RCN Digital Leadership: Philippe Turcotte, MS
Caption
Photo of Philippe Turcotte
July 4, 2023 – Defence Stories
Master Sailor Phil Turcotte joined the Naval Reserves as a musician in January 2016. He is the first member of his family to serve in the Canadian military. Prior to joining the RCN, Phil completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music at Laval University, specializing in the French horn.
In March 2017, Phil was offered a Class B contract with PCC Quebec working as the Pers Controller. This role involves managing Reserve personnel between NAVRES and the coasts and providing help desk support for MCS applications for 24 NRDs. Aside from a 3-day Monitor Mass (MM) training session provided at Valcartier, Phil has never studied computing formally. Instead, he drew heavily on his family’s interest in technology, having learnt a great deal at home. When he was a child, his parents were early technologists; his brother’s passion for computing led to him MacGyvering a homemade network long before LANs were widespread.
In order to upskill for his new role with PCCQ, Phil relied on his natural curiosity and unflinching determination to untangle and resolve technical issues. In particular, exceptional and unique problems bother him and he is very persistent until he reaches a full understanding. He loves the analytical side of his job and has worked hard to develop his corporate knowledge of the RCN via Monitor Mass. He remains committed to staying up to date with technology in general, outside of his role with PCCQ. Admittedly, Phil is also an enthusiastic gamer at home, finding that he enjoys management games, such as Factorio, Elden Ring, and Civilization 5, which he insists relate directly to his job.
To improve your proficiency with MM, Phil suggests the following:
- If you haven't already, request your MM login credentials so you can access your account.
- Find out who is the MM point of contact for your unit.
- Ask questions about how MM works.
- Be persistent with problem-solving.
- Test out MM functionality. Beta accounts exist for more advanced testing, as required.
- Don’t be afraid to explore MM. Unintentional changes that are made in MM can be fixed, if needed.
- If data exists in MM, there will be a corresponding query/report that you can use to extract this data.
In addition, if you wish to submit a feature request for MM, please use this email: P-NPTGHQMCSCOORD@intern.mil.ca