In the high-risk, high-stakes world of industrial robotics, adding student engineers to the team was a game-changing decision that helped Avestec Technologies take flight.
“Students come with fresh eyes and new ideas that some senior talent cannot see.”
Reza Tavakoli, Avestec
Established in 2017, Avestec develops flying robots that inspect critical infrastructure for major oil and gas companies worldwide. The company’s technology replaces human-led inspections that often require rope access or scaffolding to reach high or confined spaces, delivering safer, faster, and more cost-effective inspections, along with more accurate data.
“We initially leaned heavily on senior talent to develop our technology,” said CEO Reza Tavakoli. “Although I respect their experience, I found that they also come with assumptions. And changing those assumptions can be very challenging. Students come with fresh eyes and new ideas that some senior talent cannot see.”
Today, student interns are a large part of the Burnaby-based company’s talent pipeline. Avestec works closely with organizations like the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) to bring on three to four students every semester.
ICTC is a national non-profit that provides research, advice, and programs to strengthen digital skills and build capacity. One of its initiatives is the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Digital program for post-secondary students. Participating employers can apply for grants to subsidize up to 50 percent of a student’s salary over their term, or up to 70 percent for underrepresented students.
For Avestec, the program has accelerated innovation and reshaped how it prototypes, designs, and scales complex hardware systems.
One student introduced 3D printing into the company’s prototyping process. For the small team, the shift significantly reduced development time and costs, and ultimately changed not just how the company builds its technology, but how it evaluates talent early on.
As Tavakoli recalled, this student was hired as an intern to work with a senior mechanical engineer.
“He had 30 years of experience but wasn’t familiar with 3D printing,” he said. “The student literally grabbed one of our designs one day and told the engineer he was going to print it at his university lab. He printed it, brought it back to us, and within three months, my senior engineer was making everything using 3D printing.”
Experiences like this reshaped how Tavakoli thought about building his team. Today, Avestec’s robotics lead is a former student intern, and at least 50 percent of the company’s full-time engineers started as interns. Tavakoli now avoids senior hires, opting instead to train young talent to eventually take on those leadership positions in the futrue.
“When we changed our strategy to not hire senior engineers, or at least minimize it, we learned that bringing in fresh graduates was the best approach,” said Tavakoli. “When we bring in young folks, they learn and adopt our culture, and they understand the product. That’s a great marriage.”
“When we bring in young folks, they learn and adopt our culture, and they understand the product. That’s a great marriage.”
Reza Tavakoli, Avestec
Every student who joins the team starts as a junior engineer on one of the core teams: mechanical, electrical, firmware, or software. They’re assigned to a specific project but gain exposure to the full development cycle, from design and product development to robot testing and client feedback.
“I always tell students they should try to do their internships at a hardware-software tech company,” said Tavakoli. “You get to experience a mixture of problems through the spectrum of engineering.”
ICTC’S WIL Digital program offers a pathway for students to gain that experience. The program takes place over three terms a year: Winter, Spring/Summer, and Fall. Since 2017, it has facilitated over 23,000 work placements. More than 4,000 employers across Canada have participated, and over 70 percent of placed students identify as belonging to underrepresented groups.
Tavakoli uses the WIL Digital grant to offset an expensive hiring process. The program functions as a long-term talent pipeline and risk-mitigation tool for the company, while keeping engineering talent in Canada.
“We use this program to learn about the students, and for them to learn about us,” he said. “If we like each other, we do our best to keep them on full-time. That’s the best approach for us. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.”
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ICTC’ WIL Digital program provides employers with wage subsidies of up to 50 percent of a student’s salary up to $5,000, or 70 percent up to $7,000 for underrepresented students.
Learn more and apply here for the January-March 2026 term.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Valentin Zickner.