Transit Technology Analyst Intern

IBI Group

Tell us a bit about yourself ?

I worked at IBI Group in their Transit Technology Group at Yonge and St. Clair. We worked with and for different transit agencies (e.g. TTC and Metrolinx) to understand their situation and needs, and then help them procure technologies that could address those needs. We took our clients from needs assessments all the way through to implementation.

Describe a typical day at work 

There wasn’t really such a thing as a “typical” day in the Transit Tech Group. Since we had a lot of local clients, some days would require going to their offices for meetings. One type of typical day would be spending the morning at Metrolinx in a meeting at Union, then heading back to Yonge and St. Clair for the afternoon. Another typical day could involve riding GO trains all over the GTHA to test their announcement systems. For one of my projects with the TTC, I was heavily involved in some ongoing work there, so I actually spent 4 out of 5 working days at their office instead of at IBI Group for a few months.

What courses best prepared you for your job?

Though we’ve taken Transport I & II before PEY, we don’t really touch on transit technology in those classes, so I think CIV382 prepared me the most. At my PEY, I worked on a lot of reports and presentations for client meetings, as well as working on almost everything in a group, so communication skills were crucial.

Describe the coolest project you got to work on

It’s difficult to pick the coolest project I worked on – there were a bunch that were cool for very different reasons! One that I’ll highlight is the business process modelling work I did for the TTC. Basically, we wanted to understand how a new piece of technology that the TTC was buying would change how they run their operations. I lead a lot of client meetings and made a lot of maps for them, and it was really cool to understand how a transit agency like TTC works, and how they might have to change in the future!

Is there anything you wish you knew about the job / industry before starting?

COMMUNICATION! My experience showed me how important communication is, whether you’re talking to your supervisor, your team members, or the clients. Being able to communicate your thoughts and also ask questions when you’re unsure is very important.

Any tips / advice / anything you would like to share with current students?

I remember being very nervous to say I didn’t know something at the start of my PEY, so if you’re worried about that, don’t! I started asking more questions, even in client meetings, and one piece of feedback I got from my manager during performance reviews was that people appreciated my asking questions! It shows a desire to understand and initiative!