After growing up in Canada, Justin Poblete had had enough of the cold. He moved to Atlanta as a college graduate in 1998, and once he arrived in the South with a degree in fire protection engineering technology from Seneca College in Toronto, he never looked back.
With a B.S. in fire and safety engineering technology from the University of Cincinnati, an M.S. in Safety, Security and Emergency Management from Eastern Kentucky University and more than 20 years in the field under his belt, Justin joined the ranks of Harrington Group as a senior fire protection technician a few weeks ago.
“I enjoy the creativity of it,” Justin said of working in fire protection. “You’re still tied to the parameters of the engineering portion of it, but the creativity is strong.”
Collaborating across a multitude of industries can be both the most rewarding and the most challenging element of this work, he said.
“Personalities can clash, people can do things differently,” he said. “But you’re trying to find that cohesion, and at the end of the day you have the same common goal.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic and HGI’s commitment to keeping its growing team safe and healthy, Justin has been working remotely since day one. His wife, an attorney, is also bound to her home computer during the time of COVID-19, so they’ve had to get creative when it comes to keeping their three children (ages 12, 10 and 8) entertained now that school’s out for the summer. A whiteboard outside his office door lets the kids know when he needs privacy, and each Sunday he helps his eldest daughter brainstorm and prepare camp-like activities for the younger two for the upcoming week.
When he’s not hunkered down in his home office, Justin enjoys gardening, logging miles on his road bike, and spending time with his family.