Automation Software Consultant Engineer at Accenture

Build systems.Build self.

I build the software that runs robots and conveyor lines. Off the clock, I work on the system that matters most: me.

Ali standing on a bridge over the Chicago River

Why I build

It started with LEGO.

As a kid, I'd pour a bag of LEGO onto the floor: hundreds of scattered pieces and no idea where to start. Hours later it stood finished, every brick exactly where it belonged.

That feeling, taking something scrambled and turning it into something whole that works, is why I fell in love with engineering.

Now I build with bigger pieces.

01
Robotic systems
Programming robots to take on the heavy, repetitive work, so people don't have to.
02
Conveyance systems
Building the lines that move product through a plant, and every bit of logic that keeps them flowing.
03
Automation solutions
Finding the slow, manual steps in a process and engineering them out for good.
04
AI workflows
Bringing AI into the flow, so systems don't just run. They get smarter.

Different pieces, same goal: make people's lives easier.

I didn't figure that out overnight.

It took five years, a pandemic, a few rejections and a steel mill. Here's how it happened.

The climb

From a Hamilton high school to building robots at Accenture. Every year added a rung.

2020MacNab
Class of 2020, on a screen
Sir Allan MacNab Secondary, then McMaster University2020
Graduated from Sir Allan MacNab in the middle of a pandemic, then began Automation Engineering Technology at McMaster from my bedroom. My entire first year of engineering happened through a screen.
2021
Figuring it out
McMaster University2021
Year two came down to one goal: land my first co-op. I rebuilt my resume, applied everywhere and even interviewed for a research role. Honestly, I didn't yet know what I wanted, so I kept applying until a door opened.
2022Honda
LEGO, life-size
Honda Canada, Alliston, OntarioMay to Aug 2022
My first internship, and my first time living away from my family. On Honda's plant floor I watched a car come together from nothing: thousands of scattered parts becoming one finished machine. It was LEGO again, life-size. Behind it ran the PLC logic and software that keep every line moving, where even a few minutes of downtime counts. It showed me what an engineer could be, and that's where I fell in love with engineering.
- First internship
- Manufacturing + PLC logic
- Alliston, ON
40%more accuratemultivariate LSTM vs. traditional forecasts
2023
Where data clicked
Stelco, Machine Learning Engineer Intern, HamiltonJan to Sep 2023
Eight months as a Machine Learning Engineer Intern inside a steel plant. I built a TensorFlow tool with LSTM models to forecast aluminum droplets on the Z-line, and SQL pipelines that fed Power BI and automated customer reports. It's where I learned that good data is the foundation of every good system.
- +40% forecast accuracy
- -30% data processing time
- TensorFlow
- SQL
- Power BI
2024Accenture
A no, then a yes
Tesla said no. Accenture said yes.2024
I've always loved cars and building things from scratch, and Tesla led the world at both. I wanted to work on their robotic systems. They said no. In May, Accenture said yes: I joined as an Automation Analyst intern, the day after running a half marathon.
- Automation Analyst Intern
- Half marathon the day before
2025Accenture
Graduated. Hired.
McMaster University, then Accenture full time2025
Finished my degree in Automation Engineering Technology at McMaster, with Mama and Baba there to see it. Accenture made a return offer, and I came back full time as an Automation Software Consultant Engineer.
- Automation Engineering Technology
- Return offer
NowAccenture
Building with AI
AccentureToday
Today I design and develop robotic and conveyance systems and write the logic behind them, working directly with clients and vendors. The next rung: bringing AI into every flow I build.

Every rung came with something I built along the way.

Things I've built

At work, at school and at home. I've always loved building things from scratch.

Personal automation / AI

Automating My Own Life

AI is the most powerful tool we've ever had. The real skill is knowing how to use it, so I practice on my own life first.

Email on autopilot: workflows that sort, route and handle my inbox so I don't have to.
A finance app I built that tracks everything I spend and every investment I'm working on.
My basement, controlled by Alexa. In progress.

AI workflows
Email automation
Alexa
Finance app

Screenshot of this website's opening screen: Build systems. Build self.

McMaster capstone / IoT

Smart Aquaponics System

Built for people who keep a fish tank but work overseas. The whole ecosystem runs and reports to their phone while they're away.

A mobile app shows live temperature, nutrients, pH, humidity and light readings.
Automatic water exchange pumps out the dirty water and cycles clean water back in to keep the tank clean.
A 3D-modelled fish feeder, so owners can feed their fish from anywhere.
Closed loop: fish waste feeds the plants, and the plants filter the water. Runs on an Arduino Mega with a JavaScript + Node.js app.

Arduino Mega 2560
IoT
Node.js
3D modelling
Mobile app

The aquaponics capstone build with a lit tank and laptop

Digital + analog circuits / FPGA

FPGA Elevator Control System

An elevator controller built from the logic up, designed for efficiency, safety and reliability.

Core control logic written in Verilog and running on an FPGA.
Analog and digital circuits for motor control, sensor interfacing and the floor display.

Verilog
FPGA
Motor control
Oct to Dec 2023

Model elevator tower wired to an FPGA board on a lab bench

McMaster / Predictive maintenance

CNC Vibration Monitoring

Catch the warning signs before a machine fails. A sensor system that tracks CNC vibrations, so maintenance can be proactive instead of reactive.

An Arduino Mega reads a vibration sensor mounted straight onto the machine with a two-magnet mount I designed.
A 3D-modelled enclosure houses the Arduino and the electronics.
Data streams over Ethernet into Excel, collected across long production runs.
The patterns reveal irregularities early, cutting surprise downtime.

Arduino Mega
Vibration sensor
3D modelling
Ethernet
Data analysis

The Arduino and vibration sensor mounted on the CNC machine bed

Certified

FANUC Industrial Robot Operation and ProgrammingFANUC
AVEVA IDEAVEVA

Building systems was never the hard part. Building myself was.

75 Hard

75 Hard is a 75-day mental toughness challenge. Five rules, every single day, no exceptions. Miss one and you start over at day 1.

01Two 45-minute workouts, one of them outside
02Follow a diet
03Drink a gallon of water
04Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
05Take a progress photo

Why I started

I wanted more discipline in my work and my routines, and better ways to improve myself. I'd started reading: The Psychology of Money, then Discipline Is Destiny, which became the staple of my library. I was already seeing the benefits, so I thought, why not?

Day 1 to day 10 was easy. After day 10, it got hard. That's where it started teaching me.

Today

Day48

48 of 75. The grid fills one day at a time.

Workouts: 96
Pages read: 480
Gallons of water: 48
Progress photos: 48

A line I keep coming back to

What's a man who can't even keep the promises he made to himself?

What it means to me

This line helped me understand what being a man means. How can I make promises to anyone else if I can't keep the ones I make to myself?

What it's teaching me

The real start is day 10

The first ten days ran on excitement. Discipline only started when the excitement ran out.

Promises to myself come first

If I can't keep the promises I make to myself, my promises to anyone else don't mean much.

Read it, then live it

The books gave me the ideas. Seventy-five days of doing them is what made them stick.

Rule four: ten pages a day. These are the pages.

What I'm reading

Ali's copy of Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday

Ali's copy of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

My favorite. The staple of my library.

In a world of distraction, focusing is a superpower.
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny

To procrastinate is to be entitled. It is arrogant. It assumes there will be a later.
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny

The fact is, the body keeps score. The decisions we make today and always are being recorded, daily, silently and not so silently, in who we are, what we look like, how we feel.
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny

Compounding works best when you can give a plan years or decades to grow. This is true for not only savings but careers and relationships. Endurance is key.
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

Rule one: one workout has to be outside. This is where I take it.

Trails and peaks

Ontario trails and one Colorado mountain. Where I clear my head and build endurance.

Sitting on white quartzite above the lakes at Killarney — **The Crack**Killarney Provincial Park, ON

Hikers on a fall forest trail in Killarney — **Fall on the trail**Killarney, ON

A steep boulder scramble between birch trees — **The scramble**Killarney, ON

Ali on the trail up Pikes Peak — **Pikes Peak**Colorado

Clouds over the valleys below Pikes Peak — **Above the clouds**Pikes Peak, Colorado / 4,302 m

Every so often, I test all of it in one day.

Finish lines

21.1km

May 2024

Half marathon, zero training

The day before my Accenture internship started, I ran a half marathon for cancer research without training for it. It was all between the ears, and one of the biggest challenges of my life.

All between the ears.