What's your job about?
Fulton Hogan is an infrastructure company involved in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure
I am currently working within the Contracting Department and am involved in the construction of a new water main in Mount Albert.
A typical day starts with a toolbox where we run through any safety moments from the previous day, the plan for the day, and any hazards there might be. The rest of my day is usually dependent on what’s happening on site but mainly involves assisting the site engineer in tracking progression of the works, making bookings, and ensuring we have all the necessary quality documentation.
Each Wednesday we have our last planner which basically gives us an idea of what needs to be completed for the month ahead. This allows construction on-site to occur more seamlessly.
Our site is also near our office so I have the privilege of being able to go down to site whenever I want to see the construction progress. This has given me a lot of exposure to how the construction processes work and how things must sometimes be adaptable to changing situations.
What's your background?
I am originally from Sri Lanka but moved to New Zealand when I was six. Growing up, I never considered pursuing Engineering and initially enrolled in Uni to do a Bachelor of Science. I ended up completing a Pharmacology degree but during my final year knew that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. I did just end up falling into Engineering when a friend convinced me to try it out (and have never looked back!).
In the first year, you get exposed to all of the different specialisations in Engineering and I knew straight off the bat that Civil Engineering was the one that I was definitely the most interested in. In the beginning of my third year, I had the opportunity to be involved with the MEP team on the City Rail Link project. This gave me an appreciation for the integration of the different disciplines required in many projects and cemented my choice to take the contracting rather than consulting route of Engineering.
Throughout University, I thoroughly enjoyed the transportation papers and was very interested in pursuing this in the future. This led me to Fulton Hogan and further research into Fulton Hogan increased my interest in wanting to be a part of the company and I was fortunate enough to get accepted into the Graduate Programme and have been working for Fulton Hogan since January of this year.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, definitely. While helpful, a Civil Engineering degree is absolutely not essential. A willingness to learn is a lot more important. While I’ve only been in this role for three months, I’ve found that the things you learn on the job are definitely more useful than what you learn in a lecture theatre.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The best thing about the job is definitely seeing the process of a bunch of drawings coming to life on site. I don’t think I will ever get sick of going down to watch them put in the next pipe or do a concrete pour. Work moves so quickly on-site and it’s amazing to see the planning which happens behind the scenes to make this happen. I am also surrounded by a wealth of knowledge and everyone is always willing to take the time to explain why things are done a certain way.
What are the limitations of your job?
One of the biggest limitations is probably that small mistakes can sometimes escalate to bigger problems on-site and all the work is following a pre-planned timeline so this can lead to a follow on effect on future works.
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