A FIRST INTERNSHIP CAN DO MORE than fill your resume. Sometimes, it points an engineer toward an entire career. For Patrick Adamski, that path was pipelines.
At the University of Calgary, Adamski’s interests leaned more automotive than energy. But automotive opportunities were limited in Calgary, and when internship season came around, he applied widely.
“I landed a job at TC Energy and didn’t really know what to expect. I definitely wasn’t thinking about pipelines,” Adamski said. “I knew about the industry and how big it was here in Alberta. Once I landed the role, I really fell in love with it.”
Today, Adamski is a pipeline integrity engineer at TC Energy, working in the Canada Gas side of the organization. His job, in the simplest terms, is to help keep pipelines safe.
His team is responsible for pipelines stretching from British Columbia to Quebec, with engineers assigned to different regions. “If there is a known or suspected concern, whether it’s corrosion, cracking, or any of the nine threats, our team is responsible for figuring out what pressure that pipeline can operate at safely until we can remediate that concern,” he said.
From there, the work moves into excavation pressures, repair decisions, and engineering assessments that help bring pipelines back to their licensed maximum operating pressure. In Canada, Adamski said CSA Z662 is used heavily in pipeline integrity, while ASME B31 standards are foundational and incorporated into procedures and specifications.
R&D, NDE, and AI Inspections
Alongside his core pipeline integrity work, Adamski is involved in R&D projects, particularly in nondestructive evaluation (NDE). His focus is on “trying to qualify and validate new technologies that we can use on our dig inspections to make things more efficient, safe, and better for the environment.”
The work has taken him into the field with service providers, vendors, and new inspection technologies alike. Adamski is interested in whether a tool works technically, but also whether it can fit into existing processes without disrupting the technicians and engineers who need to use it.
AI is also starting to play a more practical role in the field, according to Adamski. “It seems to be the talk of everyone right now. There’s definitely a place for it, and it can be very helpful for some of the repetitive tasks that we have to do,” he said.
Having machine learning tools that can help draft technical memos and engineering assessments faster, especially when documents include similar language from one report to the next, proves valuable in reducing repetitive work and helping people make better use of their time.
“It's still on the engineer to review everything, because we’re the ones putting our stamp on it, of course,” he said.
“For a crawler project I'm working on [in R&D], we’re going to be incorporating AI to help us with defect and signal characterization,” Adamski shared. The goal is training the models for the crawler to be able to pick up signals and distinguish them, whether it's a surface-breaking crack or mill scab.
“It'll be something that will help technicians make the characterization without the manual need to go to that spot on the pipe and visually identify it,” he said.
Adamski plays beer league hockey in Calgary, where games can start around 11 p.m. He sometimes regrets it the next morning but said it serves as “a nice decompression time.”
“To young folks coming into EPIC or my team at TC Energy, be passionate about something, and expose yourself to new tasks, raise your hand as much as you can. It’s definitely something that can help grow your career as an engineer.”
—Patrick Adamski, Pipe Integrity Engineer, TC Energy; Chair, Energy Pipeline Institute of Canada
An EPIC Side Hustle
Beyond his work at TC Energy, Adamski serves as chair of the Energy Pipeline Institute of Canada (EPIC), a community focused on helping Canadian pipeline professionals share expertise and address the challenges of an evolving energy future. For him, that means bringing together people from across the pipeline industry, not only engineers. “It’s important to try and understand how things go from the design of a pipeline, all the way through the construction, operation, and then eventual decommissioning, and how there’s so many different people that play a role in that,” he said.
He sees that broader perspective as a benefit of professional communities, and believes engineering societies like ASME, EPIC, and Young Energy Infrastructure Professionals (YEIP) can provide that means for engineers to step outside their own lane and understand the larger system in which they work.
EPIC has also given Adamski a way to develop as a leader. He used to see himself as more a support person in university, but leadership has grown on him professionally, through saying yes to new opportunities.
“Something that one of my mentors has said is you don’t have to have the title of manager to be a leader,” he said. “You can definitely still do that in your day-to-day tasks as an individual contributor.”
Now, he passes that advice to younger professionals entering EPIC or joining his team. “If you have the capacity, try not to reject work opportunities,” he said, while still acknowledging that there’s always a time to say no when you’re swamped with work.
As a relatively new dad, Adamski shared that having a son changed how he thinks about time. Balance is still a work in progress, but in a career built around keeping critical infrastructure safe, the same principles apply: know the limits, manage the pressure, and keep things moving.
Sarah Alburakeh is strategic content editor.
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