I’m a Bigambul descendant who grew up in a little South West Queensland country town called Inglewood. I completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering minoring in Structures & Project Management at the Queensland University of Technology. I spent all of my summer breaks in the Brisbane Jacobs office as an intern whilst I studied which allowed me to develop as a professional in the workplace, not just in lecture theatres and tutorial classrooms. I currently sit in the Integrated Project Delivery Solutions team in the Sydney office as a Graduate Project Manager working on Defence and Transport projects.
On top of my projects, I am also the lead of the First Nations Committee in Eastern, a NSW RAP lead, and the Graduate Development Network Social Coordinator. As these roles are different to project work, they allow you explore the other elements of development that Jacobs have to offer. The ambitions of a little boy from Inglewood becoming an Engineer at a corporate company like Jacobs at one point seemed very daunting and unrealistic. It’s the extra roles and committees outside of project work that I treasure most and that makes me feel included. Roles such as being the lead of the First Nations Committee; this role allows me to embrace my culture and heritage within the business and gives me the confidence to bring the complete ‘Nick’ to work every day.
After being fulltime with Jacobs for a year now, I feel like I’m surrounded by colleagues and resources that will influence and motivate me to grow, not only with my career but as a person. Mentorship especially has been incredibly important, as the baptism to the workplace was made more difficult thanks to COVID-19. With the mentorship from senior leaders within our company and project teams, it made the transition for Grads like myself a lot less stressful.
The diversity of my role and what I can do was super surprising to me. When I tell people I’m a Project Manager but have my hand in civil design tasks as well, I think that surprises them. A conventional Project Manager wouldn’t necessarily be hands-on in the technical design aspects, but since I have my technical degree at my disposal, Jacobs helps me facilitate the use of my technical skills in engineering tasks whilst keeping on track with my main goal of being a top tier Project Manager. Only fulltime for a year and being provided with the chance to be involved in the roles that I am, I believe connotes the ideology that Jacobs will support you to achieve your aspirations if possible to do so.