Spending twelve months in Japan as a Junior Research Assistant for the Network Service Systems Laboratory at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) gave Leon time to grow his list of technical work accomplishments, which consisted of projects that included integrating PCEP functionalities onto Ethereal (a software network protocol analyzer), configuring and evaluating Juniper M5 routers under optical GMPLS networks, and designing a software MPLS Traffic Engineering network simulator. Outside of achievements in the workplace, Leon has fond memories of the time he managed to gather more than sixteen other participants of The Canada-Japan Co-op Program and JETRO who were working across Japan, and coordinated an overnight climb to the top of Mt. Fuji.

Upon his return from Japan, Leon went on to complete his Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering at the University of Victoria, followed by a Master of Applied Science degree at the University of Toronto, and then graduated with a Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Washington. He now resides near Seattle, Washington and works for T-Mobile USA as a Product Engineer, developing new products for customers from ideation to launch. His time in The Canada-Japan Co-op Program remains a significant influence in his life and career as employers continue to bring up his experience in interviews, and he emphasizes how his participation in the program has helped him to appreciate and also learn to adapt quickly to different ethnic and corporate cultures.