What's your job about?
My work as a graduate in UGL’s Graduate Program has been very diverse to date. I started the program with an HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality) rotation, followed by Bids and Tendering and now, a rotation within the New Zealand branch of UGL’s Engineering & Construction Division.
UGL’s graduate program has provided me with the opportunity to gain site based experience and office experience throughout my rotations to date, enabling me to utilise and enhance my technical skills and business acumen.
Around 7 months into my grad program, I had the opportunity to travel for work. I travelled back and forth to our New Zealand offices to work on critical win tenders (A major contract we ended up winning a few months later!) as part of my Bids and Tendering rotation. This then led to the creation of an international rotation to New Zealand within our existing Graduate program (my current rotation!)
In addition to my graduate program related tasks (listed above), my job allows me to work on additional projects in other areas of interest within the business, such as industry awards and organising and managing health initiatives such as 100 day 10,000 steps a day team challenges that promote a positive team culture and morale.
What's your background?
I was originally born in India before moving to Australia with my family in 2003. Since moving here, I’ve completed my secondary education at Kellyville High School and graduated from The University of Technology, Sydney in 2014 with an Engineering and Business Degree, majoring in Civil/Environmental Engineering and International Business.
During this time, I’ve had a diverse range of work experiences ranging from teaching English in Taiwan, through to completing a project management internship (Mongolian Hospital project) in China, completing case studies for Gosford City Council for pressure management in water distribution systems (Thesis); working as an Estimator with a sub-contractor in the Construction industry, as well as working as a Technical Writer at UGL-Unipart rail.
Following this, I got into UGL E&C’s (Engineering & Construction) graduate program in 2015.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Of course – if they have the basic technical background (as it would help them grasp concepts faster); if they are results driven, adaptable, have an open mind and are willing to learn.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job would probably be how different every project I work on could be. At any given week, I could be working out on site (wastewater treatment plant to be specific, completing safety checks for diving works), on a project, as part of my safety rotation and two weeks later I could be in our NZ office working on a tender submission for the following few weeks. The working opportunities whilst being able to travel to different places, and working alongside great people are other cool parts of my job.
What are the limitations of your job?
Because this graduate program is designed in such a way that allows you to drive your career and enhance your knowledge and experience within the industry, it’s often easy to fall into a trap of having multiple projects/ assignments of various complexities due around the same time to multiple managers.
For example, for someone like myself, (who puts their hand up for new assignments they’ve never attempted before for a challenge, in addition to usual rotation based tasks), I have previously gotten into situations where I’d have multiple deadlines approaching for multiple projects reporting to multiple managers. I wasn’t aware of situations like this during the start of my graduate program; however, these situations gave me an opportunity to consistently work on my organisation and management skills. Managing multiple assignments with similar due dates no longer require me to work late nights and stress (as much as before) to keep up with the workloads and meet deadlines – it’s a work in progress!
3 pieces of advice for your teenage self...
Three pieces of advice I’d give the teenage me: