Van-Ly Doan, Livestock Environment Engineer

My contribution

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"People create a lot of waste. Being able to turn that waste into a useful product is what I'm contributing.

"I'd always want to do more. If I had a lot of money I would go to Vietnam and help them improve their waste management system.

"Waste is always going to be a problem. If you're going to create it then you should find a way to dispose of it, turn it into something useful. I think if you can start on the small scale, like right now in Manitoba, you can always implement it in other parts of the world so it could be a net benefit to everybody."

Images from my workplace

Where I work

I work for the Agri-Environment Knowledge Centre, a division of Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives. I also work for another Agriculture division, the Agri-Energy office. I'm housed out of that office, along with the Energy Development Initiative.

My engineering skills are a fit with nutrient management. Basically, my main goal is to try to expand the agriculture industry in an environmentally sound, sustainable way. I look at how farmers can profit from being more energy efficient or from diversifying.

Indoors and out

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"I work probably 80 percent in the office, 20 percent out in the field. It depends on the season.

"People send in their proposals or there 's some new technology that has to be evaluated to see if it fits into Manitoba, specifically for agriculture.

"Out in the field, we'll look at the facility or their designs and scope it out,and list the pros, the cons of the new technology.

"I also do a lot of composting. I will go out to the field and help people set up their composting piles, for manure or for mortalities."

Working with people

Communication is very important. I think that's how I got my job. One of the tasks for my interview was doing a 20-minute presentation on the Ag (agricultural) industry.

One consistent thing about my work is that I interact with the public, either on the phone, via email, in the office or when I do farm calls. l really enjoy this part of my job. It's good for me to actually see that I'm contributing something and helping out.

I also deliver presentations on different topics, regarding Agri-Energy and Agri-Environment issues.

Tools I use

The equipment I use depends on the project and the measurements I have to take. For composting, I use oxygen meters, moisture probes, temperature sensors, relative humidity sensors, data loggers and solar panels.

I have also used odour sampling devices to collect the odour concentration from barns and manure storages, and an olfactometer to analyze the samples.

I'm also involved in researching and ordering this equipment.

Review and evaluate

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives engineers used to do a lot of design work. Now we are moving towards evaluating processes and leaving the design work for private engineering companies.

I mostly review projects and provide my technical expertise on the engineering design. For example, I have evaluated the design of an anaerobic digester system, biodiesel process, and energy recovery systems of various projects.

The only things I design are composting systems on a small scale. I wish I could do more design work, as I love to see my design actually be built.

Immigrated to Canada

My parents were in their ‘20's when they moved here with my older brother and me. I was two years old and I don't remember much. We moved right after the Viet Nam war. The war and the poverty in Viet Nam are why my family came here. They wanted a better life.

My aunt and uncle had arrived a few months before us and they were in Swan River. We came and met up with them.

Getting settled

My parents farmed in Viet Nam. Here they have worked various minimum wage jobs. My dad now works for the Town of Swan River as a labourer and my mom owns the local laundromat.

They didn't speak or write in English very well. It took them awhile to adjust to the cold, the food and being in a different country without knowing anybody. It was tough economically but in Canada, at least they got to eat every day.

I learned to speak English at school. At home, we spoke Vietnamese. My dad showed me how to do math, but everything else I learned at school.

Met at university

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"I'm married to Ryan for almost three years. I met him through university, the first year I was in Biosystems Engineering, so he also has a Biosystems Engineering degree.

"I said, ‘Well if everything fails in Biosystems, at least I met Ryan.'

"Ryan works with Manitoba Conservation in the Municipal Hazards and Waste section. He's the air pollution guy."

Clear boundaries

I try to balance my life. When I'm at work, I will work the full eight hours and get my stuff done. I am a worrier so I do think about work a lot. Sometimes I bring work home but it's just because I have to get things done.

Ryan doesn't really like to talk about work so we're clear: work is work and home is home. We both work in the city so we talk about work on the drive in or drive out. But once we're home we have other things to think about and do. It's home time.

Likes Manitoba

I like where I live because our family's here. Both Ryan and my immediate family are in Manitoba and many of our friends are here.

There are plenty of opportunities in Manitoba. You can do pretty much anything you like. If you don't like the job you have, you can find another job. You're not stuck doing the things you don't want to do. You have choices.

I also really like the summers. I enjoy spending time outside with my husband, family and friends.

Consistent but flexible

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"Realistically I do eight-hour work days. Sometimes I take stuff home because I work in the Agri-Environment branch and Agri-Energy, so I juggle the two.

"It's pretty flexible. If you have a doctor's appointment you can go to it and come back as long as you're not tied up in meetings or out on a farm call.

"The odd time we'll do farm calls that will last longer or we will do presentations. You're there overnight just because of the distance, but basically it's an eight-to-five job."

Working from home

I only work from home if haven't finished my work during the day. Juggling work from the energy and environment departments, sometimes I feel like there aren't enough hours. It can be tough. My supervisor calls me a double agent.

If there's a big presentation I have to give and I need to do extra research on the topic to make sure I'm prepared, I might put in a couple of hours in the evening. I try not to do that too often, three or four times a month at most.

Hectic pace

The pace in the Agri-Energy office is really fast. Energy is such a big issue right now.

It seems like our department is always getting work done on the fly. I can have an idea of what my day will look like but then all of a sudden I'm in a meeting that changes the rest of my day. I discover I need to have an advisory note done before I go home or review a proposal by 3:00.

I like to be busy, so this pace works for me.

Some pressure

Sometimes I feel pressure. When I'm on a tight deadline and the clock is ticking, it can be intense. The pressure just helps motivate me to get things done. I like the challenge. I find if I ever get bored with a job then I start to think about wanting to leave. I've never had that happen with my current job. It's pretty exciting.

I have the opportunity to learn a lot. I'm not stuck doing the same job every day. I have a chance to use my skills and expertise in a number of different ways.

Some physical work

While I'm often sitting behind a desk at my computer, I do some physical work as well. I don't find that too hard although setting up compost piles can sometimes be tiring. For example, I helped compost 120,000 hens last year. You can't have dead animals left out if they're not frozen within 48 hours. It took a team of us three, 15-hour days in the rain to set up the compost piles.

Making energy from waste

My job is to create energy out of anything that smells, such as manure and mortalities. I mainly work with anaerobic digesters. Digesters create energy in the form of heat, power, or combined heat and power from organic material. It is possible to digest manure, silage, slaughterhouse waste, and dead animals. As well, biodiesel fuel can be made from slaughterhouse waste and animal fats.

It's very interesting to be able to take waste and make something useful out of it. I find my work gratifying and exciting because the farmers I work with recognize the benefits of what I do.

Enjoys challenges

I love my work but I am also challenged by it. This is good for me because I enjoy challenges and learning new things.

The people I work with are one of the main reasons it's nice to come into the office every day. They're terrific. Our office is so much fun and we've got a good crew to work with. They're a big help and we work well together.

Team effort

Working as a team is a large part of my job. There are a lot of horizontal teams. I'm on the Agri-Energy, the Manure and Mortalities and the Contaminated Sites teams, just to name a few. Because Manitoba is so large, we have to work together to get our message out to the whole province.

In addition to working with Manitoba Agriculture staff, I also work with different government agencies, non-profit organizations, federal agencies and private industry. I do a lot of collaborating.

Personality traits

From a young age, my parents taught me to be hard working. That's really been beneficial to me in my career. Being good at what I do and having the desire to get things done have helped me be successful.

I care about people. I have good analytical skills. I care about what I'm doing and I enjoy it. These traits help me do my job well.

Intriguing work

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"Compasting, I find it really neat, because you can take a whole 1200-pound cow and turn it into soil or a soil amendment. Basically you're taking a waste product and you're actually being able to create something that you can add to your farmland. It's the value-added product that you have at the end.

"You can take waste and turn it into something good so you have a closed-loop system."

Previous jobs

In high school I worked at Dairy Queen and waitressed at Chicken Chef and the Westwood Inn. I think these jobs helped me become more comfortable talking to people.

In university, I was a teacher's assistant. I helped grade papers and run tutorials. I was also a research assistant and developed pretty good writing skills when I was working with stats and information.

Started in sciences

I went into sciences because I had planned to go into dentistry. As the first year progressed I didn't like it but I didn't know what I wanted to do. It was such a big university and coming from a small town was an adjustment.

I went into Biosystems Engineering because my friend was going into it. Biosystems Engineering was a small faculty. Our graduating class was 11 people. Our Manure Management class, my favourite, consisted of five women and one man. It's the only faculty in Engineering at that time that had a higher percentage of women than men.

Co-op term helped

I did a co-op term with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives while I was working on my Biosystems engineering undergraduate degree.

Co-op terms give you time to work in a certain job. You can see what's good about it. You may also find out it's something you hate but at least you have an answer and can move away from that path. For example, I don't really like working with power machinery. As part of my co-op term I did a bit of that. It helped move me towards the environmental side of my degree.

Getting a job

Once I finished my undergraduate degree I wasn't sure if this was for me. I was wavering between studying education or doing my Masters. I thought, "I'm going to try this Masters thing out."

This livestock engineer job came up and my former co-op supervisor told me I should apply for it. By then I was working on my Masters. I knew what this line of work entailed because of my experience as a co-op student. I thought "Why not?" and applied for the job and got it.

Note: Van-Ly completed her Masters of Science degree in Engineering while she was working in her current job.

My accomplishments

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I guess my greatest accomplishment on a personal level is marrying my husband.

"The other one would be growing up in Swan River. Not growing up in an English-speaking family, it's hard. You don't have your parents helping you with anything along that side so you kind of have to do it yourself. If they got a document or something, we'd have to read it, interpret it for them.

"I guess my other one [accomplishment] would probably be completing my Masters in a year."

Manitobans forever

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"We're here forever. We're lifers. We live in Landmark. I couldn't even get Ryan to move to Winnipeg.

"I like the small community. I think it's really nice. There's just something about a small community where you can just get together with friends and hang out. I feel safe in Landmark."

Work goals

When I was in high school my goal was to find a cure for cancer. I thought I would be in a different line of work. If I were to start another career, I would go into the biomedical field.

Whatever comes my way, I'm happy as long as it's interesting to me and I'm good at it. I evaluate myself when I go out to troubleshoot at a farm. If I can answer all of the questions they ask me, then I'm happy with myself.

The reputation I would like is as a person who gets things done well.

Focus on family life

In five years I think my focus will be more on family life. Starting a family with my husband is something I would like to do.

When I have kids I think I will continue to work. I have friends who are stay-at-home moms. Sometimes I think it would be great to hang out all day with them. But there's a part of me that thinks I would feel the need to also have a career.

There are three things I go by. Make yourself, your family and your work happy, in that order. If you're not happy, you're family won't be happy. If your family isn't happy then your work won't be as happy.

International learning?

I'm always looking at professional development opportunities. Anything that can help me to be better at my job is always welcome and I would love to take more courses.

I would like to learn more about anaerobic digestion but Manitoba doesn't offer much. I would have to study in Europe or the US where they have courses to improve your expertise in this subject. That means going to workshops or symposiums farther away. I can do online courses but I need hands-on experience along with the theory and research.

More volunteering

For the past few years I've been mentoring junior and high school students as they work on a science fair project for the Biotech Challenge. Now that I'm more settled into my job, it would be nice to give back more to others.

While I was in university I was with Engineers without Borders. We'd raise money and send a student to go help a developing country. I think it would be beneficial to volunteer with that organization again.

I would also like to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. I've done it before and it was a lot of fun.

Job Market Info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for Van-Ly's occupation is "Environment Engineer" and its NOC* code is 2134.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Employment Prospects - Labour Market Information

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the 'National Occupation Classification' code or 'NOC'.

Education

Useful High School subjects

- Math
- Sciences
- English

*Source: JobFutures.ca

For those out of school, Adult Learning Centres can help you get or upgrade your high school diploma, including adding subjects that are required for work or further education. All Manitobans are normally entitled to four free courses.

Below are links to various programs and courses that will you on the path to a career as a Training Coordinator and Senior Manager:

Colleges & Universities

University of Manitoba

Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences
Department of Biosystems Engineering  
Department of Agribusiness & Agricultural Economics
National Centre for Livestock and the Environment

University of Winnipeg

Department of Biology
Engineering

Red River College

Animal Health Technology

Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface

Faculté des sciences

Brandon University

Faculty of Science

Assiniboine Community College - Brandon

Agriculture Studies

Skills

Useful Skills/Experience:*

- Project management
- Team project work
- Proposal writing
- Making presentations
- Financial management
- Committee work on industry ethics

Source: Job Futures.ca

There is not yet an Essential Skills* profile for this occupation.

*For more information on Essential Skills and their importance, go to: Essential Skills.

Professional Resources

Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba
Leads and facilitates excellence in engineering, geoscience and applied technology for Manitoba

Canadian Society for Bioengineering
The Canadian society for engineering in agricultural, food, environmental and biological systems

Canadian Council of Professional Engineers
The national professional organization for Canada's engineers

Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology
Promotes and encourages women working in science and technology

CareerTrek
A not-for-profit organization that provides innovative educational programming for young people with perceived barriers to entering post-secondary education

Related Careers

Agricultural and biomedical engineers (NOC 2148)

Chemists (NOC 2112)

Civil environmental engineers (NOC 2131)

Engineering managers (NOC 0211)