What's your job about?
I work for Stantec Australia as a Graduate Civil Engineer in their water team in Sydney. Stantec is a global delivery firm of designers, engineers, scientists, and project managers working across the energy and resources, buildings, transportation, water, and community development sectors. My role involves assisting in providing the detailed design of water and wastewater pipelines and any civil aspects involved within a water treatment plant - such as earthworks, stormwater design and access road design. Daily my work involves reviewing and delivering mark-ups to drawings for the CAD team, as well as providing any calculations or documents to support the design. I am currently working on the Nepean Water Filtration Plant Upgrade, which is required to meet the current demand on water production capacity and quality from the surrounding community. On this project, I am involved in the design of the required civil elements, including the access road, drainage, and earthworks. I work with the discipline lead to provide the sketches to the CAD person and any calculations and documents required to support the design.
What's your background?
I was born in Saigon, Vietnam and moved to Sydney at the age of 12, where I went to Bankstown Girls High School. My favourite subjects were maths, physics, chemistry, and visual arts so it was no surprise that I chose a career in civil engineering – you need to be good at maths to be an engineer! I graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney, in 2020 and got my current position at Stantec through Seek. In my last year at university, I had the opportunity to participate in the BUILD (Beyond International Leadership Development) program, this is an extra-curricular global leadership program at UTS, the program is a short-term study exchange at St Petersburg University in Russia. This was a great opportunity that enabled me to broaden my social skills by getting to know people from around the world and helped me to improve my understanding of civil engineering in another country. During the two weeks at Saint Petersburg State University, I was able to visit and learn about the history of some of their iconic architectural buildings and learn some technical skills such as the thermal insulation they use in Russia to keep out the extreme weather conditions they have in winter.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
No, you would need to pass a degree in civil engineering first. You also need a willingness to learn and be a good team player. As a graduate, you really are still learning for the first few years of your working life, and to be honest, I don’t think you ever stop learning throughout your entire career. It’s important to soak up as much information as possible from the people around you, ask lots of questions and challenge your thinking. At Stantec I am surrounded by people who have worked in the industry for many years and have worked on some amazing projects around the globe – I like to take advantage of this and collaborate with employees in different countries, share innovations and learn from their experiences. So, I guess you could say, a willingness to learn is a top priority as a graduate civil engineer. You also need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with your peers, clients, and other stakeholders.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job is being able to take a project from an initial idea to a fully completed and working structure, it enables me to get a complete understanding of how a project is developed and built from start to finish. I have a sense of pride when I see a project I have worked on in its completed state. I think to myself ‘I helped with that!’
What are the limitations of your job?
As an engineer you get to work on cool projects, that can take months or years to complete. Working on these projects whilst super fun can mean you need to work extra hours to meet strict deadlines, which in most cases aren’t moveable. I think it helps that I enjoy my job because I really don’t mind working extra hours when the need arises. If you don’t love what you do, you are in the wrong job!
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