Written by the Faculty of Engineering
Until just a month or two before accepting her university offer, Thevany was set on studying math. Engineering wasn’t even on her radar.
“I would have said absolutely no to engineering,” she laughs. “I had actually wanted to pursue math, do a PhD or get into lecturing.”
That changed when a friend attended a Waterloo info session and came back with a recommendation.
“She said, ‘They have this program called Management Engineering and it 100% sounds like you,’” Thevany recalls. “It just seemed like it would make a lot of sense.” As she researched the program, she realized her friend might be right. She loved the blend of technology, efficiency, and strategic thinking — and as she later discovered, Management Engineering offered exactly that.
Now a graduate of the program, Thevany says, “It worked out really well. It’s a really interesting program… modernized industrial engineering with a heavy emphasis on technology management, and a rounded engineering experience.”
Finding her fit
Thevany was drawn to the program’s structure and community, as well as its adaptability.
“You’re in a cohort… it was like high school where we all just moved [through classes together]. It was even better than high school,” she says. “You really have that sense of community.”
One of her most memorable courses was Software Engineering Principles with Professor Mark Smucker.
“It wasn’t so much about learning to code,” she explains, “but how do you work in a team? How do you deliver and ensure you’re being the most effective you can?”
She still uses notes from that course’s book—described as 'more like a storybook than a textbook' — to help colleagues new to Agile, a teamwork-focused approach to software development that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Thevany also appreciated how the curriculum evolved with industry needs: “We were doing Java, but before that it was C#. Students had been saying they were using Java at work, so the school updated the curriculum.”
Courses in optimization and data science were equally impactful: “Optimization courses helped with mindset. It’s about thinking: How can we be more efficient? What constraints are we working with? There’s always something you can do better.”
Building through co-op
Thevany’s co-op journey was wide-ranging and foundational to her career.
She started with administrative work at United College, then moved into Quality Assurance at Zynga. Her third co-op brought her to TJX Canada in an Implementation Coordinator role. From there, she rotated through Finastra and back to TJX in Global Continuous Improvement (GCI), where she led her own projects.
“GCI was one of my best co-op experiences,” she says. “I had full autonomy over my work… and I got to lead different projects.”
Her final placement was in Financial Planning and Analysis at TJX. “I’d always been curious about that area,” she says. After identifying some reporting inefficiencies, she helped automate processes — and was offered a full-time role after graduation.
“Most of my job offers came from people I’d worked with or interviewed with during co-op,” she says. “That foundation helped accelerate my growth.”
The sense of community at Waterloo — professors, alumni, classmates — made it feel like everyone genuinely wanted you to succeed and grow.
Capstone that connected
During her final year, Thevany and her team partnered with TJX on their Capstone Design Project. Drawing on her co-op experience, they developed a portal to help merchants document price variations for advertised discounts.
The tool addressed a real industry need and won both the People’s Choice Award and one of the top prizes at the Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards.
“It was exciting to be able to pitch our idea and see that it could be relevant to a lot of people,” she says.
Where she is now
Today, Thevany is a Manager of Product Management at TJX Canada, working in Enterprise Data and Analytics. She leads international projects in modernization and data strategy.
“I think technology modernization and data is where the world is going,” she says. “It’s interesting to see what kind of insights you can draw, how you interpret results, and how that can transform how we work and the value we bring.”
She values the global scope of her role and the foundation she built at Waterloo.
“What I gained from the program was a very rounded knowledge — people, process, and tech management. It helped me learn how to think, how to work, and how to keep adapting.”
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