What's your job about?
Stantec is a global company working on infrastructure projects all around the world and throughout New Zealand. We serve communities by providing design, engineering, scientific and project management services to clients.
A typical workday can be very diverse for me. I may start my day with a trip to a site to carry out construction monitoring on a project that we’ve designed. This is to ensure it’s being built to our specifications, the quality is as expected, and the works are being carried out safely. Then I might update the client on progress at that site and address any queries that they have. After that I could be doing some CAD drafting on Civil 3D, writing proposals or answering phone calls from a contractor on site. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on some unique and diverse projects in my time as a graduate. Some of these include the Waimea Community Dam which is the largest dam constructed in New Zealand in the last 25 years, the Port Tarakohe upgrade. The port upgrade involved lengthening a breakwater, installing a new section of marina establishing a new fendering system on a concrete wharf, and fitting a new sheet piled wharf.
What's your background?
I grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to Newcastle, Australia with my family at the age of 5. I returned to New Zealand at the age of 10, and Nelson has been my home ever since. I studied at Waimea College and graduated in 2019. My holiday jobs during and after college were all construction based, varying from labourer to traffic controller to drainlayer which gave me some great experience I use in my current job. In my last year of college, I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to take. My family has a history in the engineering sector and when I saw the local polytechnic offered civil engineering, I thought I’d give it a go. I graduated from NMIT (Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology) in December 2021 and started at Stantec in January 2022 and have just completed the graduate programme..
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes someone with a different background could do my job. Key characteristics that are needed to do my job include, initiative, independence, friendly with good communication skills and good collaboration skills. These are all critical skills to be able to develop good relationships with clients and colleagues.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I really enjoy problem solving and finding unique and innovative solutions for complex problems. CAD drafting on Civil 3D is super rewarding as it’s a unique software with incredible capabilities. I also like construction monitoring as it gives me great satisfaction when we finish a project and can sit back and think “we designed that!” I love telling people about the diverse and unique projects I get to work on.
What are the limitations of your job?
The biggest limitation about my job is sometimes you will sit in front of a computer for the whole week. You also do pick up large responsibilities as your career progresses, and can face tight deadlines and pressure to deliver packages of work.
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