Employees

Senior Highway Design Engineer

Employee Name:

Gar Lee

Title:

Senior Highway Design Engineer

Ministry:

Ministry of Transportation

Background:

Education: Diploma, Civil & Structural Technology (BCIT); Bachelor of Applied Science degree (UBC)
Member of the BC Public Service Since: 2001

My Role

As Senior Highway Design Engineer and Regional Project Manager I provide technical review of highway designs for new and rehabilitation projects in the Lower Mainland. I train and mentor entry level engineers in the Ministry of Transportation's Engineer-In-Training program. I am also developing a regional in-house design team. For instance, with regards to roads and bridges, if a road needs widening, we'll do the design to get more lanes on highways. We also do the in-house design for small projects within the lower mainland and Vancouver Island.

Career Path:

Prior to joining the government, I worked 23 years in a consulting engineering practice. I started off in private consulting to build a strong technical foundation in civil and structural engineering. This was followed by consulting design experience in major engineering projects in public infrastructure. Since joining government, I have been involved in project management, technical engineering review, and administration of legislation for public infrastructure facilities in water management and transportation engineering.

What I Like Best:

I find it a challenging and rewarding work experience to ensure public satisfaction for a safe, efficient and reliable transportation system. I enjoy problem-solving and drawing on past experiences to solve problems that need to be fixed; it's different every day. The people I work with are great and I'm able to have work/life balance.

Ideas At Work:

I provide continuity in government to protect, operate and maintain public infrastructure for future generations. I am proud to deliver on high profile projects and to make the roadways safer by upgrading the freeway system and adding more transit. I am currently involved with the Gateway program and the Sea-to-Sky highway.

Advice:

If you want to get into this field, an engineering degree is necessary. A great way to get a taste of what the job is like and what's involved, there are opportunities to take summer jobs with the ministry. We have an on-going program for Engineers-in-Training and every spring we go to different universities and colleges to recruit for the program. We provide on-going training opportunities and eventually you should have the opportunity to move into senior management or a technical specialist field.