Student Night Summed Up!
February 04, 2019
Our Amazing Expert Panel (from left): Mark Brosseau (EPCOR), Alan MacLaren (Rally Engineering), Wendell Breckenridge (Pembina Pipeline), Tom Osborn (Spartans Controls) & Chris Taylor (Enbridge)
On the evening of January 28, 2019 students were energized by career advice from our top-knotch expert panelists...
The ISA Edmonton Section annual 2019 Student Night was attended by over 70 students from U of A and NAIT, plus over 20 automation professionals (including our panel experts) looking to give back by chatting with the students.
In the formal portion of the night, our expert panel was quizzed about the following topics: Graduating! What's Next?, Networking, The Interview & The Economy. Their answers were compelling, so we decided to post some of what was said :)
On opportunities for new graduates in automation...
"Cybersecurity is a huge area of opportunity, whether it's IT or OT, there's currently 0% unemployment." - Mark Brosseau, Senior Manager Plants Control Automation, EPCOR
On networking...
"Just get out there and do it. Make new friends, meet your friend's friends." - Alan MacLaren, Instrumentation and Controls Engineering Department Head, Rally Engineering
"Join the ISA, it's a great opportunity, and other organizations like this. All the sudden you're not going to be a stranger anymore, you're going to be somebody that might know somebody." - Tom Osborn, Sales Manager, Spartan Controls
On the interview process...
"What’s important is to make sure that you’re a match! You got the interview, you’ve met the credentials. Now go in a see if it's a good fit, takes the pressure off." - Chris Taylor, Manager, LP ICS Cybersecurity & Infrastructure, Enbridge
On the economy & our industry...
"Automation is the foundation of an oil company, so in Alberta, it's a great industry to be in." - Chris Taylor, Manager, LP ICS Cybersecurity & Infrastructure, Enbridge
"Automation is the backbone. The cost of downtime is enormous, automation helps to prevent this." - Wendell Breckenridge, E/I Foreman, Sherwood Park District, CBU, Pembina Pipeline
"There's no way to do what we do without automation." - Mark Brosseau, Senior Manager Plants Control Automation, EPCOR
A BIG thank you to everyone that attended, especially our experts. Good luck and we hope to see you at another event soon!
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