Career Options
Three Paths for Engineering
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 [ 2009-08-25 ] |
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BRYAN TAYLOR, P Eng,
on a construction site in Indonesia.
Researchers make discoveries working at universities or research centres. They have a strong spirit of inquiry and pay attention to detail. Meanwhile, field workers enjoy hands-on contact with projects and seeing concrete results. They work “onsite,” for example, on large-scale construction projects. Finally, trained engineers who become business leaders make strategic decisions and motivate their team. Typically, they spend their workweek in offices and boardrooms.
All interact and collaborate regularly with others. Each kind of engineer applies their schooling in different ways, but relies on the same fundamentals: a disciplined approach in tackling problems with analytical thinking. Meet Bryan Taylor, P Eng, Sarah Dorner, PhD, and Craig Navin, BEng: all have very different jobs – but they’re all engineers at heart.
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Bryan Taylor, P Eng, field worker
Bryan Taylor is a civil engineer working for a United Nations agency rebuilding schools in post-tsunami Indonesia. “We’re a small team of international engineers overseeing the work of national engineers and contractors in the reconstruction,” he says.
The journey
Taylor studied Civil Engineering at McGill University until 1998. He then worked in Vancouver’s private sector for both a medium-sized, local engineering consultancy and a large international firm. “It gave me an appreciation for how international consortiums form and work together to bid on and execute large scale projects,” Taylor says.
Taylor became interested in Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR), and in 2004 they asked him to deploy to Banda Aceh, a city on the island of Sumatra in northwestern Indonesia, as part of the UN humanitarian relief effort.
The day-to-day
Taylor treks between field offices around Aceh province and Nias Island. When his reconstruction project wraps up in late 2009, he will have had a hand in rebuilding 226 permanent
primary schools and 28 health centres.
First, he was responsible for training local engineers and contractors, then he became a quality inspector. He’s now the Deputy Project Coordinator managing the final execution. “I have the mission’s institutional memory to react and respond to questions from the builders, auditors and the client.”
The motivations
“Studying, I wanted to work on tangible projects, things you could touch and see, perhaps as part of a legacy you leave behind,” he recalls.
“It’s really about giving back and ensuring that it’s a sustainable process, passing on that knowledge to the locals who will adopt and maintain the buildings and infrastructure.”
The skill set
In terms of special skills for his job, “You need patience in this type of environment, where you are serving people of a
different culture, in a different language, and under sharia law,”
he says.
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Sarah Dorner, PhD, researcher
As a doctoral researcher in environmental and civil engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, Sarah Dorner’s work shapes public health policy on drinking water. “In 2000, after the Walkerton E. coli outbreak, there was an awareness that microbiological contaminants were still a concern,” she says. “I research the fate and transport of microbiological contaminants in watersheds.”
The journey
In 1997, Dorner earned her Bachelor’s in Environmental Engineering at the University of Guelph, and a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She then started teaching in the U.S. but, in 2007, she returned to Montreal to accept a Canada Research Chair in Microbial Contaminant Dynamics in Source Waters.
The day-to-day
“Research involves working with students, technicians or other professors collaborating on the same project,” she says. “Environmental research is by nature very multi-disciplinary.” Safe drinking water for municipalities involves government as well as private sector players.
Her research isn’t a top-down process either. “Students bring up questions, and we try to come up with a hypothesis explaining what’s going on.”
The motivations
“I enjoy working with students, teaching and research. So I am very pleased that I was able to find an academic position,” she says. She faced different opportunities, but explains, “I was motivated by curiosity more so than a particular career path.”
The skill set
What makes a good researcher? “It requires attention to detail,” she says. “You have to go in depth into a problem.”
“Being collaborative and working with others is also beneficial,” she concludes.
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CRAIG NAVIN, B Eng,
chief technology officer,
Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company.
Craig Navin, B Eng, leader
“If you want to know how to get into a leadership role, you have to understand the business-side and people,” says Craig Navin, a chief technology officer at Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO) in Irvine, California.
The journey
Navin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at McGill University in 1999. When he began as a software developer at PAAMCO, he held just one of two IT positions in the 20-person organization. “The company was small; we needed to fill gaps. I learned about finance and how the business operated.”
Naturally good with people, Navin took calculated risks and understood the business. As a result, the CEO gave him a chance to coordinate developers and other technical people. Each time the company grew, he moved up the ranks, eventually reaching the level of CTO.
The day-to-day
The investment fund’s IT department has two roles. They develop custom financial software for trading, tracking and reporting on the company’s investments. In addition, they make sure the computer infrastructure runs smoothly. With offices in London and Singapore, it’s a 24-hour shop.
Navin makes a handful of strategic technological decisions throughout the year, but spends much of the balance determining how best to empower and motivate his team.
A typical day? “Meetings,” he says. “I make sure my team doesn’t have any major logjams.”
The motivations
“It’s rewarding to work in groups on a challenging project – especially working with smart people,” he says. “You have to enjoy, appreciate and understand people’s complexities because they’re not like computers. They’re not deterministic machines.”
The skill set
He now applies his analytical thinking from his engineering background to the soft skills needed to tweak his team’s performance. “I have to know how to manage different people and their different personalities. You can’t think you’re the smartest one in the room. And you also have to give kudos to people who do a good job.”
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