Meet Rylie
Our team members come from diverse and experienced backgrounds in electrical training, and many have been in critical power for years. We pride ourselves on choosing the best people to service our customers to ensure that you get the most out of your equipment.
Rylie Dean
Region: Gulf
Rylie Dean: career electronics technician, lover of broccoli chicken pasta, and future hobby woodworker? After 5 years in the Marines, this Wyoming native moved to San Antonio, TX and began looking for his next career move. He was quickly connected with Mitsubishi Electric where he gets to “work with so many different people to get things done.” Get to know Rylie!
Certifications: OSHA 10, NFPA 70, CPR Certified
Can you tell us more about your professional background, experience in the Marine Corps, and your journey to working at Mitsubishi Electric today?
“I went to school at a community college in Wyoming and then worked for about a year at a coal mine as an electrician. Then I went and joined the Marines and was there for just under five years. I was a ground electronics systems maintainer.
Basically, I fixed radios and operated them but, for the most part, someone would say “this radio is broken” and I’d fix it or get it replaced—whatever I had to do. Then my wife decided we’re moving to San Antonio, so I started applying and a recruiter called me and now I’m here.”
What sparked your interest in electronics? (pun sort–of intended 😊)
“My brother actually was a professor at the community college that I went to and he told me to ‘give it a shot’ and showed me some of the cool stuff he could do. It was instrumentation and controls technology.
He could read this temperature and make it do this or that. And I just thought it was really cool. So, I decided I’d give it a shot, and I went for it.”
What are some things you found surprising or interesting about working in critical power?
“There’s a lot that I’ve learned working with other people to make things happen; getting with the electric contractors and the site contractors and this, that, and the other to do stuff. It’s crazy getting to work with so many different people to get things done.”
How does preventative maintenance play a role in system reliability?
“I learned a lot about this in the Marines. Stuff can only run for so long without ever looking at it. PM visits don’t really take that long – an hour, hour-and-a-half depending on the unit – but just taking it down for that little bit of time, looking through it and making sure everything’s good is huge.
Especially with all this being critical power.
The one time it fails is going to be the worst time for it to fail. So, just doing that hour of ‘Hey, let’s look through it, make sure everything’s good,’ is huge. It’s a large part of what keeps Mitsubishi Electric equipment so reliable.”
What have you found to be the most effective way to communicate to customers on site?
“It kind of depends on what you’re trying to communicate to them. I work mostly with one of our large customers. They already know the plan, and they know everything that’s going on, but I would say you just have to understand what their understanding is so that you can bridge any gaps.
So, if they’re not understanding, saying ‘Hey, I need this all for this reason and this is where we’re trying to get to,’ usually leads to ‘Oh, OK, that makes sense.’ And then they can work it from their side.”
What advice would you give to a Facility Manager?
“PM your stuff. Keep it nice, look into things, and make sure everything’s going well.”
What is the most rewarding part of your job? What is the most challenging?
“I really like troubleshooting stuff. It’s really rewarding when something’s not quite right until you figure it out and then you’re like, ‘Oh, that feels really good.’ That’s probably the most rewarding part.
There can be a lot of ‘hurry up and wait’ – rushing to customer sites and then sitting for hours while something else needs to happen before I do my part. But there’s not really a whole lot I could say I don’t like about this job. Not really a whole lot of anything, actually.”
How would you describe Mitsubishi Electric’s Field Service team?
“I break it down into two parts.
There’s the local team, which is the guys I see every day. I like working with them because everyone there you can tell is the best at this one thing. And you can reach out to them anytime: ‘Hey, I’m having this problem with this thing. Help me out.’ And they’ll help you out with it.
The farther team is where you get more of the more senior techs. Everyone I’ve ever met has always said, ‘If you have a question, just give me a call.’ If someone knows something and you need to know it, they’re going to help you out, like, almost to a crazy level where they’re like, ‘Hold on, let me research this for you.’
Everyone wants to build each other up, which is rare in my experience.”
Where did you grow up, and where are you located now?
“I grew up in Wyoming my whole life. And then I joined the Marines and met my wife. She’s actually from Wyoming too, but her folks had moved to Texas, and she wanted to move to Texas when we got out. And I’m apparently bad at compromising, so we moved to Texas. So yeah, I grew up my whole life there and did five years in the Marines and then I came to Texas.”
What is your ideal weekend?
“Not leaving my house is my ultimate goal. But it never happens that way. I like spending time with family. I’m really close with her parents, so I like hanging out with them. Taking my kid to the park or just experiencing things. Nothing big, nothing crazy, but just doing things with people.”
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
“I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but my wife makes this broccoli chicken pasta and every time she asks, ‘What do you want to eat this week?’ I’m like, ‘Well, you already know what I want.’”
Do you have a favorite movie/TV show or book?
“My favorite show is The Ranch on Netflix. It’s got Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliott in it. Probably my favorite show. I’ve watched that six or seven times now. I just can’t get enough of it.”
What is a new skill or hobby you’d like to learn?
“I’d like to learn how to build stuff out of wood. I want to be able to build some cool stuff. I built a big shelf in my garage with a friend who’s really good at everything he touches. And it was the first thing I’ve ever actually built. It was just awesome, and I want to do more of it. Maybe I’ll build a table next.”
What is the best advice you have received, personally or professionally?
“My dad said, ‘Life’s too short to take long showers’ and for some reason that just makes a lot of sense in a lot of different situations. Just don’t waste your time standing in the shower and not living.”
Profile Last Updated: May 22, 2026