Beginnings

Every man has a story.

Thomas Otten is the son of German immigrants, hailing from the northern city of Bremen.  It was there that his father, Ulrich Otten, designed and developed in a small factory, his very own sports car.  Over two dozen examples were made, before he brought the vehicle to America to pursue his dream.   An ambitious plan, but as Ferdinand Porsche once said, “If one does not fail at times, then one has not challenged himself.”

Challenging oneself is something that has been imbedded into the motivations of Thomas Otten.  At an early age, Thomas worked after school in a VW repair shop, showing a knack for mechanical things.  He decided the best outlet for this would be to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He graduated top of his class in the U.T.S.A. engineering program.  In addition, he was one of 7 people in the state of Texas to score a 90 or better on his Professional Engineering Licensure Exam.  He has worked in industry in areas of software engineering, vibration dynamics, fire modelling, air conditioning, accident reconstruction, and Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) building design.

Training under the Healthcare Building Design Engineer, Ken Wheatley, he worked on several large hospital designs for an MEP firm in San Antonio, Texas. For 18 years, he was a key member of the Hospital Design Team which specialized in MEP systems design for health care facilities, including large military hospitals and outpatient facilities.  His eagerness to learn helped him to expand beyond his Mechanical Engineering training to areas of with computer software programming and electrical engineering.

The size and complexity of the hospital work being designed, prompted Mr. Otten to develop key software-based design approaches to help streamline design.  Mr. Otten became an expert in software development and database design, and has earned several software certifications including ones in database administration and in software programming.  His work has been recognized by the North Chamber of Commerce as Business Technology Implementer of the Year, for the work he did in MEP design software.

Thomas Otten’s motivation has always been to challenge himself.  His love of discovery and learning new things is an outcome of his belief that the engineer is in many ways an artist.

Mr. Otten is the father of three children, who he devotes most of his free time to.  His children work along side him in a small side business, Uber-Werks Vehicle Restoration and Design.