturing companies, worked for some incredible organizations, and have started three businesses. My career has been primarily in the manufacturing industries, education, and entrepreneurship. Over the past two decades, I have turned my focus towards enabling people to learn hands-on skills and show them the amazing opportunities in the world of making. In essence, I want to help people become capable makers for personal and professional growth, to help them discover their inner maker, and the maker way of life. In manufacturing, I helped design, develop and build thousands of products and components. This has involved prototyping and design work and I travelled to hundreds of companies and helped them optimize their manufacturing methods. Along the way, I saw many of the issues that manufacturing companies were facing. This reinforced my desire to help people learn skills. In education, it has been primarily teaching others how to effectively use tools and technology to make better products and solve problems. This has included working at UC Riverside and founding an organization called Vocademy. Very satisfying careers, but I have always had a desire to reach a broader audience My entrepreneurial experience comes from founding and running several businesses. First was Reflexx Robotics, an unmanned robotic vehicle business that was sold off to a larger entity. Second was Vocademy, a world-class skills discovery and training center (aka, a makerspace plus). For almost a decade we changed thousands of lives by teaching people essential maker skills. But in March of 2020, COVID took away 70%+ of our business and forced us to close. Today, I teach Product Development. It truly brings me joy to help teen students learn many vital real-life skills. This teaching job gives me the time and opportunity to pursue my passions of creating new products and growing the Genetic Education organization. I am also a CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting coach.#LeadByExample

Experience

1. Fitness & Olympic Lifting Coach

   Eastvale Athletics

   Aug 2020 — Present · Eastvale, CA, US

   Coaching athletes and changing lives. Leading by example

Education

• Vocademy -The Makerspace

  Real Hands-on skills, Advanced Manufacturing Education

  2010 — 2020

Skills

• Matlab
• Materials
• Solidworks
• Machine Tools
• Mechatronics
• Research
• Labview
• Machining
• Cad
• 3d Modeling
• Program Management
• Automotive
• Lathe
• Rapid Prototyping
• Mechanical Engineering
• Product Design
• Russian
• Training
• Testing
• New Business Development
• Electronics
• Machinery
• Engineering
• Metal Fabrication
• Injection Molding
• Microsoft Office
• Entrepreneurship
• Small Business
• Lean Manufacturing
• Cad/Cam
• Marketing
• Milling
• Manufacturing Operations
• Public Speaking
• Mig Welding
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Pro Engineer
• Leadership
• Cnc
• Machine Design