Duncan McCrostie
Duncan McCrostie
Bachelor of Arts in Economics
Duncan is currently working as an Intelligent Industry Manager at Capgemini. Keep reading to see how AWE influenced his career path.
How did your work term through AWE shape your understanding of the real-world application of your degree?
For myself I actually relocated from Edmonton to Toronto for my first work term. On a personal development level, this was a really formative experience to both live and work in Canada's largest city. It also showed me that a degree from the University of Alberta puts you in just as good of a position as any other institution here in Canada.
Looking back, how has AWE impacted the direction you went in your career?
AWE impacted my career in two major ways. The first was allowing me to "test drive" a career in my degree field. For myself, this was as an economist, which I learned that working in the public sector was not for me. Determining that during a four-month work term was super beneficial as I could then refocus myself on what I wanted to do instead! The second was providing me with really great work experience that I could use on my resume as I applied for my first job post-graduation. I believe that my two work terms allowed me to have a fairly short and painless application experience.
How has having an Arts degree allowed you to advance your career to where it is today?
Primarily I think my Arts degree has allowed me to be flexible in the areas I have worked thus far. Although confined to consulting, I have worked with First Nations in areas such as economic development and coalition design to energy companies in areas such as post-merger integration and organizational design to now work in technology in areas such as cloud computing, digital twins, and smart infrastructure. The diversity of subject matter allowed me to explore my intellectual curiosity during my degree and this has continued into my career.