In every episode of Engineering Heroes, Mel & Dom have ask their guest for a piece of advice to offer an engineer just starting out. 

In this final episode of 2020, we have compiled the top advice from some of the leading engineers in the Australian industry that they spoke to in Season 4.

Advice from Dom

We heard this for the first time back in episode 33 (of season 1!!) with Don McPhail

Engineering is a team sport

Advice discussed throughout the episode:

#1 Expand your knowledge

#2 Know your passions 

#3 Grow your experience

#4 Remain curious

This is a “close” copy of the words that were spoken during REFOCUS Advice 2020 Podcast episode

It is not 100% accurate.

REFOCUS Advice  

Mel: [00:00:00] Hi, welcome to this special refocus edition of engineering heroes. Today’s episode, we’re going to be casting our minds right back to the great advice we’ve received from our guests over the season. And we have some real pearls of wisdom here. 

[00:00:14]Dom: [00:00:14] I’m Dominic De Gioia and I’m the resident engineer of this podcast.  

[00:00:17] Mel: [00:00:17] And I’m Melanie and I’m the podcast producer for this show. 

[00:00:21] So coming into Christmas, we particularly wanted to call out some of the real Sage words of advice that we’ve received over the season. And just before we kick off Dom, as an engineer in the building services area, what’s a piece of advice you want to offer. 

[00:00:35] Dom: [00:00:35] I’m probably going to go back to Don McPhail and something that he said is right right back there but something he said and .. Don, thank you so much I quote you all the time, And that is engineering is a team sport And I think people need to realize that. And remember that that engineering is not just about one person. It’s about All engineers and all the people that you work with. And so when you are working well when you’re getting into engineering you really remember that not only for the projects that you work on but the network of people who can help you in your career, people who are your mentors and people who can guide you in relation to do those next stepping stones and to get into the areas of engineering that you truly love.  

[00:01:18] Mel: [00:01:18] Yeah and this is something that gets touched on a lot in season four. And we’re going to go now through the top four pieces of advice for season four And the first one is all about expanding your knowledge Now this was I don’t know if you’d be surprised but this was one of the most popular pieces of advice that was offered throughout the season And it was really well expressed by a number of engineers: 

[00:01:42]  

[00:01:44]Bronwyn: [00:01:44] for any engineer out there who’s starting on their career, look way more broadly than engineering, get excited by everything in the world 

[00:01:53]   

[00:01:53]  

[00:01:54]Jessica: [00:01:54] So it’s important for people starting out as engineers to read and study beyond engineering, to understand what other people do around them. Again, going back to that holistic engineering perspective, understanding what the guy next to you does, then it will help you as an engineer, do a better job. 

[00:02:13]Dom: [00:02:13] That was Bronwyn Evans the CEO of Engineers Australia and Jessica Qiu, the current president of the Sydney chapter. Now I really like these I think it’s a case of making sure that you expand your knowledge because I think we’ve talked about quite a bit in the podcast, It’s not just about your discipline but If you look to other people’s disciplines more often than not there’s so much that you can learn from things that aren’t even things that you work on on a daily basis. The things that the cyber remote to you in regards to your particular facet of engineering but can change the way we look at things completely and cause complete paradigm shifts in in relation to the way that we look at the world  

[00:02:55] Mel: [00:02:55] And a really great example of an engineer who is looked beyond his engineering degree is Matthew 

[00:03:03]  

[00:03:06]Matthew: [00:03:06] just opening your eyes to beyond your current degree. You just get these foundational skills of engineering that allow you to really diversify. And if you have an interest in a particular area, you can just sort of take that bit of a road and just explore. 

[00:03:20] Mel: [00:03:20] now another great piece of advice that we’ve received is actually the first two examples here are  both from indigenous engineers that we’ve interviewed this season  Grant Maher and Ruby  

[00:03:32]  

[00:03:34]Grant: [00:03:34] you gotta really find what you’re passionate about because you’ll be able to do something around that. 

[00:03:41] And in engineering, the good thing about it is you can do anything 

[00:03:44]  

[00:03:47]Ruby: [00:03:47] follow your passion because, really, you’ll be unhappy until you do. 

[00:03:52] Dom: [00:03:52] so know your passions  

[00:03:54]Mel: [00:03:54] Yeah that’s what they really say. Like get to know what you’re passionate  

[00:03:57] Dom: [00:03:57] It is if you know what you’re passionate about.. Well as I say that if you do something that you love you never work a day in your life. And you know that advice really hits home to me because at the end of the day you got to do what you love. And engineering’s just a tool that helps to get you there. 

[00:04:13]  

[00:04:15]Alex: [00:04:15] really, it’s so important to just follow where your interest lies. for me, it’s always been around my curiosity, so I’ve just completely, always followed my nose 

[00:04:26] Mel: [00:04:26] Now that was just Alex Kingsbury and talking about again following your passion following where your interests lie, but as Stephen Bornstein says in another episode 

[00:04:35]  

[00:04:37]Stephen: [00:04:37] find something that you’re passionate about with engineering. There’s so many disciplines of it. And look at the things that you want to do, the impact that you want to achieve and align your discipline to that impact. Because if you do, you’ll propel yourself a long way and you’ll ,have a very rewarding career. 

[00:04:52]Dom: [00:04:52] Because loving engineering is really not enough. There’s a real link between the first piece of advice Expand your knowledge And with this piece knowing your passions. Because as you expand your knowledge you can discover your real passions  

[00:05:04]Mel: [00:05:04] and to carry on this theme. Think about this. Once you’ve expanded your knowledge of the world and you understand where your passions lie, Now you need to build on that 

[00:05:14]  

[00:05:17]Nicole: [00:05:17] Try and find different roles that challenge you and help you develop skills both in and outside of work. Hint, hint, volunteering will do this. cause at the end of the day, no one cares about your career as much as you do.  

[00:05:30] Mel: [00:05:30] Now that was Nicole Locke And she said it beautifully that you really need to grow your experience And volunteering is a perfect Avenue to do this. So giving back to society as an engineer is a real win-win piece of advice 

[00:05:44]Dom: [00:05:44] because even after all those years at university, you still need to grow your experience. 

[00:05:49]  

[00:05:51]Adrian: [00:05:51] in the first three, four, five years of your career, try and get as much diverse experiences as you can as a base for your future career. 

[00:05:59]Mel: [00:05:59] And I think the last piece of advice from season four is really important for all engineers to remember, no matter what stage they are in their career. 

[00:06:08]  

[00:06:10]Jillian: [00:06:10] I think the most important thing is to remain curious.  They’re going to be told that they need to know a lot, and it is important to learn and understand, particularly as an engineer. But curious engagement with the world and with the people around it. 

[00:06:22] I think that that’s very important. 

[00:06:24]  

[00:06:24] I think it’s very much just keeping up with the rate of pace of change. 

[00:06:32] Dom: [00:06:32] So I think that reigns true that you need to remain curious. So Jillian Formentin and Richard Hopkins are really great examples of where curiosity can lead you.  

[00:06:41] And all through life, the best engineers will remain curious. Curious about the world around us and about the engineering that’s being evolved. 

[00:06:48]  

[00:06:50]Tom: [00:06:50] I guess I would just say to be curious and keep asking questions and to not be satisfied with the current solution to things. 

[00:06:59] Mel: [00:06:59] So that wraps up our special refocus on advice and Dom, and I really hope this has inspired you no matter where you are in your career, that it’s inspired you to think about engineering and where it can take you. 

[00:07:13]Dom: [00:07:13] and we’d love to give a special thank you to every single one of the engineers who took time and spoke to us in season four. And for that matter, all the engineers who’ve spoken to us over the many years that we’ve been doing this podcast. 

[00:07:24] Mel: [00:07:24] And check out our show notes page on www.engineeringheroes.com.au to get a full rundown of all the advice that we’ve highlighted in this special refocus episode.  

[00:07:35] And until next time, thank you for joining us. We will see you next week. When we bring you another story from one of our engineering heroes.