I am Theo and I’m a Civil Engineering graduate at Rail Projects Victoria (RPV). Joining the RPV Graduate Program has honestly been the best kick-starter for my Civil Engineering career as I get exposed to a variety of different roles in the sector and have a chance to learn from leaders in the industry.
7 AM
Rise and shine! Alarm goes off, hit snooze once or twice then I’m up and ready to make a coffee. Coffee goes down well and I’m ready to start my day with a morning workout. After a refreshing workout, I say good morning to my 5-month-old cats Big Mac and Luna and give them some breakfast.
8 AM
I have my brekky, get ready and then walk all the 5 steps to my study room where my workstation is waiting for me.
8.45 AM
To start the workday I check my inbox, reply to emails and have a look at my calendar to make a prep list for any meetings and tasks that I have for the day.
9.30 AM
I have my first meeting for the day with the broader project team. The project team is quite diverse being made up of lawyers, graphic designers, communications, land planning and environment and engineers.
11 AM
As my second Graduate Program rotation, I am part of the Regional Rail Revival Shepparton Line Upgrade team and work on helping launch the project ready for construction in a few months’ time. My tasks vary week to week but at the moment I’m helping catalogue the data and track the progress for our cultural heritage assessment along the corridor. This includes working with Indigenous representatives to find artefacts and understand more about aboriginal history in the area we’re working in.
12 PM
Normally, working in the heart of the city on Exhibition Street brings an abundance of good yet cheap food options. Working from home is a bit different – for lunch I am going down the street to my local banh mi shop.
The other grads and I stay connected and on Fridays we jump on Zoom to have a virtual lunch together.
A great initiative that RPV has adopted since working from home is Lunch and Learn, where industry leaders set up an interactive Zoom session during lunch. We have the opportunity to learn a variety of interesting topics and draw from their experience.
1 PM
I resume my tasks by working and reviewing some of the staging of the project’s construction. I then have a one on one meeting with my supervisor to ask questions and get feedback for my tasks before I present my findings in our team meeting.
2 PM
We have a team engineering meeting where we focus on any project challenges and discuss the outcomes of the tasks we’re working on.
3.30 PM
Today I took a quick coffee break with some fellow 2020 grads to have a chat and talk about some of our insights into the projects we’re working on.
4.30 PM
I finish a couple more tasks and work on some final admin for the day, so everything is set to pick back up tomorrow.
5 PM
I wrap up my work and update my team on what I completed, as well as my tasks for tomorrow.
5.30 PM
It’s a nice day outside and after relaxing a bit, I go out to the park behind my apartment and play some basketball.
6.30 PM
I’m back at my apartment and video call my mate while getting started on cooking dinner.
8 PM
After dinner, I spend some time with my partner and the cats. We play Mario cart (I unfortunately lost that round).
10 PM
After watching a bit of Netflix (currently Brooklyn Nine-Nine), I get ready for bed and recharge for another exciting day ahead.