What's your job about?
My employer is one of the largest civil contractors and suppliers in Australasia and I was responsible for managing onsite works. My daily work included the planning, resourcing and management of onsite concrete works. I would work on a wide range of projects from maintenance to construction, and a variety of sites all around Auckland (and sometimes beyond).
What's your background?
I was born and raised in Auckland! Started out my early childhood years in East Auckland and moved to the North Shore where I ended up doing most of my schooling. The most important stages of my life were definitely the ones leading up to my career right now, so my time at University was definitely one of, in not the most formative stages of my life. In saying that school set me up to be successful at University. I am currently a Water Engineer at GHD! I am in the third and last year of the Project New Grad program, having completed the first and second years at Fulton Hogan and Watercare respectively. The decision to apply and enter the PNG program has shaped me as a professional, having had the opportunity to work at 3 different companies in 3 years has been awesome.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, absolutely. Anyone can be an engineer, I know this because of the people that I’ve worked with across 3 companies, several having come from different disciplines and background some completely unrelated to engineering. You learn most of the technical skills you require on the job, but it’s the soft skills such as problem-solving, leadership and communication that really make a complete engineer, and these are characteristics that anyone could develop.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
What I enjoyed most about the job was completing work that I would’ve previously thought was impossible to do. What I loved most about my time at Fulton Hogan was looking at the work myself and the concrete crew were doing towards the end of my year, and thinking how far we’d compared to the work we were doing when I’d started at the company.
What are the limitations of your job?
The job is definitely demanding in terms of working hours, during the week and on weekends. Work-life balance can be not great at times because of this.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...