My name is Brent Hanover and I’m pursuing my second degree in computer science. I graduated from UBC with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2015, during which I worked at the Engineering Earthquake Research Facility in the Rusty Hut. After I graduated I have been working as a manufacturing engineer at Philips where some notable achievements included reducing operation costs by $170k yearly and eliminating usage of over a million square feet of cardboard per year.

I’m coming back to UBC to get an education in what I’m more interested in – computer science. I found that engineering wasn’t quite my calling and software development is a field much better aligned with my interests. The fact that the industry is booming and it has the opportunity to be lucrative is also a plus! One common problem with software engineers is that they don’t have good ‘soft’ skills. They have great ‘hard’ skills in that they can develop software and code away for hours, but a lot of them lack the ability to properly communicate with their peers, subordinates, managers, and clients. If the requirements of a job aren’t made clear due to poor communication skills then the wrong work can be done and a client can be lost. On top of that, ask any software engineer about clean code. They will always tell you that unreadable code is worthless!

In my own personal experience, I have helped set up communication systems between workers, lead hands, supervisors, different departments, and management during my time at the manufacturing facility I work at. Some examples of these systems are communication boards, daily meetings, proper workplace documentation, and incident reports. It was made very clear early on that proper communication skills aren’t something you just learn once, like riding a bicycle. They are lifelong skills that must be continuously improved upon if you want to stay ahead of the curve.