What's your job about?
At the core of Human Factors is…. The HUMAN. Human Factors aims to uncover how individual characteristics and environmental, organisational, and job factors affect health and safety. SYSTRA applies Human Factors to several different areas within the rail domain, including conducing ergonomic assessments, investigating how cognitive demands and the influence of mental workload can impact performance, assessing and managing risk, and improving the design and usability of human-machine interfaces.
One of the projects that I am currently working on involves providing Human Factors input to the upgrading of an online platform. My primary concern is ensuring that the end users of the system will not be negatively affected by the changes made to the system interfaces. Some of my daily tasks include meeting with subject matter experts, documenting and assessing the impact of changes, and providing recommendations on how the system could be modified to ensure a more positive user experience.
Every one of us has a basic understanding of Human Factors that has been built up from personal experience. My mentors have already taught me so much, and I look forward to learning even more about this incredible field.
What's your background?
I grew up in the heart of Western Sydney, attending both primary and high school within the Penrith area. At the end of my schooling years, I decided that I wanted to pursue psychology and make a difference in the lives of others. It only made sense that I enrolled and completed my first degree at Western Sydney University. Despite these experiences, it wasn’t until my second year of my Master of Organisational Psychology degree at Macquarie University that I discovered the field of Human Factors. I found a placement at a User Experience consultancy in Sydney to understand the field a bit better and quickly found my interest levels growing. I was able to apply my psychology skills in a way that I had never done before – and this was only one facet of Human Factors! After graduating, I came across SYSTRA’s graduate program through a university connection, and 15 months later I can reflect on several different projects working alongside both Human Factors and engineering experts.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Suppose someone wants to do the same job as you do, would that be also possible with a different background?
There is no set path for anyone to start a career in Human Factors in Australia. Whilst there may be overseas courses dedicated to Human Factors and ergonomics (namely in the UK), these are not essential. Having a background in psychology or engineering would be a helpful starting point, but there are no prerequisites. The most useful skills to be successful in Human Factors is an in-depth understanding of the way humans act and interact with each other and their environment, the ability to understand and adhere to guidelines and design frameworks, and strong communication skills.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job is that even in a room full of engineers, Human Factors stand out. Other disciplines are beginning to understand the importance of applying a Human Factors lens across all project stages, and I feel as if I have an important role to play. I also get to gain experience using software like Figma and Peoplesize and am surrounded by a supportive and passionate team.
What are the limitations of your job?
One limitation that I can think of is that often people don’t actually understand what Human Factors is (so be prepared to explain it to every second person you encounter). My job rarely requires me to work weekends, and whilst my level of responsibility increases with more project experience, I am never left in the depend. As I have an extensive background in psychology, I do wish that I was able to interact with end users a bit more in my job, however, I am sure that this opportunity will arise more in the future.
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