***Editor’s Note: The “I Became An Engineer” blog runs every Friday. To share your story email jennifer.delaosa@advantagemedia.com***

This week’s story comes to us from ECN reader Virginia Balcom, Executive in Residence, Simon Frasier University VentureLabs.

 

Why did I become an engineer? Well, I was good at math and sciences. That, combined with a liberal dose of serendipity. As I look back over my career, I know that engineering was not only a good path, but an excellent way to combine an interest in how things worked with my desire to create things. It gave me an education and a career path that opened many doors, including doors I couldn’t have seen from the beginning. I want to tell you my story in the hopes that others considering engineering will be able to take a shorter path, one that doesn’t rely so much on serendipity.

I was good at math and sciences, but I knew nothing about engineering. My parents always encouraged me to pursue a university education, so I grew up just assuming that I’d go to university. Over the years I thought being a pilot would be cool, but that seemed only available to boys. Nursing was proposed, but I ran from the site of blood so that seemed like a bad plan. I’d taught swimming in the summers and couldn’t imagine having the patience of my favorite teachers. I took some fashion design classes and made things I needed (pencil cases, makeup brush holders, all things one could make with a needle, thread, and fabric), but this seemed more like a hobby, not a career. However, the fact remained that I was good at math and sciences.

As it came to the last year of high school in my province, I found myself in need of a field of study. My guidance counselors and teachers tried to help, but I suspect they, too, had little idea what an engineer did. Serendipity intervened for the first time when one of my teachers snagged a rare spot on a weekend tour of the local college campuses for me. Over that weekend, I had a lot of fun and got a taste of campus life. I even attended math classes, although, what I remembered about them was the paper airplanes flying from the back of the class.

November of my graduating year found me pouring over course catalogs. Where did math and science get you? One program stood out. From required courses, it seemed that engineering was all about math and science. Now I needed to get some idea of what an engineer did.

Serendipity arrived again. At the time my father, a journalist by trade, worked in communication for McMillan Bloedel, a leading forest products company. He suggested I apply for an MB scholarship. I got the scholarship, and with it lunch with a senior manager who, fortuitously, was an engineer. I still didn’t know much, but I took the leap and applied to the University of British Columbia (UBC)—the only local school with an engineering program.

When I got there, I was lost. The courses were much harder than I’d imagined, and I couldn’t see any connection between all this hard work and a career I wanted. After a summer leading recreation programs, I switched to a recreation degree. But that too didn’t seem to be leading where I wanted, and I headed north to work as a first aid attendant on rigs drilling for natural gas.

This was the first time I first saw actual engineers at work. Thankfully, first aid attendants aren’t very busy, so I had lots of time on my hands. I filled it by following everyone I could and asking questions. I’d hang out on the rig, watching the drilling operations. When the Schlumberger engineers arrived with their truck filled with computerized surface logging equipment I’d invite myself into the truck and ask even more questions. After a just few Schlumberger visits, I began to understand what the graphs told them about the drilling parameters and the geology. Little did I realize I was becoming interested in engineering.

About 18 months into this job, serendipity showed up again. I ran into a woman I’d sat next to in chemistry at UBC. Having graduated from engineering, she was now designing chemical processing plants. Well, if she could do it, so could I. I dug out my transcripts, saved some money, and headed back to school.

While I was studying engineering, serendipity intervened one more time. I landed a somewhat unique intern position with Bell Canada. Working with a team of senior engineers, I was tasked with preparing a submission to the regulator documenting all the software systems in the telephone network. I can’t think of a better way to learn how the telecommunications system works. I spent 4 months interviewing engineers and computer scientists so that I could list and describe all the telecommunications management software Bell used to deliver voice and data services. Through these interviews I learned about everything that happened in the network—from how calls were managed, to how bills were created, and network faults flagged. I learned how math and science turned into things people used. I was hooked.

It truly was a great time to be in telecom during the mid-80s. I joined Alberta Government Telephones and within two years the whole industry was changing. Alberta Government Telephones became TELUS, a publicly traded company. Cellphones arrived, along with new competitive, service providers. On their heels, the internet started to take off. All this innovation brought many opportunities to bring new products and solutions to market. I transitioned to marketing, but leaned heavily on my understanding of telecom technology to bring new services to market for TELUS, then for brave start-ups in the internet and high performance computing space.

It was at this point that I could see why I became an engineer. Although I was good at math and sciences, it was really the opportunity to create new things that people needed—replacing my needle and thread with knowledge I’d gained through engineering—that made engineering a fantastic choice!

Read other stories, here:

• A Note From The Editor: An Engineer’s Story
• I Became An Engineer: Despite Being Bad At Math 
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Drew A Flower​
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of MacGyver And Comfortable Clothes
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Small FM Radio
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Model Airplane Contest
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Loved LEGOs And Tinkertoys
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Grew Up In Kenya​
• I Became An Engineer: So I Wouldn’t Have To Go To Vietnam
• I Became An Engineer: By Just Being Myself
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of Sci-Fi Novels
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Watch
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Stop Tinkering
• I Became An Engineer: By Studying The Fundamentals
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of A 1930s Vintage Radio
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of Microscope Modifications
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Be An Astronaut
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Kept Asking “Why?”
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of Pneumonia (And A Timing Light)
• I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Paperback Book On Electricity​
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Wanted To Travel
• I Became An Engineer: Because I Tinkered With A Radio