Trading a trade for a degree in engineering

Sheldon Holland pockets his pipefitter's ticket in favour of an engineering degree

Kristy Burke - 31 May 2018

(Edmonton) For some people, the path into engineering is a clear one, with few obstacles in their way. For others, like Sheldon Holland, a graduating mechanical engineering student, the journey can be a little more challenging - but it can make the satisfaction of getting there just a little bit sweeter.

Being a red seal pipefitter, Holland is no stranger to hard work. He entered the trade right out of high school when a friend brought him enrolment forms for a pipefitting program. This was the beginning of a multi-year apprenticeship, requiring 4,500 hours of hard labour, mostly completed in remote camps in northern Alberta.

However, in the last year of his training, Holland started to feel the path he chose wasn't challenging enough, and he wanted to move away from camp life. During his time up north, he worked with numerous engineers and became interested in their profession.

"In the field, there is a lot of conflict between pipefitters and engineers," Holland said, "and a lot of pipefitters think they can be engineers. I guess I took this to the extreme!"

At first Holland thought he wanted to be a power engineer, but a friend he grew up with who was in an engineering program told him mechanical engineering was probably a better fit for him because of his passion for cars and taking things apart.

Holland knew a career change to engineering meant he had his work cut out for him. His grades weren't where they needed to be to get accepted into engineering so he started doing outreach courses while away at camp, followed by pre-engineering courses at Medicine Hat College. Finally, with his journeyman certificate only four months under his belt, he started his engineering program at the University of Alberta.

Keeping up on his academic journey wasn't always easy. Holland found himself having to make the adjustment from a full-time highly paid job to the life of a low-income student and had to learn how to save money. At times, he was facing serious life challenges, like helping his mother through cancer, taking a year off to get his grades up, and working to catch up financially. But Holland pushed through these challenges because he knew he would come out ahead on the other side.

"In a lot of ways I wish I had done the degree when I was younger," Holland said, "before I got used to living a certain way and had to go back to living like a student-but I know it was worth it."

During most summers, Holland would go back to pipefitting to help pay for his studies. Often, when the companies he worked for found out he was an engineering student, he would be asked to help with co-ordination and project management work. Also, because of the business courses he took during his degree, Holland qualified for his blue seal certificate, which is available to certified tradespeople who want to move into leadership, supervisory, or entrepreneurial roles.

Holland said he was fortunate for the many extra responsibilities handed off to him because they were similar to those of an engineer in training and he gained valuable experience.

He found enjoyment in many of the opportunities available to him during his studies. His love for designing and building shone through during a mechanical engineering project where he won the shop award for best constructed robot, and when his capstone project team won the award for the most creative design solution.

"Making designs has always been second nature to me," he said. "Working in the field I could always see where equipment was installed incorrectly and where things needed to be."

His love of cars led him to the University of Alberta's Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) team, which designs, builds, and races formula-style race cars. Going into his degree Holland already knew about the team so tracked them down in his first week. He is now the longest standing member on the team and will be spending this summer designing the car's aerodynamics package.

Today, when Holland talks about the work he put into earning his degree and the iron ring that now adorns his pinky finger, he visibly radiates with pride.

"I have a newfound respect for the time and energy you have to put into getting one of these rings," he said. "I'm never taking it off. I'm one hundred percent proud of it."