My career in engineering, including university and high school, has covered over 30 years. I include high school, because without the required training there I may have had difficulty getting into the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Regina. Without my university education, I would have been ineligible to become a member of APEGS and obtain a P.Eng.
Multiple years of preparation were a pre-requisite to becoming a member at APEGS. During each of these phases of my career, I’ve had mentors guiding me along the way.
Who is a mentor and what is mentorship? In my experience, a mentor is someone with whom you have a trusted relationship. A mentor is an active listener, who provides sage advice or sometimes just listens.
There are various forms of mentorship, from formal programs through to friendships. I have not engaged in formal mentorship during my career but have been very lucky to have met numerous people along my path that have provided guidance. I cannot express my thanks enough to those people who have helped guide me and listened when I needed to work through things.
During high school, my parents were a strong influence in choosing my electives to make sure that I had all the required pre-requisites for university and that I was positioned to enter any faculty. Both of my parents are technologists and strongly encouraged me toward engineering.
Aside from my parents, I also had a lot of support during high school from my teachers. One who had a huge influence was Mrs. Antrobus, my high school physics teacher. I told her quite early in my grade 12 semester of physics that I was leaning towards engineering after high school. She was very supportive and encouraging. Outside of my family, I consider her one my first mentors in engineering.
After I entered the Faculty of Engineering, there were many professors that had a positive influence on my experiences. But there were two that I hold as particularly influential. Professor Art Opseth, P.Eng., FEC was always there for students. He not only provided guidance on academics but was also influential regarding home life.
At one point I received some devastating news just as I was walking into a mid-term. I did not do well on that exam. Speaking to Professor Opseth about what was happening helped me act to right-side what was happening and provide some perspective on what I was experiencing.
Another influential professor was Dr. Marie Iwaniw, P.Eng. From my very first class with her, she started to provide guidance. She was the female role model of succeeding in engineering and not letting yourself get distracted by negative influences. These two mentors have been with me since my first days in university and continue with me now. Though I don’t see them often, their lessons often come to mind.
My working career has had many mentors, my first supervisor, Dwayne Gelowitz, P.Eng., FEC, provided me lessons on work ethic and relationships. My first office manager, Ken Linnen, P.Eng., FEC guided me in professional writing and demonstrated the patience it takes to lead an office of people. Bob Crawford, P.Eng. from the City of Regina was one of my first clients. He was so patient working with me and provided guidance beyond being my client.
Mentorship at APEGS has taken place over the twenty years that I have been involved with the organization, starting in university. My relationships with people here have grown and changed over the years as I took on different roles.
The mentorship I have been provided by various people has changed as I have moved from student volunteer to president, but many of the people have been with me for most of my journey. Bob McDonald, P.Eng., MBA, LL.B., FEC, FGC (Hon.); Shawna Argue, P.Eng., FEC; Peter Van Vliet, P.Eng.; Margaret Kuzyk, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.); Wayne Clifton, P.Eng., FEC and Ernie Barber, P.Eng., P.Ag., FEC to name a few, have each guided me in different ways and have created a lasting impression on how I conduct myself.
You can see from the various roles that each of these people had, that mentorship can come from anywhere. My greatest lesson from each of these mentors is to make time for people. Though I was never formally mentored by these people, each of them has made time for me over the years.
It seems strange because I don’t feel like I have enough experience but I now see myself mentoring others and it is one of my favourite things to do. Give back and you will always be happy to reap the returns.