Fadi Benjamin Professional Profile

Name: Fadi Benjamin

Position: Task Manager Electrical / Process Automation

Field: Project Engineering (Control Systems)

What is your Educational Background? (i.e. Degree, Diploma, Certificate, etc.)

Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering ( University of Colorado, Boulder) cum Laude
Masters of Business Administration ( Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto St. George)

Are there any Special Certifications/Licenses Required? If so, please describe them:

Licensure by the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO): To be able to work as a professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario and take on the liability and responsibity of making design and project execution decision. There is added compensation for Licensed Engineers.

The License requires at a minimum an undergraduate degree in Engineering and a minimum of five years of practical experience in an engineering role.

What are the Day-to-Day Responsibilities in your Position?

8:00 am I arrive at the office, check and reply to emails
8:30 am I plan my day, check my calendar. I got three meetings today which require some preparation.
9:00 am Attend first meeting to discuss the justification for electrical drive upgrades. A team member provides his calculations. I will follow up with him to check the numbers and assumptions.
10:30 am Start reviewing an earlier time study report for equipment cycle times. Include my comments and highlight points of discussion for my meeting on the subject later this afternoon.
12:00 Grab lunch at my computer as I reply to some emails and do some internet research a new machine vision technology. Looks interesting! There is some potential here for an application.
1:00 pm meet to review different OEM ( Original Equipment Manufacturer) designs and proposals. Generate questions to be emailed to the vendors
3:00 pm Take a trip to the plant, check the status of newly installed hardware. Talk to operations and maintenance personnel and discuss the need for modifications. Take some notes to include the work in the next shutdown.
4:00 pm Review some drawings and check my calculations from earlier. Have a quick meeting with the boss to brief him on the outcome of the drive meeting.
5:00 pm Get ready to leave the office to catch Leafs game.

What is the Work Environment for an Entry Level Position? (i.e. Clientele type, Working Space, etc.)

Entry Level Positions should expect a lot of learning in the first year. The University education teaches you to learn quickly and the first year on the job is a learning experience.

Expect to be sharing an office with other colleagues. There will exposure to the plant floor and equipment. Depending on the discipline, you will spend time in front of your computer either programming, designing or generating reports. You will also be involved in observing the operations and take part in shutdowns (This is when the plant is not producing and the equipment is handed over to maintenance to repair and maintain. Shutdowns can take anywhere from few hours to few weeks)

You will mainly interact with internal clients at the Entry level. Your clients could be operation teams, managers, internal business departments. However, certain companies – Such as Consulting Engineering firms or OEMs – do hire engineers in a sales and service role where you will interact with end product or end service customers.

What is the Highest Position you can reach in this Field and Describe it’s Work Environment?

Depends on the company and your interest. At Dofasco for example, we have engineers who are Vice Presidents and CEOs. You could also end up going from a technical role to a more business role such as Human Resources, Commercial, and Finance.

On the Technical side, Engineers can move to management roles as technical managers and lead a team of engineers. This is the most common path. Though companies that provide technological solutions – High Tech and IT, tend to have more Engineers in the ranks of its top managers.

Another path for Engineers is to go private and start a consulting business. This is true for Licensed Engineers with upwards of 10 to 15 years of experience. In this case an engineer will have his or her own business and be providing technical services to different clients.

What is the Most Valuable Thing you have learned in your Career?

Be open minded, love to learn. Learning is your key skill in your toolbox of skills. Learning does not stop when you get your university degree. There is always room to have the company sponsor you for night courses and post graduate degree. Many companies provide on the job training, which you should take advantage of.
Find out what you enjoy and love to do and do it well. This will make you shine and give you the ability to apply yourself to different assignments, careers, and companies.
And most valuable of all, never be scared of trying something new or investing in yourself. Live everyday following your dream, your heart and don’t let life bring you down. I finish this thought with a quote from Steve Jobs ( CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation for a graduation commencement at Stanford):
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."