Rocketry skills and people skills
Anita Haurie, BEng 18, is a gameplay programmer for Ubisoft in Montreal
Space Concordia’s interdisciplinary aspect and diverse members helped Anita Haurie in her current role as a gameplay programmer at Ubisoft in Montreal.
How did your time with Space Concordia influence your career choice?
Anita Haurie: “I’m a programmer in video game development, so I didn’t end up in the space industry, which is what I always thought I’d be doing. I got really lucky with my first internship and found an industry that I really fell in love with. That isn’t to say the stuff I learned at Space Concordia didn’t help me in my career. I definitely developed a lot of team skills and people skills applicable to any career. I know that it helped me in interviews. Being involved with the rocketry team was basically my first engineering experience that wasn’t a class project, and that really helped me at the beginning of my career.”
What was your most remarkable Space Concordia experience?
AH: “I think it was being part of the high-altitude balloon team. We worked on it for a couple of months preparing everything and making sure the parts were working fine. When it came down to the launch day, all we had to do was fill the balloon and let it go, knowing that afterwards we would get to look at the camera footage that actually lets you see the atmosphere and the curvature of the earth. It’s really exciting to know that we can do that.”
Had you not joined Space Concordia, would your university experience have been as enriching?
AH: “I learned a lot from the interdisciplinary aspect of the club. In my job now I work with people from very different fields: I’m working very closely with artists and designers, and it’s always interesting. At Ubisoft you have to learn to work with people from different backgrounds and different perspectives, and I think that was the big part of what Space Concordia was for me. You’re working with people from all the engineering fields; people you wouldn’t necessarily work with otherwise.
One of the best things about Space Concordia is that you get to meet and work with many people who are passionate about the same things you are. You get to meet friends and colleagues, and it gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge you learn in class. I think it helped me gain confidence in my skills and to learn what engineering actually was.”