What's your job about?
Rheinmetall Defence Australia (RDA) is currently supporting many contracts with the Commonwealth of Australia including the Land-400 project which is supplying new Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles to the Australia Army. I am responsible for helping my team develop a general vehicle architecture for this new era of vehicles.
My current project at RDA is interfacing with the software development team and the systems engineers to work out how we can test and evaluate the software to ensure it is robust and acceptable, given the accepted requirements specified by the Commonwealth of Australia.
What's your background?
I grew up on the Gold Coast QLD, surfing and playing a lot of sports.
I always knew I wanted to study engineering but what type of engineering was the hard bit. So, I chose mechatronics to get a bit of everything. I never really liked software at University but once I got a bit better at it and realised I could work from home or anywhere with just a laptop, I was drawn to the profession. The best semester I had was my semester abroad in Sweden to study. I visited 25 countries and met plenty of amazing people that I still talk to, from all over the world.
I applied online and made sure I didn’t panic in the interview. I just tried to relate every question (even if I didn’t know the answer) back to a common strength to put myself in the best light.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, many people come from different backgrounds in software. You DO NOT have to have studied software engineering. Many of the best software engineers I know actually studied physics or geology and then moved across for better pay and work/life balance. Must be willing to learn constantly. Software is a huge world, you’ll never learn it all. Being good at asking for help from the more experienced guys, can save you a lot of time.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love the software at Rheinmetall because of the flexibility to learn and also get my code on the final product. There is a great mix of responsibility but also flexibility.
What are the limitations of your job?
I choose to bear responsibility in my role because I like to get tasks done quickly and efficiently and have accountability in my work. You can set your own pace being a graduate at Rheinmetall. RDA is happy for you to just learn and take things in and partner with more senior engineers if that is what you want to do. You have to be self-driven to succeed and be willing to pick up a project or a piece of work and get it done to the best of your ability.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...