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 Halifax engineer, Gaurav Sehgal.
Gaurav’s journey began in India, where he grew up in the city of Nagpur. He was a very mechanically inclined child and though talking about these inclinations makes him feel like a cliché, Gaurav says he definitely was “extremely inquisitive as a child, and liked to take things apart to see how they worked.”
However, his interests had few outlets in his youth. Growing up in India in the 1990s meant that he had limited exposure to technology. He didn’t even have a computer in his family home. Thankfully, when he reached high school, his school started a trial science club program that allowed students to perform practical experiments. In this club, Gaurav had the opportunity to reverse engineer a hair dryer and create various circuit drawings.
At the end of Grade 12, Gaurav had to face his future head on. In India, because he chose the science stream, he needed to decide between two entrance exams for university. His choices were medicine or engineering. Gaurav chose to take both exams in order to keep his options open, and not surprisingly passed them both. However, the results did not show him the career path he felt was right for him.
Before receiving his results, Gaurav really thought a career in general medicine was what would have been his best choice. But, his results showed an aptitude for dentistry, which he didn’t want to pursue as a profession. The results of his engineering exam revealed that his true passion was not unfounded; he had an aptitude for electronics and electrical engineering.
Gaurav went on to complete a four-year Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Nagpur. However, by the time he graduated in 2003, there was a bit of a recession in India with no available jobs in core engineering. The only jobs were in the software field, in programming and testing. Since these did not appeal to Gaurav, he had to open himself up to opportunities in other countries. Canada was Gaurav’s first choice and he got accepted into Dalhousie University to complete a Master’s degree in applied science.
So, he made the bold decision to pack his things and move halfway across the globe on his own.
Though Gaurav was leaving his parents and sister behind in India, he was grateful to have a support system ready for his arrival in Halifax. He had his relatives and a group of university friends there for him, ready to ease his transition to a new country and help him survive his studies.
During these studies, Gaurav was able to benefit from his other educational interest, medicine. His thesis focused on the use of medical imaging processes and engineering skills to develop a program to help doctors make their diagnosis. Throughout the process Gaurav got to work with a variety of cardiologists and even considered transitioning into the medical imaging field as a career.
However, after graduating from Dalhousie, Gaurav was unsuccessful in finding a job in medical imaging, and considered continuing his studies by going on to complete a PhD. Financial reasons kept him from pursuing further education, so in 2007 he began the search for his first job. This search landed him an Electrical and Avionics Engineering role at a large aerospace and defence company in Halifax.
He started in the electronics department where he worked on a space program designing electronic products and wire harnesses for satellites alongside the Canadian Space Agency; in fact, one of the satellites he worked on is even launching this year! Gaurav then transitioned into the aerospace department where he worked with defence aircrafts, where he learned about airworthiness and safety.
After eight years with that company he needed a “new opportunity to widen horizons, working in some field related to aerospace, but with a different job profile.” This is when a recruiter told him about a potential Safety and Reliability Engineering, contract position with General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada.
Gaurav started with GDMS–C in 2016 and in less than a year, he had become a full-time, permanent employee. He had been brought on to develop a FRACAS tool that had previously been dormant. Along with his manager, he was responsible for getting the tool up and running in order to identify failures and safety trends in non-commercial aircrafts. Despite having previous experience in airworthiness, the reliability aspect was new to him, yet it is something that brought new meaning to his work.
Speaking about the best aspects of his job, Gaurav said that “seeing what I work on being utilized on aircrafts, making it more safe and reliable for operation” is gratifying. However, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep up with the failures and safety trends, to be one step ahead and identify them before they cause aircraft availability.
Here, at GDMS–C, Gaurav has found a team that is extremely supportive and collaborative. And his work has fulfilled him beyond any expectations. He gets to see what he has worked on actually be used to make today’s aircrafts safe and reliable, and he gets to keep up with ongoing industry trends. However, down the road, he would eventually like to transition into project management.
Aside from his successes and career aspirations, Gaurav’s wife and children complete him. He grew up with his wife in India, but they went their separate ways after high school (she continuing her schooling in India and he in Canada). However, on one of his trips back home, they reconnected, and they have been together ever since. The pair have created a life for themselves in Halifax, both with established careers (hers as a clinical researcher) and have had two amazing children.
Gaurav’s daughter is currently six and a half and “at the moment talks about being a doctor to help people,” his son is three and does not have a care in the world, he “just wants to live life.” Since having children Gaurav and his wife have travelled a lot, as they don’t want the kids to be bound to one place.
When Gaurav isn’t travelling with his family, he loves to take on DIY projects around his house. Since coming to Canada, these projects have been a big thing to him.
“I’m slowly building my toolbox to do it on my own.”
Like the support system he had when coming to Canada, Gaurav was lucky to have an extremely supportive thesis supervisor that was always available to give him advice on how to progress in his education and career.
