What does your employer do and what are your areas of responsibility?

Riley Consultants is a New Zealand-owned, multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy specialising in civil, water, geotechnical, and environmental engineering to provide innovative solutions across energy, land, and water sectors. My role within Riley Consultants is based in the water team as a graduate water resources engineer, wherein my work ranges from dam safety to flood assessments and more.

What are you exactly doing? Tell us details about your daily work and your specific tasks.

My day-to-day tasks can vary significantly per project. Some days, I may be on site inspecting dams for safety issues, and others, I will be in the office modelling flood flows using hydraulic software. Currently, I am modelling a flood event for a wind farm laydown area which requires me to run a frequency analysis on the nearest flow gauges at the site to determine the critical flood flow then run a hydraulic model to provide minimum building floor levels to avoid flooding. On other days I will go to a dam site as part of an

intermediate dam safety review and examine the dam and any associated structures for defects that can potentially induce dam failure, this will be followed by compiling a report.

Does a teenager understand what you are doing? State any kind of interesting details!

Water resources encapsulate many different responsibilities under its title. This includes dam engineering, hydrology, hydraulic modelling, stormwater management, and much more. Each of these can be vast and expansive and although each member of the water team is familiar with all, each has their sub-specialisation they focus on. The role of a water resources engineer requires to wear many different ‘hats’ hence, it requires further development after gaining a basic understanding of the fundamentals taught at university. In saying that, I would recommend the role of a water resources engineer to anyone interested as your experience and skills will expand over a vast range of projects.

Where did you grow up? What were the important stages of your life? How did you get to your current job position and for how long have you been doing it already?

I grew up in South Auckland, Manurewa where I completed my studies up to high school. Although I was interested in sports and fitness, I was equally fascinated by the intricacies of engineering. A pivotal point in my journey to civil engineering was on a school trip in year 10 where I went on-site to the construction of the Waterview tunnel in West Auckland. I remember being amazed by the sheer amount of construction going on around me and seeing the Tunnel Boring Machine (named Alice) rotating through the mountain piqued my curiosity about what engineers can accomplish.

From there I focused my school subjects around engineering (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc) and applied for a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Civil Engineering at the University of Auckland. Although I majored in structural engineering up until my last semester of university, concurrent with my ambitions from high school, I decided structural engineering wasn’t for me and wanted to expand my career options. Luckily, I had taken many general civil engineering courses including transport, geotechnical, environmental, and water which gave me a fundamental idea behind each civil aspect. Once, I finished university, I applied for a range of civil engineering jobs and landed myself in a graduate water resources engineer role. In retrospect, taking more water-related courses in university would have helped my current career but I have been learning on the job and building off the fundamentals. My colleagues also provide a lot of guidance and help in the technical aspects of my career.

I am closing into one year of working as a graduate water resources engineer at Riley Consultants on a full-time basis. Over the year, I have visited hydroelectric power schemes incorporating high-classifiable dams, completed a handful of flood assessments for sub-divisions, classified many private dams, and participated in some pretty cool Riley-funded events such as snowboarding at Mount Ruapehu.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

A good base knowledge of hydrologic and hydraulic engineering will help you quickly adapt to the different sub-specialisations within water resources engineering. Different aspects of water engineering require higher technical skills for example, dam design requires a strong foundation of how water is related to Geotech, hydraulic modelling requires an understanding of water characteristics and dam safety is more focused on reporting and field work.

As I mentioned above, I didn’t major in water engineering during my university years, however, I was able to pick it up by learning on the job and with some guidance from my colleagues. With that being said if you are capable of learning fast, have a basic understanding of water engineering (like me!), and can work in a team you will be able to succeed as a water resources engineer.

What’s the coolest thing about your job?

The coolest part of my job is being involved in some major conceptual projects that will eventually be constructed on a wider scale. As a graduate engineer, my initial involvement has been small however, with each project I progress in my development to take a project further.

Do you bear a lot of responsibility? What’s for you the biggest limitation in your job?

The Riley Consultants graduate program is designed to match your responsibilities to your skill level, something I feel it does well. I have been focusing on my technical skills to build a good foundation before I dive into project management and client correspondence. My day-to-day responsibilities are enough to keep me engaged and not overwhelmed. Of course, I make many mistakes but it’s a part of learning and there is always someone to help me when I feel stuck. The biggest limitation of my job so far is the age gap between myself and my colleagues. Many of the people I work with are much older than me, so I find it difficult to understand their technical knowledge especially engineers with career spans double my age. I would often need to ask colleagues to break down tasks into smaller sections to make projects manageable or further expand discussions to a fundamental level to gain a full understanding.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student?

1. People skills are always valuable no matter where you work. Something that would have helped me in the long term is socialising outside my friend group by joining university groups and events. Starting work at Riley Consultants was my first social change since I started university, so I found it hard to adapt to a diverse group of people.
2. Make time for things outside of studies. This relates to the workplace too but being too consumed in your studies and career can affect how you look at other aspects of life. Strive for a balanced lifestyle and when it does get overwhelming make sure to take breaks when you can.
3. Don’t be afraid of change. Coming out of high school I was fixated on structural engineering till my last semester of university. If I had listened to my gut, I may have changed my major earlier and exposed myself to more opportunities in civil engineering. So don’t be afraid to change your goals as change isn’t a bad thing.