After graduating with a degree in engineering mathematics from Queen’s University in 1975, John Dafoe began a career as a consulting engineer. In 1977, he was a consultant to Spar Aerospace, and worked on the first Canadarm. While there, he had the opportunity to meet with some NASA astronauts who were training to use the Canadarm using a computer simulator called SIMFAC.

John was also a consultant to several nuclear facilities such as the Port Hawkesbury Heavy Water Plant and the Bruce Generating Station. In 1982, he joined Giffels Associates Ltd. as a senior project engineer, and worked with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario in implementing their first automated warehouse in Whitby, Ontario. This project utilized a relational database, and was, at the time, a state-of-the-art facility.

He later joined the Liquor Control Board and became the systems manager of the facility.   While there, John and his team implemented several hardware and software changes, which doubled the production of the facility and enabled the warehouse to implement a second production shift. He left the Liquor Board in 1993, and became an independent consultant to several firms.

In 1996, Dafoe joined Hatch Associates of Mississauga. While there, he did onsite consulting for Stelco Ltd., and Lake Erie Steel, as well as Cominco Mines of British Columbia.

The latter involved a sophisticated monitoring system with a SQL database on a R.A.I.D.

John left Hatch in 1999, and after one year as a teaching assistant with the Peel District School Board, joined Sheridan College in May 2000. He is now entering his fourteenth year at Sheridan, and has taught Mathematics I, Calculus, Discrete Math, and several Computer Networking Courses. He has also taught programming (Java in Problem Solving and Program Logic), Visual Basic 6 and MathCad to engineering students.