Justin Hey
Engineer | Marietta, GA
Justin started working at GDS in January 2017 as an Associate Engineer in the Power Supply Planning Department in the Marietta office. GDS has been his first full-time job since graduating college. Justin graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering in December 2016. While at Georgia Tech, Justin had the opportunity to complete multiple internships. He worked two semesters at Walt Disney World in Orlando, a semester at SpaceX in Los Angeles, and worked a semester remotely for a small brewery in the Florida Keys. In all these internships, his role was improving the operations, whether that was allowing more guests to experience the rides at Disney by identifying inefficiencies in their queueing systems at the attractions or by identifying manufacturing inefficiencies in the avionics (electronics) department to help increase the rocket manufacturing productivity. All these experiences, while vastly different, provided Justin with a great basis for starting at GDS because GDS strives to optimize our clients power supply portfolios, find inefficiencies and fix them.
Recently, Justin has been focused on projects relating to solar and battery storage. The renewable space is still relatively new compared to other generation types and he have had the opportunity to not only understand how solar facilities and battery storage systems work, but also how they fit into our clients’ power supply portfolios. He primarily focuses on the cost-benefit analysis of solar and/or battery storage and how our clients can maximize the behind-the-meter potential with these new technologies.
What has working at GDS taught you?
GDS has taught me that you can never stop learning. When I first started, I didn’t know anything about the electric utility industry. It has been fascinating to learn about all the planning and engineering that goes into keeping the lights on for customers like you and me. All the projects that I’ve worked on since joining GDS have helped me understand the industry a lot better by allowing me to dive in to the details and research what I don’t understand.
What do you enjoy doing on your day off?
I enjoy exploring new places in Atlanta. I’ve been in Atlanta for over 6 years now and still feel like I can find new things to do, whether it is hiking trails along the Chattahoochee River or finding new hole-in-the-wall restaurants and bars. I also love going to concerts for different rock and country bands that tour in Atlanta.
What is your favorite vacation?
I would say that my favorite vacation that I’ve taken was a cross-country road trip from South Florida to Los Angeles. My girlfriend (now wife) and I spent about a week traveling from city to city across the U.S. seeing all the different types of terrain and tourist traps. We started in West Palm Beach, FL and stopped in places like New Orleans, Dallas, Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.
Any favorite Movies, books, T.V. shows?
My wife and I are Law & Order: SVU fanatics, I think we’ve seen every episode from when it started in 1999 until the most recent episodes this past fall.
Are you interested in any sports – particularly college football?
I’m a Yellow Jackets fan but being from Florida and my wife graduating from UF, I’m also a Gator fan (anything but Georgia).
Tell us a little about your Family & friends
My wife and I just got married last February but we’ve been together since high school, going on 10 years together this upcoming December! Both our families still live down in South Florida, so we travel down there often. It gives us a great excuse to leave the cold in Atlanta around the holidays and enjoy the warmer weather and beaches down south.
Law & Order: SVU. NBCUniversal Television Distribution. 1999. Television.