I have been thinking about my life experiences this morning and how lucky I was to be able to have them by being in the right place at the righ time. Yeah even my negative experiences, which were a result of unlucky factors lining up, were overall beneficial for me, since they propelled me forward. I think a lot of people eventually develop similar sentiments.

For example, here’s a reflection on my work experience during my engineering internship year at the Standards & Materials engineering department in Toronto Hydro Electric System. I haven’t talked a whole lot about it to most people I know so this is as good of a time as any to share em!

The team and floor I was placed in was really great, top notch electrical engineers everywhere. Like I would come across a dozen very knowledgeable people, from other departments, every week, just by walking around.

The work, although not really mechanical engineering stuff, was still quite interesting since a lot of it I was learning for the first time. Yeah don’t really intend to humble brag but I pretty much got paid to learn electrical and civil engineering, project management, and organizational behaviour for 16 months.

There were downsides though, a hefty dose of administerative minutiae, bureaucratic filing, endless emails, etc. though that was also a learning experience. So even though I just grinned and bore it during, with hindsight I am glad I had that exposure. Also, as it was my first real job, there was no other way that could have played out.

The commute was probably the worst part of the experience, but eh now I know that I am definitely not a commuter type of guy!

So yeah I am really glad to have had opportunities that challenged me to be better and I hope anyone reading this will also have these opportunities!

Originally posted on Facebook May of 2019