Scott Hughes

What's your job about?

I am an Electrical and Instrumentational Project Engineer for Monadelphous’ Engineering and Construction Division. The Monadelphous EC division provides multidisciplinary project management, construction services and solutions for major construction projects. I have been lucky enough to work on a range of different projects however most notably BHP’s Jimblebar Surplus Water Phase 1 and BHP’s South Flank Inflow. 

As an E&I Project Engineer, my job is bringing the clients design into fruition. My week usually begins by looking in my diary and seeing what important milestones are coming up and ensuring all activities that are needed to be completed are done. I then try and get all my emails and procurement activities that I can out of the way so the materials can get to site by the end of that week. The rest of the week is a bit of a blur, as an E&I Project Engineer you have the responsibility of keeping up client communications and project reporting, tracking all your procured items and ensuring they arrive on site, organising site activities, preparing work packs for the site teams, document control and redlines, technical queries, QA/QC, commissioning, safety, ITR’s and ITP’s as an example! Every week is different so being able manage and organise your week is a great bonus!

What's your background?

A bit of background of me, I grew up in Perth, Western Australia in the Northern suburbs and attended both St Stephen’s Duncraig and Hale School for my secondary education. After completing this I went to the University of Western Australia and obtained my Bachelor of Science (Engineering) and then my Master of Professional Engineering (Electrical and Electronic). 

I took longer to do my degree than most of my original cohort because I decided that it would be a good idea to get as much travel and different work experience as possible. I backpacked through Europe for 4 months, backpacked and snowboarded through Japan, spent a lot of time exploring Asia and China and I love four-wheel-driving and boating through the Australian outback and coast and finding places off the beaten track!

I worked multiple jobs in different careers such as Hospitality, Law, Engineering and I have even run my own business during Uni however all these experiences showed me how much I love and wanted to pursue engineering. At the end of 2020, I applied for the Mono’s vacation program and was placed in the tendering team for 6 weeks and then the JBSW1 team where I have spent most of my time since. I worked at Monos casually during Uni and was lucky enough to be offered a graduate position where I am now!

Could someone with a different background do your job?

No, I don’t believe someone with a different technical background could do my job! A large portion of my job is working on solutions to a range of problems across multiple engineering and construction disciples. I believe that by completing an engineering degree you gain the ability to think critically and develop the problem-solving skills that are essential to the EC discipline. My job is also heavily based on the ability to make technical decisions about the electrical and instrumentational aspects of the project, and to be able to effectively communicate these with our client which I don’t think someone without an electrical and electronic background could do!

What is the coolest thing about your job and what do you find the hardest?

I think one of the main reasons I became an engineer in the first place is that I am always looking at learning new skills and one of the coolest parts of my job is that I am not only associated with the E&I stages of the project, but I also get to contribute to the SMP, Civil, QA/QC and compliance components of the job. I love having the responsibility and autonomy to bring the engineering designs to life and being hands on in construction. The hardest part of my job, by far, is being able to remain organised and keeping on top of the project schedule while juggling all the procurement and client communications!