Career Transitions from Manufacturing to Renewable Energy
Currently a Project Manager at Innergex, Narain Khera graduated from UBC Materials Engineering in 2015. She worked in the industry for three years, before completing a Masters of Engineering Leadership in Clean Energy at UBC in 2019. A highlight of her undergrad experience was a field trip to Toronto, where she explored various industries and bonded with her classmates. Narain was also active in the Materials Student Council for three years, serving as student rep and social coordinator. She also participated in E-Week, Storm the Wall, and the co-op program.
1. What is your current role and what was the journey that led you to it?
Currently, I’m working on a utility-scale wind farm in the USA and I’ve chosen to be on site for its construction. A typical day involves a long and beautiful drive to the job site, providing technical support and coordination with contractors, auditing/inspecting current construction activities, and reviewing/approving various permit requirements, design changes, and/or material changes. I learned about my current company through a conference/panel. This company’s values aligned with mine and so I continually checked their webpage for openings that fit my skillset and interests.
2. You did a graduate degree after your undergraduate degree. How did this help you to end up in the career that you are in? Do you have advice for others considering graduate school?
After 3 years of work experience, I went back to school for the Masters of Engineering Leadership in Clean Energy Engineering. My intention was to transition my career from the manufacturing industry into renewable energy, which was a success. It was also helpful in transitioning from a technical background to a more business-oriented background, as I favour people and project management in technical fields.
“I found it extremely helpful to have solid work experience before going back to school again. This geared my mind to learn the curriculum subject matter in a practical approach.”
3. What opportunities do you see for materials engineering graduates in the field you are working in?
There are many opportunities for materials engineers in the renewable energy field, including manufacturing, R&D, breakdown analysis/repair. If you’re interested in the business side of technical sites: operations management, construction management, and project management.
“The Materials Engineering degree provided me with a foundation of technical understanding that has helped me both in my manufacturing and renewable energy experience. More specifically, failure analysis and breakdown/route-cause-analysis is still useful in my day-to-day life.”
4. What advice would you give to a current undergrad about your field, and to your undergrad self?
“As an undergrad, I thought I would stay with the same company for a while and work myself up the chain. I’m grateful I’ve been able to explore a few different companies in a couple of industries so that I could find what fulfills my personal ambitions”.
The renewable energy field, and more specifically wind energy, are relatively newer fields. I would recommend networking and connecting directly with people on LinkedIn to conduct “informational interviews”. Learning more about a more niche industry from experts in the field may provide you with the perspective to help ‘get your foot in the door’.
Are you learning/studying to find a career or finding a career so you can continue to learn? Mindset is important when you’re searching for how you want to spend your valuable time.
5. How do you think your MTRL degree sets you apart from graduates of other programs?
“The Materials Engineering program itself was a smaller program which allowed for a high level of interaction with professors and students of different years, which accelerated my learning and provided me with a strong network of professionals post-graduation.”
In industry, my materials engineering background allows me a technical perspective that’s unique to most other engineers.
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