5:30 AM

Having recently worked in a FIFO site role which required waking up before the sun, I’ve ambitiously decided to keep the routine of rising early. After admitting defeat from a series of blazing alarms, I mentally list the things I’m grateful for as I begin to wake up. I’ve found that by listing positive thoughts, I wake in a happy state and begin the day with a grateful heart. I then kick into action by playing some my favourite Spotify songs to sing along to in the morning – ‘Can’t stop the feeling’ by Justin Timberlake and ‘Feeling Good’ by Michael Bublé, just to name a few!

6:00 AM

It’s now time to hustle for that muscle. I make my way to the gym, giving my friends high-fives as I arrive. They are cool high-fives, I promise. We’ve teamed up to strength train today – legs, yay! 

7:30 AM

After a well-deserved shower, I walk to catch the 7:30 am train, but soon begin to hurry as I realise there’s one minute to go and the escalator at my station is down for maintenance. I’m wearing heels, and these babies are not practical for rushing to the right platform. If heels aren’t your thing, that’s totally fine as the dress code is pretty relaxed for an engineering and advisory firm– you’re free to be yourself! Me? I love to close deals in heels. As I thankfully enter the airconditioned train, I open LinkedIn and read the daily news updates, excited to see what is happening in the world. I then begin listening to some of my favourite podcasts, such as ‘No Such Thing as a Fish’ or ‘Harvard Business Review IdeaCast’ – I enjoy learning something new before arriving at the office. 

7:45 AM

I enter the office through Aurecon’s Maker’s space – it’s the creative area on our ground floor which showcases live engineering and advisory projects globally and connects our business with the community. I love that we encourage innovation and demonstrate how we bring ideas to life in a way which can tangibly be understood by someone walking past on the street. Space features anything from origami to structure replicas, technical models and VR walkthroughs of our projects.

I make my way up through our client experience floor and internal staircases to arrive in my workspace neighbourhood. The move to 25 King Street which is Australia's tallest engineered timber office building has been exciting, because who doesn’t want to work in a tree house? I take my laptop from my locker and am faced with the tough choice of sitting wherever I want: sitting, standing or motorised desk? I opt for the motorised desk today. 

8:00 AM

Planning your day is important, so checking my emails for priority deliverables and reviewing my calendar is a must after I boot up. I’m a big believer in owning what I say ‘yes’ to, so I’m constantly asking myself: is this task contributing to my growth and where I want to be heading in my career? At present, I’m working on a due diligence job for a global client, managing a Master Planning Project for a local council and am shadowing a Project Manager in the Defence space. Being able to contribute to a number of diverse projects is important for my experience and mastering my craft; I want to be able to understand how I can add value in every area of the business. 

9:00 AM

There’s a quote from Jim Rohn which goes “you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. I try to surround myself with people I aspire to be like so this morning, I’m catching up with one of my mentors at Aurecon to discuss the process of running a project in the ‘shaping’ phase. Bouncing ideas and learning from leaders who have “been there done that” helps to give perspective and a greater depth of understanding about the task at hand. Luckily our catch up is over coffee which we have in our Client Experience Space. The space has been designed for collaboration and has great informal meeting spaces. They also serve the best coffee! 

9:30 AM

It’s now time to do some detailed engineering. This morning I’m working with the project team to review structural models in Space Gass, understand maintenance and operational costs of engineering assets and communicate findings in a report to the client. I’m always asking questions, and most importantly, seeking feedback on how I can do better in the future. To keep myself focussed, I take advantage of our free continental breakfast– vegemite on toast = Australian brain food = happy little vegemite. Our hub kitchen is a great place to meet and discuss projects over some healthy food. 

10:30 AM

For the Master Planning project I’m helping manage, I’m off to site this morning to meet the client for a site inception meeting. Prior to any meeting or site inspection it is important to understand the context and purpose of the visit, but also take the time to review any health and safety risks with the team attending as we will be entering an unfamiliar facility. We are met by our clients and listen intently as we seek to understand both their asset problems and aspirations moving forward.

12:30 PM

We have a pretty active group of young professionals at work – we often organise to go for a run together during our lunch break to break up the day. You can take your lunch break whenever you like, as Aurecon has a Yes Flex flexible working hours policy, which means we don’t have set start or finishing times! Our group agrees on a time that works for everyone, depending on what we all have on for the day.

It was a challenging run, especially since I need to keep up with people who have longer legs than mine. Afterwards I grab my lunch in the Hub and go back to being productive for the afternoon. 

1:00 PM

In my role, I’m involved in technical design and delivery which draws upon the many capabilities I gained at university, however, I think every engineering role comes with some degree of being a leader, having a commercial mindset and being a reliable team member. At this point in the afternoon, I put my noise cancelling headphones on, program my motorised desk to a high position so I can stand for a while and focus on crunching some numbers to analyse and optimise a solution. 

4:00 PM

As we are a global company, it is not uncommon to have meetings with Aurecon employees who live in a different country to you! 4pm is a great time for my colleagues in South Africa, as it’s the start of their day. We hold our meeting via a Skype conference call, and my colleague shares their PowerPoint presentation via screen sharing to guide the meeting.

4:30 PM

It’s time to break from work and touch base with my Limelight Co-chairs. Limelight is our emerging professional committee at Aurecon which seeks to provide professional development, engagement and networking opportunities. I’ve been very fortunate this year to step up as a co-chair and lead the strategy because I’m very passionate about contributing to the growth of my peers and their contribution to our business. It’s always great to meet up with the other young professionals in Aurecon, and I feel recharged to finish off the rest of my work after having a few laughs and great conversations.

5:00 PM

I make my way back to my motorised desk to summarise key information or achievements from today to the respective project leaders and touch base about their expectations of any other items they need completed this week. Communication is key! 

5:30 PM

The work day may be over, but there’s still more to do. See, being an engineer means that I have a passion for making a difference in society, and for me that doesn’t stop at 5pm. I’ve taken on a role at IPWEAQ as the Young Chair and I am a Company Director at Dream Big Australia which encourages women in STEM. I spend time at the end of the day to contribute to upcoming events, engagements and workshops which empowers other people to dream big. 

6:30 PM

Time to head home, have a good dinner, relax and prepare myself for another day!