Welcome to the Most Transformative Time of Your Life
Umar Mohammed: Mechanical Engineering, Level 4
“This is the beginning, not the end.”
Those are the words I would tell myself if I could go back in time before joining McMaster Engineering in September of 2016. The next four, five or however many years it takes you to finish your degree will shape you into the forward-thinking individual the world needs to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. Seeing this next phase in your life as an opportunity rather than an obstacle will enable you to rise above the challenge and transform yourself in ways you never thought were possible.
I am very grateful for the opportunities and experiences I have had thus far in my undergraduate career and time at McMaster. Selecting Mechanical Engineering turned out to be the best choice for me given that I wanted to keep as many doors open as possible once I graduated. The biggest thing I have learned is that Engineering does not necessarily teach you to become an Engineer. Instead, the program seeks to instill within you a strong work ethic and time management skills, as well as teamwork and collaboration skills which will be vital for you in any career/role you pursue later on in life. It pushes you to re-define what you thought you were capable of, and enables you to do your best work. It wasn’t until I came to this realization that I actually began to find my passion and enjoyment within the work that I was doing, and this has opened up many doors for me.
Being placed on the Dean’s Honour list in my second year was a huge achievement for me. Coming into university, I was under the impression that this would be an impossible feat due to the academic rigor of Engineering. But I later learned that everyone experiences Engineering differently. Some are able to thrive right from the start and get through with flying colours, while others face repeated challenges and difficulties in the process. But this is OKAY. We all learn differently, and Engineering teaches you how to do so effectively. Don’t waste your time comparing your successes and failures to others. Focus on doing your best and improving yourself each step of the way. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
In my third year, I had the amazing opportunity to give back to the McMaster community by working part-time with the Recruitment team. I was doubtful as to whether I could take on the additional responsibilities whilst balancing a full-course load, but it turned out to be the most enjoyable period of my undergraduate career. Being able to play an important role in helping hundreds of students and families with their big decision was a humbling experience. I was easily able to craft my experiences and lessons learned into stories that they could relate to in hopes of giving them confidence in the decision they were going to make. I would see my past self in their eyes and took pride in seeing that they walked away feeling informed and positive.
This experience is what directly led to me landing a 16-month internship at Celestica, where I worked as a Lean and Six Sigma Intern in the Aerospace and Defence manufacturing business. This was my first hands-on role that turned out to be an invaluable learning experience, and directly contributed to my personal and professional growth. I was given a tremendous amount of opportunities to take the lead on a variety of projects such as deploying operational metric dashboards using Power BI across the factory and re-vamping manufacturing cells by making layout and workflow changes. The key takeaways from this experience for me were about establishing trust with the people you are working with, as well as recognizing how important effective communication is when it comes to building support and getting people to join you in your efforts to drive the business forward. That is something that I am sure will be important wherever my journey takes me.
This past year has proved to be exhausting and demanding given that everything was online. If anything, it taught me the importance of resilience and self-motivation. In an online world, you really have to find your sense of purpose of and motivation to keep you going. Being dedicated to your work yet still finding time to decompress is something that I continue to work on, because without our physical and mental health in check, we have nothing. Working on a year-long capstone project in an online setting has taught me that we are capable of so much more than we might perceive. It has shown me the true value of teamwork and collaboration, and how important it is to ensure that each member of the team feels supported such that they can contribute towards reaching a common goal.
Now that I am nearing the end of my final year, it is quite amazing to look back and reflect on the path I took to get to this point. My first year was definitely the most challenging part of my Mac Eng journey, primarily because it was a period of navigating University life for the first time for me. There were many times where I doubted if this was the right program for me, or if this was even something I wanted to pursue in the future. But having gone through these challenges and difficulties makes me appreciate the journey even more. I now have a greater understanding of what it means to want to contribute towards a brighter world, and in doing so, I realized that my biggest fears and doubts turned into my greatest achievements and proudest accomplishments. For anyone going through a tough time right now, please know that this moment in your life does not define your future. Ultimately, you have control over how you respond to what life throws at you, and you can choose to see every challenge as an opportunity to further learn, grow and develop. Know that you are never alone, and that McMaster’s Engineering program is designed to push you to your limits whilst giving you the support and resources you need to succeed and even thrive.
I wish you continued success in whatever stage of life you may find yourself in, and know that you ultimately have control over how your unique story plays out, so be yourself and have fun doing it!
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