Posted on March 14, 2018
The enrollment deadline for this year's summer Global Project Management program at The Castle is coming up on April 1, 2018. Learn more here.
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I think that all the really interesting2
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things in engineering are happening at3
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the intersection of disciplines. They're not4
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happening where someone has been studying5
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the physics of water for their entire career.6
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It's where you bring that person in with7
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someone who has been studying sensors,8
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for example, or someone who understands9
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social implications of water technologies.10
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So, where those fields intersect is where real11
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innovation is happening and I wasn't exposed to12
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those other fields until I was at The Castle13
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studying things in the areas of geography or english14
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where I learned that I could see these things from15
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different perspectives and got really curious about16
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what would be some powerful other perspectives I17
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could develop.18
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And, that's made me a much better engineer.19
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Employers do like the fact that you have that20
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extra kind of oomph to your degree because you21
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do have that experience abroad.22
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In an engineering role, yes your technical skills23
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are important, but there's a lot more to a job24
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than just engineering technical skills.25
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For example, you're always going to be in a team,26
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communicating. You're always going to be doing those27
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social skills as well.28
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And I feel that having that management program:29
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being able to manage a team, being able to manage30
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a project, being able to manage a budget, those variety31
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of things would all be very beneficial in any job32
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really.33
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Immediately after getting back from the program,34
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I enrolled as a project manager for the Queen's35
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Experimental Sustainability Team.36
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And I was managing a project for a design37
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challenge that I did in waste water engineering.38
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So, I was able to apply all the skills we learned in39
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that course immediately. And from there40
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I went on to become the head of the design team41
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program at Queen's, the Director of Design for the42
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Engineering Society and continued to use those43
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project management skills every day to keep myself44
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organized as I did very complex projects in a variety of45
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different areas.46
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For example, I was co-chair of CIRQUE47
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which is the conference for engineering students48
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to kind of show them the versatility of their degree.49
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I was in charge of managing the budget, the team, and50
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just the entire project in general. So, that had51
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a lot of different applications and I learned a lot52
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about that in the specific Project Management Course53
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that we took at The Castle, so I could really apply all54
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those skills that I learned to actual application.55
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When we're doing design, we need to be aware56
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of the fact that we're building upon designs that57
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have been done for hundreds of years.58
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We are working in complex social and environmental59
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environments. And so, the work that we did,60
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especially studying the history of London as a city,61
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and how some of the technologies within the city of62
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London, such as the border wall around the city, have influenced63
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evolution, was really important.64
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It helped me understand as well how65
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the decisions I make an engineer can66
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change the future of a lot of people's lives.