March is National Engineering Month-Canada's biggest celebration of engineering-and an opportunity to show young Canadians the exciting career opportunities that engineering has to offer. We are proud to employ engineers in Calgary, Ottawa and Halifax. We will be sharing employee profiles throughout the month to show you the challenges that our engineers face every day. Meet Ottawa engineer Doug Thomson.
This interest in learning musical instruments continued to grow, and though Doug had begun to realize he had a talent for math, he decided to learn how to play the trumpet. He picked it up in elementary school and eventually went on to play in his school’s concert and jazz bands. However, as he started to contemplate his future he wasn’t completely certain that turning his passion for music into a career would be possible.
In order to make the right decision about his future, Doug started doing some research. Doug interviewed several local musicians, but unfortunately, his hypothesis proved to be true. He found that the chances of making it in the music industry were slim to none, and if he decided to pursue it, he risked the chance of music becoming “more of a chore and less of a passion.”
However, unbeknownst to him, the due diligence he put into finding a solution to this problem was the first step in realizing his engineering skills.
It was finally in Grade 11 that his curious mind and penchant for math began to open up doors to a future he hadn’t realized existed. Doug’s school offered several engineering technology courses as electives. And because Doug didn’t want to lose the magic he found in his music, he registered in these courses to see if it opened up a different career path. These courses opened up his eyes to the challenges and excitement of engineering. He got to design, build, and race cardboard boats and build spaghetti bridges.
“For the bridge, we were allowed to use string, which in tension is significantly stronger than spaghetti. This was an interesting material strength lesson, especially considering I knew nothing about the mechanics of material strength in high school.” He continued to say that these classes helped him learn the benefits of prototyping and testing early, along with realizing that “some truss designs really don’t work well with glue and spaghetti.”
Until these classes showed Doug the exciting world of engineering, he had had no true exposure. The only engineer in his family was an uncle who lived in a different part of the country. Doug’s dad had studied computer science in school and went on to work as a computer programmer, but Doug didn’t want to be stuck working at a desk all day. He jokes that as a mechanical engineer he instead “only sits for 70% of the day.”
Doug ended up going to the University of Victoria after getting accepted into the engineering program. While in school, Doug got to build a hybrid car and work in a particle accelerator lab. While working on the car he got to help replace the transmission several times and compete against other schools at the GM proving grounds in Detroit. In the particle accelerator lab, Doug got to help with some assembly and minor fixture designs. He says that the lab “had quite an impressive setup for cooling the systems to about
-270ºC,” which he got to take advantage of when helping vacuum test some of the components that were cooled with liquid helium.
Throughout the remainder of his degree, Doug also got to complete several other interesting co-op placements. One of which was with a small biomed firm where he got to help design machine shops by building prototypes of different jigs and fixtures. Another was with General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada. During this four month stint in Calgary, Doug worked in test development where he did high-level block programming.
Once he finished school, and with his foot in the door at GDMS–C, Doug made the bold decision to move across the country to start his career as a mechanical engineer. And he’s never looked back. His current role allows him to work on a bunch of different programs at once, meaning, “there’s never a dull moment.”
As part of the mechanical team, Doug gets involved in programs whenever a new development or issue arises. This is his favourite part of the job because everything he does is a new challenge. Although some tasks seem impossible, it opens up many opportunities for discovery. In these situations, Doug gets to meet with a variety of clients to talk about their needs and conduct a bunch of research on possible solutions.
“I always want to be learning and trying something new,” and at GD he is able to do just that.
When thinking about what more he would like to do in his career, Doug mentioned that a real “pie in the sky project” for him would be working with 3D printing. He would love to be able to design and print things that could be incorporated into currently developed products, but the industry and the technology haven’t made it that far. For now he enjoys being able to print off various 3D prototypes his team designs.
Doug joined the GD Ottawa’s mechanical team over five years ago and continues to enjoy both the work and the camaraderie. He loves that fact that everyone brings different experiences to the table, along with a variety of technical backgrounds. Since he started, he has been provided with the necessary support and motivation to succeed. If you are considering a career in engineering, watch the short clip below for some of Doug’s advice.
But remember, no matter how busy life gets as an engineer there’s always time to enjoy other passions. Doug still loves going home to play piano, playing a match of volleyball, and skiing with the GD Ski Club.
