Bonnie Rydzik logs long hours at the computer doing design and drawings for SaskTel, the provincial telephone company. As an Architectural Engineering Technologist she has input into various steps in the design process, working on everything from small equipment buildings in rural areas to urban office buildings.

Bonnie, 38, works in the Buildings Department at SaskTel in Regina. With her colleagues, including Architectural Technologists and planning staff, she produces designs, layouts, and specifications for the construction of new utility buildings and for renovations of the existing facilities. Bonnie joined the company in October 1998.

"I spend most of my day on the computer working on drawings," she says. "We do specifications for projects and meet with clients, finding out their needs, coordinating everything, and getting packages sent off to tender. Then it's passed on to the project manager and carried through to completion."

Computer-aided design (CAD) is a big part of Bonnie's job. "At technical college, we worked mainly on the drafting table, and now everything is done on the computer. The learning curve wasn't too steep, though, since we were introduced to working on the computer gradually throughout the course."