Terence Brouwer
I was born/grew up in: Fergus, Ontario, Canada
I now live in: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
I completed my training/education at: Glenview Park secondary school, Conestoga College, CTMA (Pattern maker apprenticeship)
Describe what you do at work.
On a typical Day I will do a walk down through the shop. During this time I’ll speak with supervisors and team members. Then I go back to my computer and catch up on emails and plan my day accordingly (based on morning conversations and emails). I have to attend a lot of meetings and spend a portion of each day "fighting fires".
Due to the nature of the Nuclear Industry we rely heavily on quality and documentation. Promation Nuclear has proved itself to be a great team and we rely on the strength of the full team. We have a Program Management group, Engineering team, Procurement team, Quality team, Manufacturing team and Assembly team. Collectively these teams use almost all areas of STEM disciplines. Not only do we use a lot of specialized equipment but we also build specialized equipment for the Nuclear Industry.
When I was a student I enjoyed:
How does your job affect peoples lives?
We have to treat everything we do in Nuclear with a high level of quality. The Nuclear industry is a very safe and reliable source of our daily energy. Every time you flip a light switch you are relying on the energy group to deliver. Nuclear plays a large part in this delivery.
What motivates you in your career?
Every day is a new adventure. As much as we understand the function of the tooling and components of the Nuclear reactor, we still have lots of challenges and must make sure that the highest level of quality is still met. It could mean a meeting with people in the Engineering department to discuss the strength of a type of material, or it could be meeting with a vendor to work out a design or tolerance issue. No day is every boring.
This career is right for me because I liked to be engaged and challenged every day. And, every time we complete a project I know that I was part of the team that built and contributed to a service that everyone will use.
When I was a student, I would have described myself as someone who:
Describe your career path to this career.
I can attribute my success to others. I was given an opportunity to join into a Pattern Maker apprenticeship. Once my apprenticeship was completed I was able to branch out and reach into other trades. Over the years I have gained a lot of experience from hands on work and team members around me. I have learned that by myself I can only accomplish minimal amount of work - as a team we can perform amazing feats. I am now working in the nuclear industry due to a former team leader reaching out and inviting me to see what he was now engaged in and excited about.
What activities do you like to do outside of work?
Spending time with Family and Friends. We do some volunteer work and enjoy hands on hobbies.
What advice or encouragement would you give others seeking a similar career?
Connect. Use all the means to connect with the industry they are interested in. There are a lot of successful people who can give a lot of insight into their discipline. The Nuclear industry is a huge industry has a huge spectrum of trades. Our team is only involved in a small portion (manufacturing) of the overall nuclear scope. Every day we interact with Engineers, Designers, Machinists, Quality, Assemblers, Fabricators, etc.
Lets Talk Science is grateful to Skills Canada Ontario for connecting us with this individual.