In our July EIT Newsletter, we ran a competition, inviting newsletter subscribers to tell us about their lives, careers and what engineering means to them.
We are glad to announce the first winners of the competition, and we approached them to share their unique stories with us.
The entries in general shared so much information and vignettes on what engineers are doing globally, and we had to include these stories as well.
Thokolani Vlunda (Botswana)
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born in and grew up in Botswana.
When did you realize you enjoy engineering or STEM-related subjects?
From primary to Senior secondary school, I enjoyed learning and was good at Mathematics and Science. I enjoyed going through processes while solving mathematical problems or doing scientific experiments. I realized that I enjoyed Engineering when I was doing my first year at the University.
Where do you currently work?
I’m a Telecommunications and IP Networks Support Assistant Engineer at a Telecommunications company based in Gaborone, Botswana.
What do you enjoy about your field?
I enjoy being part of a team and collaborating and my field offers exactly that including constant innovations, intellection and problem-solving.
Why do you think engineers play an essential role in the world?
Engineers identify, and devise ideas and solutions to solve the problems. They invent new technologies which help develop the world economy and create a comfortable environment for people.
How did you manage to secure your employment?
I secured my current employment through a referral by someone I had worked with before. They set up an appointment for me to meet my current manager and sell myself professionally.
What is great about engineering in your country?
We follow the same standards that are universally, and our curriculum is also that of international standards.
Arvind M (India)
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born in a city called Chennai, which is in the state of Tamilnadu, India. I grew up and did my schooling, and engineering education.
When did you realize you enjoy engineering or STEM-related subjects?
I really realized and enjoyed engineering while doing my practice sessions in the laboratory, which made me love the field. It made me visualize the theoretical concepts and understand engineering better.
Where do you currently work?
I currently work in Chennai as Engineer in Industrial Automation Domain. I work on the projects like Power plants.
What do you enjoy about your field?
I enjoy the challenges which I face every day on the site, new enquires from customers and executing the logic and testing it.
Why do you think engineers play an essential role in the world?
In every country, development is much needed. Development is built by engineers, in my point of view, there will be no development without engineers as they are the ones who execute our thoughts in real-time work.
How did you manage to secure your employment?
During my first job interview, I was very nervous which is common. I managed with my engineering basics, I was asked mostly about scenario-based problems, so I answered the solutions by adding the technical kind of stuff to bring the solution.
What is unique about engineering in your country?
Engineers in my country have perfectly balanced skills to execute the solution. They have great potential and can work with a team to execute a project. They have strong knowledge of safety and they will work with good safety practices.
Kanwarpreet Singh (United States of America)
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born and brought up in Ludhiana in the State of Punjab, India.
When did you realize you enjoy engineering or STEM-related subjects?
I have really liked designing in AutoCAD since engineering school. In fact, AutoCAD was my favourite subject with CAD/CAM coding. That’s when I decided to pursue my career in this field in which I can apply engineering principles along with designing.
Where do you currently work?
I currently work at Powercon Associates, LLC, a full-time MEP consulting firm based in New York City and I have been working at PowerCon for the last 15 years.
What do you enjoy about your field?
I love the design work in engineering and the opportunity to see the projects come to life and it really gives me the motivation to see our clients happy and satisfied.
Why do you think engineers play an essential role in the world?
I believe that engineers are the backbone of modern society, who strive to provide comfort & clean environment to the people by innovating, designing, and utilizing energy-efficient systems for the well-being of the people.
How did you manage to secure your employment?
I made sure that I constantly updated my knowledge & design skills to be at par with the market demand. Also, I always strive to improve my communication skills because face-to-face interactions with clients and architects are very important in the HVAC Design industry, and I believe that effective communication and proper execution are the keys to success.
What is unique about engineering in your country?
I think engineering is prevalent everywhere in the USA – be it Mechanical, Electrical, Fire Protection, Plumbing, environment, etc. etc. – pretty much everything you see wouldn’t exist without the engineers. Also, another very important aspect is sustainability, which has a huge impact on the natural environment and there are local laws/codes by which a manufacturer must abide to be energy compliant.
Jamie Nipperess (Australia)
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
Was born in the town of Mackay. I lived in a small town called Sarina until I was 15 and my family moved to Mackay as my mum worked and my sister and myself went to school there.
When did you realize you enjoy engineering or STEM-related subjects?
I don’t know why just a feeling that I wanted to be an electrician before I finished high school.
Where do you currently work?
I live in a small town called Emerald and work approximately 40min out of town for a mine called. At the moment I am studying 52892WA Advanced Diploma of Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I) Engineering in Mining.
What do you enjoy about your field?
Fault Finding, improving how things are done, passing on knowledge.
Why do you think engineers play an essential role in the world?
We wouldn’t have the internet, WIFI, phones that can do so much, the power that is distributed to your house, travelling in a car, flying in a plane, exploring the depths of the ocean and exploring the cosmos. We require engineers for all of the above plus much more.
How did you manage to secure your employment?
I worked as a contractor and it was the right time and place. I sent them a copy of my resume to show my work history. I tried in my early 20s to do my Diploma in Electrical Engineering, but working and having a good time were more important then. And in my 30s I started doing a bridging course to get excepted into Uni to do a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering but I met my wife, so that was put on the burner and now seems the right time and everything has fallen nicely into place.
What is unique about engineering in your country?
Most engineers I know in the mining industry don’t do much engineering but people management.
More engineering stories from around the world
MWA, Anayat-Ali (Pakistan): I’m a Master’s degree student and I’m working for a pharmaceutical company in Pakistan. My designation in this is MIRO stands for Medical Information Relationship Officer.
AA, Hossen (Bangladesh): I am a Product Engineer and I am working with Civil Engineers in five Districts. My major responsibility is having good relations with Engineers for Business Development of Building materials like Ispat, Cement, Upvc Pipes, fittings of my Company.
Regular communication with different people like Engineers, Homeowners, Masons, and Contractors and convince them to use our materials. It’s a challenging job and I like it. Here I am always communicating with different kinds of people for connecting them with my Company. Making good relations with customers by regular visit them. I am also giving technical support where needed by customers for our Building materials.
JT, Izihirwe (Rwanda): I work as a foreman in my country, and we construct Mosques, residential buildings and churches. It’s great to work in the field because you can build your skills.
M, Chilinda (Zambia): I am a site engineer. I act as the main technical advisor to the subcontractors, craftspeople and operatives on the construction site.
I really enjoy strong teamwork with my crew members because not only do we achieve our goals but I personally learn a lot from the experienced members.
And I get great satisfaction out of figuring out how to fix things. My experience gives me the tools to diagnose problems and recommend improvements to construction management.
R, Simpson-Tweheyo (Uganda): I work with NARO as an Assistant Marine Engineer. I run, maintain and repair Research Vessels to aid marine scientists to carry out the fish biology and water quality of freshwater lakes and rivers.
What is interesting to me as an Engineer, is to know different fish species that we can export to other parts of the globe and create more revenue for the country. As an Engineer see many opportunities at the lake, like vessel crews and tourism.
N, Nabin (Nepal): I’m a registered Civil Engineer. I’m currently working at a road construction site and to be with a different group of people from different parts of countries and to do work with them is the most exciting part
S, Ngoni (South Africa): I work as a workshop engineer in an automotive workshop that specializes in electrical repairs for all German-made cars. The systems are full of embedded systems, nodes connecting to nodes using various communication buses, mainly CANBUS. I am responsible for electrical repairs, system programming and coding, the interesting part of my job is to be able to apply my programming skills which I obtained from studying with EIT, especially from the Engineering Programming unit as well as the embedded system designs.
I am also responsible for system failure diagnostics as well as the research and development part of it.
FN, Bathromeus (Namibia): I am a level 3 graduate in Electrical Engineering Instrumentation, I work for a small company as an assistant electrician. I’m an expert in house wiring, installation of the electrical system in new buildings, maintenance and also solar energy system installation and maintenance. I enjoy working as a team and facing the challenge that always comes up during work and it is really good to keep myself busy with work and learn new things.
S, Akpan (Nigeria): I’m a Research Assistant with Space Physics Research Group (SPRG), Physics Department of Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden, Nigeria. In the group, my most recent project is on: Analysis of Ionospheric Response to Earthquake using GPS Data, where the coupling of Lithosphere-Atmosphere -Ionosphere was examined using GPS derived total electron content (TEC) to monitor Ionospheric behaviour 20 days and 5 days after the Chiqnik, North America significant earthquake of 10th November 2021 with magnitude 7.0. The earthquake data was obtained from the archive of the United States Geological Society (USGS), and the geomagnetic and solar indices data were obtained from int’l Service of Geomagnetic Indices (ISGI) while TEC was obtained from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).
Geomagnetic and Solar indices were analyzed as controls to filter and determine the seismogenic of the disastrous event.
What’s exciting about this work is that, among different precursory phenomena studied on earthquake predictions, the Ionospheric method is probably the youngest and holds more potential since it’s based on recent computing intelligence.
J, Camunto (Angola): I currently work for the Local Training Center, I am HSE Assistant Trainer, and there is nothing more exciting than training others in their future skills.
R, Amooh (Ghana): I’m an Electrical Technician doing daily electrical checks on machines and generators.
My work includes:
- Working on the operation of the boiler, Hydraulic, Operation of air compressor, Electric motor control, Electrical wiring, Basics PLC control, General fault tracing, Air condition servicing and mechanical work (Maintenance)
- Working on stripping, sachets, granulating, coating, packaging, and compression machinery.
My profession as Electrical Technician allows me to explore any angle of the field.
G, Kirwa (Kenya): I am an Electrical Engineer. I’m self-employed, managing my own work within the region I live. The most important part of my skill of working is electro-mechanical, that’s working with machines and to engage in evolving natural energy, like small industry solar powered systems to minimize productions cost.
G, Weston (Zimbabwe): I provide electrical power engineering services for a supermarket. This is a rewarding choice and I am passionate about technology, mathematics, and science, as it lets me use the discipline in innovative ways. Competitive salaries and working in a variety of industries also make my electrical engineering work appealing.
C, Ofere (South Sudan): I do maintenance work, electrical system installations and general wiring where I live. I enjoy it!
