Dan Langdon has been with City Light for 14 years. He was born and raised in Iowa but traveled to Seattle on and off since the 70s. It wasn’t until 1987 that Dan moved to Washington permanently with some friends from college. “Back in those days, Seattle was a very inexpensive place to live, and the music scene was taking off. It was a great time for the city.”
“I went to The University of Iowa, where I studied lots of things, but ultimately majored in Technical Theatre,” Dan shared. “That has actually come in handy at City Light because a lot of it was about construction and electrical work.”
In this week’s (spot)Light, Dan talks about his life in North Beacon Hill, his new weekend getaway, and his work at the utility.
“I live on North Beacon Hill. The views are amazing, and the neighborhood, while changing, still feels like a neighborhood. It’s close to work, the light rail, and the interstates. You can get almost anywhere pretty quickly. My partner and I recently bought a little house over in Electric City, Washington, which is right near Grand Coulee Dam, so we’ve spent many weekends working on it. I hadn’t spent much time in Eastern Washington before that, so it’s been exciting getting to know that part of the state. The geographic diversity of Washington State is amazing. Aside from that, I like cooking, reading, playing with our two dogs, and collecting mid-century furnishings and accessories (something I’ve been doing since the 1970s when nobody wanted it).”
“I worked in the hotel industry for ten years and then worked for an internet marketing startup back in the early days of the web. When a larger business acquired that company, I was out of a job, and saw a position with City Light that looked interesting: Electric Service Representative (ESR).”
“I am the Training Supervisor for the Electric Service Representative groups at North and South, and I also handle special projects. Right now, with the COVID situation, I’m spending most of my time working on projects associated with the wrap-up of the Advanced Metering Initiative (AMI). I was working on AMI before the first meter got exchanged, and I think I will be working on it until the last meter gets exchanged.”
“I love the wide variety of work I’ve been able to do here at the utility. Everything from standard ESR work, to projects like the launch of the Outage Management System, the transportation electrification initiative, and Advanced Metering, to planning and staffing the City Light booth at the Seattle Home Show for several years. I’m particularly happy to have been involved with City Light’s renewable energy efforts. When the solar production incentive began back in 2008, it was the ‘wild west,’ and nobody knew how to deal with it. It’s great to see how it has evolved – both the technology and the way that the utility has responded to it.”