An environmental engineering degree from UWA equipped me with all of the skills necessary to get a really interesting, fulfilling job working for one of Australia's biggest companies. The indigenous cadetship program helped me along during study and gave me a lot of practical experience and let me get a foot in the door before I'd even graduated.
I always enjoyed maths and physics throughout high school, so one of the engineering majors at UWA seemed the logical choice. I originally enrolled in structural engineering, then through my course I found out about environmental engineering. Environmental engineers work to describe the world around us and how we can interact with nature in a sustainable way. I chose to focus on the oceans, studying fluid mechanics, physical oceanography, marine ecology and numerical modelling.
There was a good mix of theory and practical content in my course, including field work which I really enjoyed. There was also enough flexibility to choose units which I was interested in. In 2010, I completed an honours thesis on cyclone generated waves on the North-West Shelf with guidance from the company I was a cadet with, which was a big help in getting a job there.
Now I work in a team that analyses oceanographic and meteorologic data to ensure that new and existing developments are safe and can achieve their purpose. We get data from a wide range of sources and look at the physical process that drive the trends we see. This all goes into the design so it's very satisfying.