Janine Buzar is the first person to “graduate” from Entuitive U to earn a full-time co-op role as a designer at Entuitive. We sat down with Janine to talk about her experience and how Entuitive U helped her put her skills to practice and learn more about Entuitive.

Thanks so much for sitting down with us, Janine. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Entuitive?

Janine: Thank you for having me. Of course! I graduated in 2020 from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, with a minor in Structural Engineering. As a designer I’m currently in the Transportation group at Entuitive.

When did you “attend” Entuitive U and what was the process like for you?

Janine: I did it a bit backwards actually. I applied to Entuitive first after graduating from university last year. While I was waiting to hear back, I was checking out Ensight on the Entuitive website and read the article introducing the testing phase for Entuitive U. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about the company, so I visited the site.

I thought all the activities were really exciting and achieved their intention of showing students and new grads what real projects are like. I highly recommend that anyone thinking of applying to Entuitive complete the Entuitive U activities. I particularly appreciated the mass timber exercise, which asks for your opinion on the mass timber industry. The existing buildings activity, which asks applicants to install a new mechanical unit on a roof, was also a great opportunity to apply my engineering skills to a real-life project example. I had fun with all the activities. Afterwards, I sent my answers to Stephen Cohos, and then added him on LinkedIn to ask for the answers!

I didn’t get the original position I applied for, however, I was interviewed for another role in March last year. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, that position was put on hold, but then I was offered my current position as a full-time co-op designer.

The pandemic certainly put a wrench in everyone’s plans, but we’re glad you’re with us now. Indeed, that’s part of the goal of Entuitive U, to ensure we keep top talent on our radar. Can you give us one or two examples of how you think Entuitive U bridges the gap between school and work?

Janine: Of course. In general, Entuitive U showed me how I can apply some of the technical knowledge that I learned in university to real-life projects. School teaches you more of the “what’s” and the “how’s” of structural engineering, but this platform does an amazing job of explaining the “why’s” behind designing, which I think is essential to understand.

For me personally, Entuitive U helped me prepare for my current position. As a specific example, the 360 camera activity and the Contract Admin activity helped me understand some of the important things you need to check while doing site reviews. I think these are essentially similar to what you should check for when reviewing shop drawings, which is one of the tasks I now do for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project in Toronto.

Another project that I am currently involved in is the Yonge North Subway Extension in Toronto for which we’re designing new heavy civil structures. For this type of project, it is important to understand how new additional structures affect nearby existing structures, which is very similar to the concept behind the mechanical unit activity.

Aside from that, this activity also exposed me to technical drawings – understanding how to read them is such an important skill that I was not exposed to in school. In general, anything that can really show what consulting engineering is like is a definite benefit. I’d love to help Stephen develop more activities as well. The more we can prepare potential candidates the better!

Now that you’re with us, is there anything surprising that you’ve learned?

Janine: For sure. I thought that I would want to focus more on designing conventional buildings, such as commercial, institutional, sports and recreational buildings, while learning structural mass timber along the way, but I’m really enjoying being part of the Transportation group. I didn’t know too much about this sector prior to joining Entuitive, but I see now how interesting and complex the projects are. I definitely want to keep learning more about this sector.

Thanks so much for chatting with us, Janine. We’re thrilled Entuitive U played a part in your journey to Entuitive. We encourage all new grads to visit entuitiveu.com to get started on their journey with Entuitive.