Chol Ghai Chol

Current City: Williams Lake, British Columbia

Year arrived in Canada: 2008

School: University of Toronto & University of Saskatchewan

Academic Program: Materials Engineering & MSc. Chemical Engineering

Current Occupation: Pipeline Intergrity EIT

1.    What inspired you to pursue engineering of all the academic programs that were available to you?  

I am passionate about process and chemical engineering. I knew early on that I wanted to study energy and mining, especially the process of turning raw materials into finished products. I am fascinated by the chemical steps that engineers follow to extract pure minerals from their raw unclean forms. For example, isolating aluminum from bauxite.

2.      Would you say personal discipline and motivation were the main factors in your academic success or would you credit strong family support? Inherent intellectual aptitude goes without saying.

I was very motivated to succeed in my studies. Support and encouragement from family can only take you so far if you don’t have the willpower and the needed work ethics to complete mundane course assignments. The drive to succeed has to come from within. Knowing what you are good at, what you want out of life and how to achieve it; these are personal matters.

3.      Can you tell me a bit about your career path and what led you to the role you are in today?

After my studies, I wanted to work in process engineering. This includes process control, design and automation. I worked at a mining company after my masters. They mine potash and turn it into agricultural products. Unfortunately, my role was more office based data analysis, so I didn’t get my hands dirty on the field. After that, my next role was at Suncor which gave me a more hands-on process control engineering experience. My line of work involves designing processes, automating checks and balances. When processes run outside the set limits, an alarm is triggered and we are able to get someone on the ground to reset it to desirable thresholds. All these experiences prepared me for my current role as a Pipeline Integrity EIT.

4.      What are some of the biggest challenges you faced getting to where you are today and if any, current day-to-day challenges and setbacks?

Early on, I applied for jobs I really felt really qualified for and did not hear back. This was frustrating. Having industry experience is extremely important when looking for engineering jobs. My research work experience at U of T did not count for much when I was interviewing. Transferring all the knowledge we acquire in school and trying to apply it to real-world situations is also challenging. We have to be constantly on a learning-mode.

The main day-to-day challenge is navigating the different cultures at work. Our way of life and interactions at work are different, so it is a constant test trying to connect and communicate effectively with coworkers.

There is also an overall industry challenge, mining is falling out of favor due to environmental conservation pressures. Oil and gas as an industry is always adapting and finding cheaper and cleaner processes to produce fossil fuels. Tighter environmental regulations means we have to produce minimal waste, and it is not cheap. This means we have to find efficiencies in our processes because Canadian oil is not as clean as Saudi or Texas oil. It has more Sulphur and purifying it is expensive. I am in a declining industry and this means staying extremely competitive in order for my skills to be wanted around . Green energy projects are starting to come online but that is a discussion for another day.

5.      What does a workday look like for you and what’s something that would surprise ordinary people about your day-to-day work?

I mostly work on alternating week-on-week-off schedules. My average field day is 12 hours for 7 days in a week and it takes 1 hour to get to the job site. Half of my work day is almost paperwork, I need to assess safety risks, hazards and conditions at the job site. I need to document every incident or unusual conditions. Once I get my safety clearance paperwork done, I can then do the actual work. This approach is critical because any minor mistakes, like gas leaks, can result in huge penalties for the company.

I think what would surprise many people would be the amount of rigorous details involved and the constant quest for process improvements. We have to look for energy efficient or cheaper processes, processes that produce purer products etc. It could be combining processes to eliminate an expensive equipment. It could be bypassing a step to speed up the process without a decline in quality or efficiencies. We are constantly applying general knowledge, work experience and school theory to solve these engineering puzzles.

6.      Do you have a mentor? If so, how have they helped you in your career?

Yes, I have professional mentors. I reach out to more experienced colleagues whenever I have questions.

7.      What are the most vital steps someone should take to break into and succeed in your industry?

The most important ingredients involve learning engineering design, coding and getting relevant industry internships while still in school. It is imperative that one learns basic computer programming skills, mostly Python, VBA & Macros. You may have all the engineering theory education in the world, but if you have no practical experience doing real engineering jobs, few companies will take a chance on you.

8.      What’s your favorite thing about your job or industry? In other words, what fuels your enthusiasm and helps you get out of bed on a Monday morning?

I love what I do. I enjoy solving engineering problems everyday. I enjoy studying and analyzing chemical processes and learning about new things at work. It is never boring because there is always a new problem and a new approach to solve it.

9.      Is your racial profile helping or hindering your professional growth? That is, if race is a factor at all.

I wouldn’t call them outright racist experiences, but cultural differences with people at work can hold one back from faster career advancement. For one, people can underrate your abilities based on your different accent. They are normally taken aback when they see my technical writing hearing my accent. I am more introverted than extroverted and that doesn’t lend itself to making quick friends and becoming a social butterfly at work. I have grown a lot professionally over the years but I might have advanced faster if the playing field was flatter. As an immigrant, you could say race plays a role, but culture takes the bulk of the cake.

10. Looking back, did you envision this is where you would be when you were in high school? What do you know now that you wished you had known before you started your career?

I am closer to where I thought I would be when I was in high school. I thought I would be a pure mining engineer working for a company that mines and processes metals. Our industry changes fairly rapidly, so all the ideas I had about the kind of work I would be doing are obsolete. Different mining processes are constantly being phased out in favour of cheaper, cleaner, more efficient alternatives. What current high school engineering students will be doing in 10 years will be different from what I am doing now. This is the most important thing that I have learned over the years. We need to keep reinventing ourselves, adjusting our goals and updating out skills to stay relevant to employers.