Canada Tomorrow

Today is my last day in Australia before i leave for the university of Waterloo, Canada. this has meant that i havent been to uni yet this semester and have spent the last two months working as a labourer at Superior Fences and Gates. I have really enjoyed working as ive found it a refreshing change and have certainly enjoyed the extra money. i am going to miss Australia but i am looking forward to the challenge of going to a new country and meeting a lot of new friends

Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site and Origin's Darling Downs Power Station Site Vist

On Tuesday, 5th of July, all of the QRC scholarship students and QUT Dean's scholars were invited to visit the Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site and Origin's Darling Downs Power Station. This was a very interesting and insightful day which started off by me personally, catching the 4:55am train into the city to meet at 6:15am to leave from outside of the QRC office. The Peabody Wilkie Creek Mine Site was a real eye opener. to start the day we were all breath tested with the threat of being asked to leave if we blew above 0.000, fortunately we were all safe. An introduction was given and many amazing facts were revealed. one of the main ones that stuck with me was that for the last round of hiring for unskilled positions, Peabody was offering 18 jobs and had 2300 applicants. however skilled employees are in need and are constantly being hired. The Wilkie Creek site has many plans for development and is continually working with the local community to ensure harmony. a huge emphasis is placed on safety at Wilkie Creek to ensure the smooth running.

End of Year 2 Semester 1

the second year of engineering saw us all decide on our respective areas and split into our engineering streams. this meant some of the friends that i made in first year i no longer got to see as often. I wouldnt say second year got any harder. however in saying that, the work was obviously much more complex but due to increasing our knowledge base from first year, it wasnt any more difficult than simple first year truss analysis, which at the time was very complex, but is now second nature to all civil engineers. this is all proof that we are learning more and slowly taking the steps to becoming professional engineers.

However the end of the semester period was the most full on exam block i have ever had. in first year all of my exams were in the first week of exam block, so despite being an intense week, it was over very quickly. this semester however, my exams were spread out, finishing on the very last day of exam block. this meant i had approximately a month since week 13 to finishing my last exam.

it was tough to work at such an intense level for such a long period but i somehow managed. the most successful technique i found was to wake up early. the earlier you wake, the more day you have so the more things you can fit in while maintaining a balance by doing other activities. i think that is one of the best habits to develop. although tough, getting used to waking up early would be one of the best habits to develop.

QUT Mentor Program

The QUT careers department offers a career mentor program which i have recently become a part of. The idea of the program is to connect you with people in your respective industry who than volunteer their time to offer assistance, guidance and help with any career orientated problems. This gives us students a real chance to get an insight knowledge of the profession in which we want to become a part of. 

I have been fortunate enough to be paired up with Phil from SKM, a civil engineer who is now working in management and has more or less lead the career i would one day like to have had. He is a really good guy and i feel privileged that he is giving up some of his time to help me out. Phil told me of his work and about what an average day of being a civil engineer involves. He has in all cases reinforced the amazing opportunities that can come about as a result of a career in civil engineering and I am excited about my future prospects.

Student Exchange

Lately I have been pretty busy with organising my chance to study at the University of Waterloo, Canada, as a QUT exchange student. I feel student exchange is one of the biggest experiences one can partake in throughout their degree. As far as I know, all universities offer the chance to study in almost any country.

While you are over there, there are no additional course fees and all of your subjects are credited towards your home university. The only expenses are that of every day life.

To organise student exchange, a bit of extra effort is required, however if it is something you are interested in, it would be well worth it.

I will be heading to Waterloo next semester in September, as the start of their semester is quite a bit later than the semester starting dates in Australia. I am really looking forward to it but at the same time i feel a bit nervous as i have never lived out of home before, so have rarely had to cook or clean. It will be quite the learning curve.

When I am over there I am looking forward to snowboarding and experiencing the Canadian lifestyle.


Lately I have also become involved with the QUT extreme engineering program. This is a casual employment job in which a small group of us go out to selected schools to run engineering based work shops and try to promote the science, maths and engineering disciplines. So far I have really enjoyed it as it has been fun working with small groups to build things such as bridges and solve problems such as trying to pump water with no electricity (through solar power).

Why Engineering

If your reading this and in high school your probably faced with the question of what to do with yourself after school. Like you I didn't always know what I wanted to do but after looking into I have been very happy with my decision to pursue engineering. I feel engineering and specifically civil engineering is a good path to take as it can open doors in to any type of professional career. There are many technical aspects, practical aspects, management options, business related paths and international employment opportunities that can all be fulfilled within the career of a civil engineer. And it is these options which excites me. One day I could be working in an office calculating information and then the next day I could be out on site seeing the real world implications of the data I was working with the day before. I hope this has helped you and feel free to ask any questions.