The MacCast Unconventional — Devin & Kirsten
For Devin (’13), taking risks and approaching everything as an opportunity to learn is more than just a philosophy.
After years of travelling and making big changes, Devin has found his career sweet spot.
Devin Dzelme, BSc. ’13, grew up in an European household where going to festivals and community-wide celebrations was a regular occurrence. And in doing so, he discovered what would become a lifelong dedication to the joy of dance and music.
“In first year…I had the worst schedule ever — 8:30 to 6:30. So I felt like my day was very, very draining and I didn’t really like my first year at Mac,” he says. “Dance, for me, was part of my escape…music and dance were the things that brought me joy and stress relief and it really helped me get through the first year.”
After that first-year experience, Devin decided to approach his time at Mac as an opportunity to learn about the world. While he was in a science program, he took every opportunity to broaden his skill set by taking several unrelated electives. Ultimately, he was able to develop skills that he wouldn’t have learned otherwise — many of which have led to some amazing and unique opportunities.
“I took music. I studied Spanish for two years. I’m fluent in Spanish now. It’s opened-up career opportunities,” he says. “It’s helped me learn and converse with people and network with them. Environmental science courses have made me become a civic activist and take important responsibilities in my career.”
Now, working as a Customer Success Specialist for Watts Water Technologies, a global firm specializing in water solutions for residential, industrial, municipal, and commercial settings. In his role, Devin helps clients adapt to innovation and specializes in data migration and management — all skills he learned while at Mac.
“I get to talk to people all over North America every day,” he says. “It’s really cool.”
In this first episode of our seventh season of the Mac Alumni podcast Unconventional, listen to Devin talk about his passion for dance, his love of learning and how McMaster helped him build a life full of joy.
Kirsten (’10) is the first to admit that not knowing what to do next can be a blessing in disguise
After earning her Communications Studies degree, Kirsten followed her heart into Interior Design.
Some people have clear plans for their future and have outlined clear pathways forward to achieve specific goals. Others, like Kirsten, didn’t quite know what they wanted to do or where they were going.
“In my everyday life, I actually do think that I’m a planner,” says Kirsten. “But I had no master plan. And the fact that I didn’t have a plan cause a lot of anxiety.”
But during an open house at Mac, Kirsten had a conversation with a member of the communications faculty that intrigued her enough to enroll in the program — even though she still didn’t know what would follow afterwards.
“As I was nearing the end of my undergrad for communications, you get the question again: what’s next? where are you going? And again, I didn’t really know, I didn’t have a plan,” she says. “I was feeling like I needed to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical.”
That urge to transform her academic knowledge into something more tangible led her to enroll in an interior design program at a local college. For Kirsten, the success of her career journey — from earning a communications degree to launching a successful interior design business — isn’t from following a big plan or even adapting one that previously existed, but instead it’s always been about following her heart
“Now, looking back, it really makes sense that I’ve ended up here,” she says. “I was always the kid who was rearranging my bedroom all the time and making sure everything was in order…When I look back at it, that interest was always there. But I just didn’t have the awareness of that career path.”
In this second episode of season seven of Unconventional, Kirsten shares her story of figuring out how to forge a career path that doesn’t’ have to reflect where you started as long as it takes you to where you need to go.
McMaster has more than 210,000 alumni living in 140 countries around the world, and they are some of the most amazing people you would ever want to meet. The Unconventional podcast will introduce some of our alumni who are working — in the arts, as cutting-edge entrepreneurs, leading the way in health, education, technology and more — to make our world a brighter place in their own unique way. Download the latest episode, or catch up if you’ve missed one, on Apple, Spotify, or Soundcloud.
