Sang Nguyen: Growing the next generation of engineers

“I know now that to be successful you have to take pride in all of it, because sometimes our work boils down to making sure your I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. You have to be excited about all the details that go along with the project implementation.”

As the state tree of Colorado, the Blue Spruce, is adaptable and sturdy. It’s known to withstand extreme weather due to its strong foundation and comprehensive root system. It also inherently functions to grow the next generation, providing young trees with stability and shelter from storms. We can learn a lot about leadership from the Blue Spruce, as well as from Sang Nguyen, Vice President of US Engineering with True North Solutions.

Sang’s family settled in Colorado after the Vietnam war in 1978. Growing up, Sang was always curious and eager to learn. When it came time to pursue university, he set his sights on a degree in general engineering. With knowledge of mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering under his belt, he began his career in controls.

Sang was eager to dive into projects as a new engineer. He describes his first job as crucial to becoming the well-rounded professional he is today. “I was fortunate early in my career that they didn’t rush me into controls, but they gave me the foundation in terms of speculating, returning design documents, and so on — the administrative part of engineering,” he says.

That foundation led to the next two decades of building a robust career. Sang held various roles in project management, process automation, instrumentation design, application software development, construction oversight, systems commissioning, and more. No matter the project, Sang was passionate about the execution.

“I know now that to be successful you have to take pride in all of it, because sometimes our work boils down to making sure your I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed,” Sang reflects. “You have to be excited about all the details that go along with the project implementation.”

In 1996, Sang met someone who shared that devotion to the details — a young engineer named Rick Dmytryshyn. Sang taught Rick the same way he was taught; patient and steadfast. He nurtured and refined Rick’s talents and, over the next few years, provided mentorship in electrical design, instrumentation, HMI/PLC programming, and much more. 

After Sang’s and Rick’s career paths led them apart, they couldn’t have predicted what the future had in store. In 2017, more than two decades after first meeting, they were reunited. Rick had grown to become a seasoned engineer and leader in his own right. Together, Sang and Rick combined their expertise to grow True North Solutions’ Denver presence.

With 30 years of experience, Sang is wise about what he wants from his work. He’s aware of his strengths and values, taking a unique approach to his role as VP by remaining heavily involved in projects. That’s simply because it’s what he enjoys most. “I prefer the field more than the office. I enjoy the execution of a project and working with the client,” Sang says. “It’s important to know what you’re not good at and to do things that make work fun for you.”

In this way, Sang and Rick are true partners. Their complementary work styles and mutual respect for each other has resulted in five extremely successful years for the business. Sang leads the team on the ground, working with clients and mentoring trainees, while Rick handles the in-office business. And Rick knows how much their clients benefit from Sang’s on-site expertise.

“Sang has always had the unique skill set of being able to see technical issues that could take place on a large enterprise SCADA Host project and navigate those upfront so that they’re mitigated,” says Rick. “The specific sector doesn’t matter; he has the ability to understand true process across multiple industries.”

The integrity of any great business lies in the strength of its relationships. Sang’s experience and dedication has built trust not only with clients and vendors, but also with the young engineers who are eager to learn from him. Each day, Sang’s leadership supports the growth of a stronger and sturdier team capable of providing excellence to True North’s clients.

“To me, it’s delivering on the promise you make to the client and bringing the trainee engineers along with me — who then become successful in their own way,” Sang says. “I pride myself on developing engineers that see the value in what I know.”