PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Skystone Engineering 2015 Fall – Training Courses Regulatory & CSA Z662 Pipeline System Code – Update September 2 Calgary, AB September 16 St. Albert, AB October 7 Calgary, AB November 3 Grande Prairie, AB Regulatory & CSA Z662 Pipeline System Code – LITE November 5 Whitecourt, AB Regulatory & CSA Z662 Pipeline System Code – Full Course October 14-15 St. Albert, AB Regulatory & ASME B31.3 Process Piping – Update September 3 Calgary, AB September 17 St. Albert, AB October 8 Calgary, AB November 4 Grande Prairie, AB Regulatory & ASME B31.3 Process Piping – LITE November 26 Weyburn, SK Pipeline & Facility Installa Ɵ on Inspectors Course September 8-10 Weyburn, SK September 23-25 Whitecourt, AB October 21-23 Calgary, AB November 18-20 Medicine Hat, AB Materials Selec Ɵ on for Sour Service October 28 Calgary, AB
she could talk to about the unique challenges faced by women in a male-dominated profession. “I just wanted to talk to a female engineer. I felt very isolated in my work environment. My goal simply was to talk to someone with an engineering background who would understand me.” Meeting with Ms. Harron every couple weeks gave her the boost of confidence she needed to move her career in a new direction. Today, she’s a process controls engineer with Enbridge. She’s also giving back as a mentor herself. She volunteers with several programs that encourage young girls to explore engineering careers, and she also helps guide E.I.T.s and new engineering hires at her workplace. “Before I talked to Lorna, I was shy and didn’t want my voice heard,” says Ms. Qu. “I learned so much from her. It is not an exagger- ation to say that she changed me, my life, and the way I see things.” LEARNING FROM THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS Her experience as a mentor inspired Ms. Harron to start a new employee resource group at Enbridge. Called FEMINEN (Females in Engineering), the program’s mandate is to improve the engagement and retention of female engineers at Enbridge. Mentoring is an important part of that equation. Through the group, female engineers support each other by sharing stories and advice, and acting as sounding boards for each other. FEMINEN has also extended mentorship into the community through the Engineering Futures program, which pairs female engineers with high school Aboriginal girls. Ms. Harron also continues to be involved in Enbridge’s regular mentoring program. She’s currently working with a young engineer who wants to learn how to use his time more effectively and how to better manoeuvre workplace politics. Her experience as a mentor has its roots in her teen years, when she began mentoring her younger sister in high school. When she returned to university in her 30s to change careers from dental assistant to engineer, she found herself informally mentoring the younger students and sharing her life experiences. Later, at one of her first jobs as an E.I.T., she had a work buddy who helped her navigate the corporate culture. Working in the field as a young professional, she also got advice from her dad — a pipefitter — on how to get field personnel to listen to her ideas. “You can learn from anyone’s experience, engineers or oth- erwise,” notes Ms. Harron. She has a mentor at Enbridge, a senior executive in the company, who is not an engineer. “I talk to him about some of the things I want to do as a leader, and he talks about his own experiences,” she says. “To be an effective mentor, you also have to be a mentee if you want to keep growing and developing.”
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MORE INFO APEGA Mentoring Conference Page 25, this PEG , or apega.ca APEGA Summit Awards Page 3 and Pages 46-48 this PEG , or apega.ca
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