What path has your career taken since graduation? 

Did an apprenticeship with BBC, joined Post Office Telecom on graduation in 1971, awarded an opportunity to do a M.Sc. at Aston U., recruited by Northern Electric/ moved to Ottawa, Canada in 1978, various engineering and management roles until a downturn in the Ottawa telecom sector in the 80’s (remember RIM/Blackberry and Mitel?), moved to Calgary and joined Alberta Government Tel (AGT), now called TELUS, until retiring in 2005.

What is your current role?

Retirement, but still doing volunteer work, providing telecom consulting services and website management to local organizations 

What experiences do you feel helped you get to your current position?

Brought my skills and experience to organizations that knew they should be using telecom in their business, but knew nothing about the Internet or website services

How have you used the skills and/or knowledge developed during your degree in your career?

My degree in 1971 focused on engineering, but as I progressed, I learned that management of projects and people were as important as technical knowledge.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in your area of work?

Pay attention to how your engineering skills and knowledge fit into the overall aims of the organization and its customer requirements.

This profile was published in March 2024