What's your job about?
Stantec is a global engineering design company that has expertise in areas like water, transportation, and buildings. I work within the civil water team which works across the three waters (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater). We design things such as treatment plants, pipes, and stormwater solutions.
One of the ongoing projects I’m working on, that takes up 1-2 days per week, is a strategy project with Watercare, helping them plan what assets need to be upgraded in the future. It involves internal team meetings, at least one client meeting a week, and during its busier times, we go to Watercare for a day to sit in their office. It’s a very collaborative project that involves a lot of strategy and discussion.
I’ve also worked on a lot of stormwater design projects. In a typical week you might find me investigating a piece of work that say, the Transport team is proposing to review stormwater impacts and look at solutions. This could be catchment calculations, catchpit and pipe sizing, swale sizing, or flood assessments. I do many other things during the week, such as carbon costing, participating in optioneering discussions, and writing reports. Surprisingly, I actually love writing reports—it can be quite satisfying when you know what you’re talking about.
In the simplest terms the civil team looks at how we can convey and treat the three waters. And no, a high schooler would have no idea what goes into that! Its funny talking to my brothers about my degree and job (a Lawyer and an Arts University student) because so little of this is common knowledge and they have no idea what I’m talking about.
What's your background?
I went to high school in Auckland. I was weighing up studying engineering at Canterbury University or economics in Wellington, but ultimately decided engineering was the right path for me. I moved to Christchurch and moved into one of the onsite halls of residence. University was such a fun stage of my life. I loved the independence and constantly being around people! In my second year, I decided to intern on a construction site as I wanted to investigate whether being a site engineer or on-site project manager was something I was interested in. Although it was interesting to see engineering in action, I ultimately decided that I wanted to be a part of the design side. In my third year I interned at a smaller consulting firm as part of their civil team. I loved the work and people and was so grateful for my experience there. It helped me decide that I wanted to get into the water side of engineering.
In my fourth year at University, I was weighing up whether I wanted to stay in Christchurch or move back to Auckland. I also decided I wanted to work for a large company for at least the first few years of my career because of the opportunities available at these companies, especially globally. I applied to Stantec through their normal graduate recruitment system early in 2022 and noted that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work in Auckland or Christchurch. They were happy to interview me for both cities, so when I decided I did want to move to Auckland, I was offered the Auckland position. I’ve been here since February 2023 after taking the summer off to travel around South America!
I had a tough decision to make after high school in Auckland - study engineering in Christchurch or economics in Wellington. I chose engineering and moved to Christchurch for university. I loved the independence and being around people. During my second year, I interned on a construction site to explore whether I wanted to be a site engineer or onsite project manager. Although it was interesting, I realised that I wanted to be a part of the design side and interned at a smaller consulting firm in my third year. I loved the work and people there and decided to pursue water engineering. After graduation, I applied to Stantec through their normal graduate recruitment system. I was in two minds about where I wanted to work, Auckland or Christchurch, but Stantec made it easy and after interviewing, was offered a position in Auckland. I’ve been here since February 2023 after taking a summer break to travel around South America. I’m excited to see where my career takes me next!
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Not usually. However, someone with a different but related degree may get by up to a point but would lack necessary knowledge. While there’s always the opportunity for on-the-job learning, at a graduate level, a civil or environmental engineering degree is preferred.
The most important skills in civil engineering are communication and teamwork skills. This may be a surprise, but at a multi-disciplinary company like Stantec, you’ll never work on projects alone. You need to be confident, attentive and a team player to be a good engineer, so you can collaborate positively and successfully.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job is the scale and variety of work done within the team. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in some large water and wastewater projects that will have a big impact. Here at Stantec, it’s exciting to get the chance to work on a variety of projects and learn from some very talented people. For example, I helped with reporting for a huge wastewater scheme in southwest Auckland and optioneering for some culturally significant sites. It’s interesting and important to me that I try diverse work, especially at this stage of my career.
What are the limitations of your job?
The limitation to my job is very specific to the Auckland office so do not consider this limitation if you are applying for a different office. Although the water team does have other clients, our biggest client is Watercare. We are two years into a 10-year contract with them. The premise of the contract is that us and another consultant do strategic planning and concept design, while two different consultants do detailed design and construction management. Although in my opinion, optioneering and concept design is the most fun part, it does mean if you are really interested in construction management and going on a lot of site visits, there are not as many opportunities in the projects we work on to do so. There are still sites we do construction management on within the team, but you probably won’t get to play much of a part within the first few years of your career.
Our team works with Watercare, our biggest client, on strategic planning and concept design. Although optioneering and concept design is the most fun part, there are still sites we do construction management on within the team. However, if you’re really interested in construction management and going on a lot of site visits, there are not as many opportunities in the projects we work on to do so. Keep in mind that this limitation is specific to the Auckland office, so don’t let it discourage you from applying to other offices.
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