Meet Our Staff : Reynaldo Cruz (Toronto)

I was born in 1972 in the Philippines, in the province of Bulacan, located 50 kms. from Manila, the capital, where I spent most of my youth.  I have two sisters and one brother.  I completed my B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1995 at Bulacan State University. After graduation I started work and trained as an assistant to the Site Engineer in a Construction Company, to gain experience in the field of construction.  After a year, I had the opportunity to work abroad in Malaysia in a Consulting firm as a CADD Designer in concrete construction.  Most of the projects were in housing development. It was a very challenging job for me, and I was also living away from my family for the first time.  But with the help of my fellow Filipino workers there, it was easy to adjust.

In February 2001, I immigrated to Canada with the help of my aunts living here for a long time. I was encouraged because of the many opportunities that existed here and I planned to have a family in the near future.   After I received my SIN Card, my first job was working on a factory as an assembler for three months. It was a tough job for me, travelling here and there in the winter time (at first I thought it was fun!).  My second job was working in a Plastic Company as a packager, then later I applied to be a Lead hand of that company.  While gaining Canadian experience, a friend introduced me to his uncle who worked in a Structural detailing company.  He introduced me to Mr. Eric Lee, President of Total Structural Detailing, Inc., and he gave me the opportunity to work in his company and in September 2001, I started training, learning and working at steel detailing by using ASteel, AutoCADD and XSteel.  With the help and support of all the staff and the Senior Checker, I learned and worked on steel detailing everyday at TSD.  In 2004, TSD and DOWCO merged and everybody was happy because we looked for a better future and better Advanced Technology by using XSteel Software.

I married my wife Criselda Yu in 2003, and we live with our two boys (4 and 2 yrs. old) in Brampton, Ontario.  I look forward to many more years working with my colleagues in the office and to continuing to expand my experience and learning.

Thanks for all their help and support.  Best wishes to ALL !!!