What's your job about?
Here in the Stantec Hastings office, we have two departments; Transport and Water & Waste. I am a part of the Water and Waste team, and work on projects relating to the three glasses of water; drinking water, stormwater and wastewater. Our team is involved in a range of different projects, including design, contract management, asset management and water monitoring.
I have been lucky enough to be able to work on a range of projects, with roles involving design, renewal planning, condition assessments and contract management. Being involved in a range of roles has meant I’ve been able to gain lots of experience in different areas and am never bored! This also means that what I do week to week changes quite often depending on the project I’m working on.
At the moment, the two major projects I am working on are a stormwater design job and a contract management job. The stormwater design job involves doing calculations and drawing up plans and allows me to work with a great team of designers who have lots of experience. The contract management project involves liaising with civil contractors who construct our designs. I get to go out on-site to monitor construction progress and discuss any issues that may arise. It’s great having a mix of both office and site work, and to see the different stages of a project from design to construction.
What's your background?
I grew up in sunny Hawke’s Bay, and when I finished high school in 2013 I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I was however super eager to get out and explore the world, so straight out of school I moved to Dublin, Ireland for a gap year. There I worked as a caregiver for people with disabilities in a respite home. That gap year was amazing, I really enjoyed the work I was doing and loved the Irish culture.
After a year in Ireland, I came home and worked full time at my local Four Square while I pondered what I should do next. Ultimately, I decided to enrol at the University of Canterbury in 2016 and began studying Civil Engineering. In my final year of university, I decided to take the opportunity to go on a student exchange and study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for a semester. Hong Kong is an amazing and fun city, and I loved every minute of my time there. It was also super interesting studying Hong Kong-based courses, where the engineering challenges and standards are different from New Zealand
Finally, once university was finished, I found a job position through Stantec’s graduate programme, back in my hometown of Hastings. I have been working at Stantec for just over two years now and really enjoy the work I do and the team I work with!
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes – in our office we have people from a range of different backgrounds and with different qualifications. For my role, in particular, alternative options to get qualified other than going to the university include cadetships, where you learn on the job and study relevant courses in blocks or part-time. There are also different career paths within civil engineering you can take depending on your interests and skills, such as design, MQSA and project management. Some skills I think are important to have as a civil engineer is good time management, good communication skills, and being a team player.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
My favourite part about my job is that I am able to give back to the community that I grew up in. Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure are critical for the health and wellbeing of our communities, and I get to play a big part in their design and construction. One of the drinking water pipelines I designed has already been constructed, and it’s really cool to think that my design has gone from my computer to providing drinking water to local residents!
What are the limitations of your job?
A limitation of my job is that sometimes it can be stressful, as you need to be able to balance several projects at a time and there are a lot of deadlines that have to be met. I do occasionally have to work longer hours or on the weekends to keep up with my workload. However, this is not too often, and I can usually make up for this additional time by leaving work earlier when things have slowed down.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
Work hard there are a lot of opportunities at university, and you get out what you put in!