Having to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life can be a daunting task. That’s why being given the opportunity to job shadow is an amazing opportunity. I chose to job shadow a mechanical enigineer named Karen. Karen has been a mechanical engineer for many years and I found my day very interesting. In order to job shadow I first had to ask and see if I could actually do it. Karen works with my dad and is actually my teachers sister so though I wanted to call and ask my dad actually mentioned it in a phone call. I then emailed her to verify the time and date and thank her for allowing me to get this opportunity. I then created questions I wanted to know and ask her, these are those questions:

How did you get into this line of work?
What is it like being an industry that is so men dominated?
What aspect of mechanical engineering do you work in?
Would you say that you have to be good at math in order to succeed at your job?
What experience did you have with schooling to become a mechanical engineer?
The construction and building industry is and always has been growing and has not slowed down would you say that there will continue to be job opportunities in your line?

I then went into “work” on Monday May 7th. Karen works at  MCW an engineer consulting company. This company is located throughted Canada and even has an office in London. The Vancouver office is located downtown on Granville street. On Monday morning I arrived at the office at 8:30.

Getting my morning coffee with Karen!

She then took me around the office and introduced me to her co-workers. I found out that she is the head of her team as in the office there teams of people who work on projects as it is easier to coordinate then all working together.

Karen explained to me that as your become more experienced you actually do less mechanical engineer and more communicating and coordinating with others as well as simply problem solving. Problem solving I quickly realized is a huge component of being a mechanical engineer. I could relate to this as PLP is all about being given a problem and then finding a way to solve it, I found this a really interesting aspect of the job. The problem she has to do day to day is anything from if a client doesn’t like the way something looks, if the building mechanics fit the building code and even just talking on the phone with contractors.

Karen then had a small meeting to talk about the up coming week with her co-worker Ray. They discussed a particular building that had to be improved and I was actually going to go to the job site with her that afternoon! They also explained to me a program called Revet that is like a 3D blueprint and is very helpful and is the future.

It was then lunchtime, we had lunch at a Thai place call the Pink Elephant. Karen invited Graham Lovely, an electrical engineer (the hardest engineering field) who also works at MCW. He talked to me about the school aspect to the job and what is needed in order to become an engineer. He told me that he struggled in his school Sialkot because he didn’t try and yet how important and helpful it can be to get ahead in high school and then you wont struggle as much when you get into university. However when you are in university it can be very challenging no matter what both of them said they were good at math and even they struggled to understand the first year. I then asked Karen what its like being a women in such a male dominated industry and she responded saying that in school there were three other women in her coarse she took. That at certain times you do realize you are the only women in the room but the men respect you and don’t look down on you as they have in the past. Graham then expressed that there are so many opportunities and you have to take them and it will then open up new doors however if you do want to become an engineer have a general idea what type you want to be as certain parts can be hard to transfer into if you want to change. Over all this lunch was very helpful and it gave me a lot to consider, I am so thankful that Karen brought in Graham as he taught me so much over a delicious meal!

After lunch it was then time to head back to the office and then we went to an actual job site so Karen could inspect that everything was going according to plan. The job site is called Station Square and is located next to metro town. Here is what is planned to look like:

I find it amazing to think that someone I now know helped design this building and I was able to help look around the building while it was not yet finished and was still getting safeting inspections and even being built! However before going on the job site I got a safety briefing, a hard hat, steel boots and safety goggles.

Once on the job site we were able to go up to the top level which gave an incredible view of Burnaby and Vancouver. Not only did I see the view but I also saw that Karen will take pictures of what needs to be fixed so that she can then take them back to her office to notify the builders that some things need to improved.

Here are some of the key components of a day as a mechanical engineer:

Overall job shadowing with Karen was such an amazing opportunity and gave me so much to consider. I had always thought that I couldn’t become one because I have always struggled with math however talking to her and Graham showed me that if I work hard enough I could become an engineer, just maybe not an electrical one. I’m so grateful to Karen for giving me this opportunity and who knows what it will lead to!