August 5, 2022

Location: Burlington, ON

Position: Systems Designer

In 2019, I graduated from McMaster University’s Batchelor of Technology program with specialization in Automation Engineering. Throughout my education, I completed 16 months of co-op. These co-op experiences included a Process Improvement and Maintenance Intern at a solar panel manufacturer, a Control Systems Engineer at a company specializing in airport baggage handling, and an Electrical Engineer at a company that provided robotic solutions to the automotive industry. My love for all of these experiences made me decide that after graduation, I wanted to continue my career path in automation. In 2018, Grantek held a PLC bootcamp at McMaster University and I was curious about the company. The HR and engineering team that ran this bootcamp were amazing and I really liked what they had to say about the work they do and the company culture. From further discussions with Grantek, I was offered a full time position a year before I graduated!

When initially doing research into the company, I found that they were right up my alley for my chosen career path of automation. Reading employees career profiles and reviews of the company made me think that this would be the perfect place for me to work. In the interview process, I talked with HR, engineers and the CEO. Everyone I spoke with was just as excited to learn about me as I was to learn about them/the company. This gave me the feeling that Grantek would be an amazing place to work.

From my two and a half years at Grantek, I have really enjoyed the variety of work, the customers and the project teams I have worked on. I am constantly provided with complex problems that allow me to use my experience in automation to come up with brilliant solutions that please our clients. Grantek has provided me with plenty of opportunities to learn new technologies and grow my career.

As a System Designer, my responsibilities are to come up with a functional design, program to that design and commission the design. I work with a variety of automation software and hardware from companies like Rockwell, Siemens and Inductive Automation. I like the variety of being able to sit down and design in the office and then go to a customer’s site and see what I have designed come to life. It is a very satisfying feeling!

It is hard to pin point one best this about this job because there are so many great things. The people I work with, the support network Grantek provides, the work I do, the customers I deal with all assist in my feeling of true enjoyment and satisfaction of this job!

My advice for new Grads/new employees would be don’t be afraid to ask question. At Grantek, we have an amazing group of people with a wealth of knowledge I cannot describe. Every time I feel stuck on a problem, there is always someone to reach out to with expertise or experience in the situation at hand. You never feel like you are left on your own. Remember that one of Grantek’s core values is Teamwork, we succeed and fail together. We are one team!