March is National Engineering Month in Canada—by highlighting our organization’s talent, we hope to inspire future innovators to consider an engineering career. Throughout the month we will be sharing inspiring stories on behalf of our engineering colleagues from locations across the country.

Growing up in Vaughan, Ontario, Juanita loved to brainstorm and create innovative solutions for all kinds of problems. Her father, who knew a lot about engineering, helped introduce her at a young age to the software world. Years later in high school, Juanita’s passion was further ignited while taking a computer science class. Ultimately, all these roads led her to pursue what she believes is her true calling: a post-secondary education in STEM.

Now in her third year of the software engineering program at Carleton University, Juanita is enhancing her growing knowledge with a year-long co-op placement at General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada in Ottawa. In her role, Juanita is part of the DevOps and Cortex team, working on all aspects of the software development life cycle. With a drive for success, her responsibilities include testing deployments of various tools, updating user manuals, and more. 

"I’m learning so many new tools I didn’t even know existed and I’m really enjoying it so far, and that’s in large part thanks to my team,” she says. “They all have a lot of experience in this field and they’re really passionate about what they do—which creates a great work environment for me where I can learn a lot. It’s been really inspiring.” 

Now at the halfway point of her studies, Juanita’s co-op placement will continue through December 2022. Excited about what's to come in 2023, she believes her skillset will continue to flourish. “There are a lot of other fields in software engineering that I might explore, such as cyber security, but General Dynamics has been such a great place to start. The company has given me a lot of tools and resources that will only help me advance in my career moving forward.” 

As for offering advice to younger people who wish to follow in Juanita’s engineering footsteps?

"Engineering is just as challenging as everyone thinks it is—but if you believe in your skills, have the motivation, and surround yourself with people who support you, anything is possible!” 

Juanita’s life philosophy is to find joy even in the smaller moments. “Eleanor Roosevelt once said, ‘happiness is not a goal; it’s a by-product of a life well lived,’” she quotes. Applying that sentiment to her personal and professional life, she makes time for things she loves: including running, yoga and—of course—engineering.