What's your job about?
My team at Arcadis have been providing me with constant support and opportunities to develop both my professional and technical skillset. There have also been additional opportunities outside of my technical role to develop my leadership capabilities within the graduate development program and involvement in the gender diversity committee.
I am working in the tunnelling team at Arcadis, currently full time on the North East Link project. My current responsibilities are around the structural design and delivery of all concrete elements for a cut and cover section of the project. This includes modelling of the structure in Strand7, as well as report writing, the creation of drawings and any additional calculations and/or assessments as required. I am working closely with the package lead on the project to develop an understanding of the requirements of package delivery, and slowly taking on further responsibilities to assist in this delivery. The overall objective of my tasks is not only to ensure that the design of the structure is able to withstand expected conditions but to also ensure that it complies with project requirements and is communicated in a way that the fabrication and construction team are able to pick up the drawings/reports and bring the design to life.
What's your background?
I was born and raised in Adelaide, completing both primary and high school at the local school, before starting university at the University of Adelaide. I completed high school not knowing what it was that I wanted to do, only that I wanted to make a positive impact in society. I decided to pursue a career in civil engineering after hearing about the work that Engineers Without Border (EWB) was involved in. This showed me that the skills you develop as an engineer can help you to improve people’s quality of life.
Throughout my university experience, I was fortunate to have participated in an EWB design summit. At this summit, I visited a community in Nepal, where I learned about human-centred design. This experience showed me that my passion was to help others, which is how I ended up at Arcadis.
When looking for companies to work at, I knew that it was important to find a place that valued people. I also knew that I wanted to explore opportunities outside of Adelaide. This is when I stumbled across Arcadis. I saw that Arcadis had a people-centric value system and that they were involved in with UN-Habitat shelter program, where they develop shelters for people in developing communities. After learning this, I quickly applied for a position and was fortunate enough to be successful. It has now been a year since I started working at Arcadis and to this day, I value the culture that they have created.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
My role requires a civil engineering university degree. Outside of that, I do not believe that there are any restrictions as to the type of person that can do this job! My team is full of different characters from across the globe, and they all bring something to the table. The tunnelling industry is quite new to Australia, so it is okay if you have not been exposed to this type of work before. Most of the skills are transferrable. If you have the mindset to want to learn and develop your skills, then you will fit right in.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The most exciting part about my job is the scale of the projects that we work on! Most tunnelling projects in Australia are huge. This means that I am not only exposed to the full scale of a project but also get to work with other engineers around Australia and in other consultancies as well. It is exciting when you get to look at a project that you have been working on and see the scale of the work that you have done and the positive impact that it will have on society.
What are the limitations of your job?
I believe that the responsibility and limitations of your job really come down to your own time management and expectations from the team. I have been super fortunate to be in a team where working overtime is discouraged and enough support is provided, that overtime is not required. Rather than sitting on a task for days unsure how to proceed, I am in an environment where I can ask questions and learn rather than spending nights catching up on a task. This means that my working career has not led to limitations in other areas of my life.
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