For someone who never spent a day working as an engineer, Terry Fallis has never stopped thinking like one. “I wear the iron ring,” he says proudly. “I still feel strongly about the engineering world, even though I’ve never practiced for one instant in my life.”
Terry Fallis is an award-winning novelist, and a retired public affairs communications consultant and political strategist. His debut novel The Best Laid Plans won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and the 2011 edition of Canada Reads, which described it as the “essential Canadian novel of the decade.” It went on to be adapted as a television miniseries and a stage musical. He is also the recipient of McMaster University’s Faculty of Engineering L.W. Shemilt Distinguished Alumni Award.
He has led a storied career, which he firmly believes would not have been possible without his McMaster Engineering education or his years in the McMaster Student Union (MSU) and the broader student movement. He was MSU President from 1983-84. “I don’t know where I would be or who I would be without McMaster,” he says. “I don’t have a moment’s regret pursuing an engineering degree because it has served me so well and prepared me for everything else that I have done.”
Empowered by an engineering mindset
Fallis’ experiences with engineering started early, with a childhood passion for design and building. When he was fifteen, he designed and built a working full-sized hovercraft, complete with thrust and lift engines. “I remember thinking, ‘what job do I have if I want to design and build hovercrafts?’ That’s what sent me down the engineering path.”
Following this passion, Fallis attended McMaster from 1978 to 1984, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. It was a time when access to technology for students was limited. “We were learning from textbooks, and we had HP programmable calculators. There were no personal computers. There were mainframe computers and occasionally, we would write programs on punch cards, but that was the extent of our access.”
The engineer’s mindset, however, is not reliant on technology or computers. It can be applied anywhere, anytime and in any setting. Fallis embraced this notion and followed his passions into politics after graduating. He eventually founded his own PR firm, Thornley Fallis. Looking back, it’s obvious to him that he used his engineering training every step of the way.
“In each of those different parts of my work, I see clear evidence of my engineering mindset. An engineering degree can prepare you for almost anything with a methodological approach to problem-solving, regardless of whether it’s an engineering problem.”
A calculated approach in a creative field
Now retired to focus on writing — and currently working on his eleventh novel — Fallis approaches each story with the same eye for design and problem-solving. “I do not write a novel without a blueprint. I need a plan. I spend far more time mapping out my story, developing it, and assembling it, than I do writing the manuscript. I’m very much a planner, which is the engineer in me.”
Given Fallis’s level of success as a novelist, his engineering approach to storytelling is serving him and his readers well. “I’m actually an engineer writing those novels. My approach to them is pure and applied engineering.”
Even with such a clear passion for engineering, Fallis was unafraid to explore other careers. “For engineering grads contemplating stepping outside of the engineering field and into something else, I think they will be very well served by what they have learned,” he says. ”The skills, habits, understanding and ethos in the engineering world will definitely help them with almost whatever they choose to do.”
“We must work in the context of the real world, so we need to know how the real world operates,” Fallis says. “The result will be better engineers with a broader understanding of the world around them so they know the society they serve.”
Terry Fallis’ novels can be found at your local bookstore. To read more from Fallis and his thoughts on the benefits of an engineering mindset, subscribe to his newsletter.
