UBC Engineering Iron Pin

To the first Year Class of 2021

(upon the completion of your first year)

Congratulations on completing the first leg of the insane, stressful, and fulfilling journey that is your undergraduate degree! It’s no easy feat yet look at you now. Persevering, ready to come back for year 2 next fall. Some may say that engineering students are masochistic in their desire to return every year to their degree – I would likely agree. What you’ve just done is a time-honoured tradition in engineering, and in decades to come you might find yourself commiserating with others about learning C in APSC 160, or wondering how PHYS 159 even works. You’ve now bound yourself to every other Canadian engineer, and that is a bond that doesn’t ever go away.

One of my favourite things about engineering that I hope to impart to you all is that engineering is a cult, in the best sort of way. In the way that you can go to any of us for support, for help, for guidance, and for a helping hand. We may all be different, separated by countries of origin, by specialization, by language, by units (what even are imperial units anyway? A slug? Ridiculous), but we all share the experience you are all going through right now. Here at UBC, we are bonded by our Reds, we share the memories of the weeks of E and E0 – these are the things that make engineering worth it to me, and I hope that in the coming years they mean as much to all of you. 

But engineering isn’t all fun and games, you’ve also learned about the professional duties of an engineer and the responsibilities that we must take onto our shoulders with our work. It may seem a bit overkill from where you are now, I remember thinking that everyone was being just a little dramatic when I was in your shoes, but it is true that with every decision we make, our projects are affected. And whoever is affected by our projects will feel the weight of our decisions. Whether you are creating massive infrastructure, testing new materials, designing the latest sensors, or making medical devices – these jobs of ours have real impacts on real people. And from now until the end of your career in engineering, you all have a duty to uphold the calling of an engineer, to consider the safety of those affected by your work in everything that you do. It is our right, our responsibility, and our privilege to design for the people; our shoulders are heavy with this duty, but I hope you all bear it with pride. 

It's a reason that in engineering, more than in anything else, community is so important. If you ask me, it’s the most important thing there is in our fields. When you ask someone for help on a difficult question, when you go to other students for support going through your classes and the stress that accompanies them, that is you building your community. This doesn’t change when you graduate, your community just gets bigger. They will be the people that hold you up, that will help, and that will provide knowledge that will help you throughout your career. These people are more than just LinkedIn connections, the UBC engineering community is full of people who you can reach out to at any time for anything. And that, that is so damn special. We create community in the classroom, but we also create it through events, through tutoring, and by having each other’s backs.

Just know, above all, that even in the hardest times when your code isn't working, or when SolidWorks just crashed, that you are wanted here. You are supported here. You are here because you are meant to be, and because you are, and always have been, the embodiment of an engineer. And we're so looking forward to having you join us in this crazy, amazing, beautiful profession.

Yours always, 

your EUS

PS. There are some people who wanted to say hello, and give you some advice! Watch the videos below for messages from your new engineering community :)