ISL Young Professionals – Sean MacDonald

Welcome to ISL’s Young Professionals! We feature ISLers who are taking the engineering world by storm. Get to know what led them to their career path, what their day-to-day looks like and what they think sets ISL apart.

Meet Sean MacDonald, a Junior Civil Design Technologist at our Edmonton office. Sean has been with ISL for almost a year and a half. 

Sean MacDonald

Sean MacDonald

Junior Civil Design Technologist

What is your role at ISL?

I work as a Junior Civil Design Technologist in the Community Development group. I very much help put drawing packages together from basic drafting to underground and grading design, for multifamily sites. From time-to-time I’ll be out in the field surveying.

What was the path you took to get to where you are today? (School, volunteering, work experience, networking, etc.)

I took the Civil Engineering Technology Co-Op program at NAIT, where I really tried to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible over the 2½ year program. Before coming to ISL, I worked both in the field, in the office, and hybrid, and came to realize I prefer being in the office, with going out to the field every so often.

What skills have you developed since joining ISL?

The biggest thing I’ve learnt at ISL is underground design, which has brought on some skills of daily planning, project communication and reading drawings.

What has been your favourite project to work on to-date?

I really enjoyed working on Uplands Multi-Family and doing the underground design. It was a large site with long pipe networks. It involved tons of Dynamo scripts which have come to be a friend of mine in the process. A few major design changes happened throughout, giving me an idea of what all can come your way in design phase.

What’s your favourite thing about what you do in your position at ISL?

The thing I like most about the work I do for ISL is the speed in which I’m able to learn and progress, as well as the amount of work that is involved in design and dealing with different problems. The people on my team are also very sincere and want to help me grow my career at ISL every day. I also see lots of opportunity that can help lead me to getting my P. (Tech) Eng. designation one day.

What are some of your ISL highlights? (Cool projects, social events, charitable initiatives)

  • My biggest highlight with ISL has been the fact of being on an amazing team. The staff in Community Development are serious when it comes to training and getting you on the right career path.
  • Staff Development and contributing to a presentation.
  • Being a part of the Young Professionals Moderator Group and DEI Committee.
  • The values that ISL brings to its workplace, and the direction it’s going in.

What’s one hobby or interest people might not know about you?

One hobby that I rarely talk about to other folks is how much I’m really into historical non-fiction. I find that knowing and understanding what the world was like a century, if not a decade ago, or what caused different events to occur, or what made historical figures who they were, helps me to understand today’s world in a whole better way.

One book I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading is Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Any advice for students or new grads entering the industry?

Do not think about a set-in-stone career path until after your studies. Start by trying different positions with different companies in different sub-areas of Civil Engineering. Then decide on which long career path you want to take, after having tried different smaller paths.

Your Next Read