Episode #30

Welcome to Podcast #Ep30

Complicated vs Complex with Felicity Furey

About Felicity Furey

• Felicity grew up in Brisbane and didn’t know anything about engineering.  She put engineering as her 5th preference and that’s what she got into!  It was a difficult first year, but over time she started to see the practical applications of engineering. 
• Studied at Queensland Uni of Technology, graduating with a degree in Civil engineering.  Has also achieved a Diploma of Project Management. 
• Felicity co-founded Power of Engineering and was the founding director of Machinem. 
• She has held roles at Arup, Aecom and is currently the Business Development Manager at Swinburn University of Technology working on Bachelor of Engineering Practice 
• Felicity’s first projects were really very boring, we really appreciated her honesty here because not everyone gets to work on a historic straight out of school!  She admits that because she didn’t know any better, she stayed with it and would have stayed with it…. until she was made redundant.  The best thing that happened to her! 
• A highlight from her career has been working as a Project Manager with Brisbane City Council.

Hot Topic discussion

• Felicity would like us to consider the future of engineering “I think that there’s interesting challenges that are coming up for the future of engineering” 
• In 2018 she attended Websummit and attended a presentation on flying cars.  the inventor was expecting it to be on the market in 5 years which is amazing – “We’re not really talking about that from a civil engineering perspective of the infrastructure that’s going to be required.” 
• Felicity believes “We need to be teaching engineers how to think as well as the technical capabilities” 
• “The problems we are showing our students and young people are complicated problems, but actually the problems of the future are complex problems” 
• Big businesses need to adapt their business model to accommodate start-ups, which in the past they haven’t worked directly with.  Businesses need to be able to change and evolve in response to improving technologies. 

During this podcast, you will also reflect on:

• There is a large drop-out rate in the first few years of engineering studies. 
• Good communication could be the key to a successful project. 
• Even after you’ve studied 4 years for an engineering degree, there is a significant gap between knowledge and practical experience. 
• The future of engineering: “There could be a separation between the more technical stream and that people – that negotiation focus – could come out more strongly in the future” 
• What it means to be an “Extroverted Communicator”…. “solving problems by going to talk to people” 
• When you’re just starting out, it’s important to know your strengths and be “confident to say what you think and your ideas is really important” 
• How incredible it is to work with people with different thinking styles. 

Want More?

Connect with Felicity Furey 

An engineer to admire. Ove Arup A philosopher before he was an engineer.  Peter Bailey, former CEO of Arup is also someone to check out!