Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

As the only non-engineer on the PET E&M 55 course, I knew absolutely nothing about what to expect during phase 2 & 3 of the course. Furthermore, selecting where to go seemed like a lottery. What follows is a brain dump of how i ended up in Brisbane, and what i have done since i got here. Hopefully it will be of some assistance in selecting placements and helping the non-engineers understand what is in store.

Placement Selection

I have no marriage / family commitments, so arrived on the course with the aim of getting to Oz. That said, i was also pretty concerned about how i would cope with the academia on the course; my BSc in Disaster Engineering & Management may as well have been a degree in brewing, given the ratio of socials to lectures. Furthermore, do not be mislead by the word ‘engineering’ in the degree title, as the complexity of the engineering covered was little more than building tripods and digging pit latrines.

Early exam failures started to make me think that i should stay in the UK where i could have better access to academic support (PEW). There was also an element of scaremongering about John Holland (JH) getting their pound of flesh due to the associated additional costs, which would reduce available study time and increased pressure around assignment submissions.

In the end I was fortunate to have a moment of clarity. The placements are, in my opinion by-and-large luck of the draw, even for those who arrange their own in the UK. My management could be good or terrible wherever I ended up, any project was guaranteed to be interesting as it would all be new. So my decision to plug for Oz boiled down to this; I had never been here but only heard good things, Ozzies were rumoured to enjoy a few beers and a similar understanding of banter as the Brits, and above all, hot girls in lycra.

My advice – go with your instinct.

South Bank, Brisbane

Casual (girls) lycra

Australia

Awesome!

Pre-Arrival Admin

Getting early information whilst in the UK was like getting blood out of a stone and in the end I contacted my PM to be through Linked In. When I got here all my PM seemed to have been told was that some services ‘guru’ from the British Army was coming and that he needs to be accommodated and given a car. The lack of information had clearly caused rumour amongst the small team, and I later found out that the services engineer whom would become my mentor thought I was being brought in to replace him, which explained the initial uneasy dynamic.

I managed to negotiate $650AUS per week for my accommodation, which in hindsight, was pretty good for Brisbane which is definitely cheaper than Perth or Sydney. I live in a spacious 2 bed apartment in a decent suburb. I can cycle to the CBD or to work in 15-20 mins and am almost on the Brisbane river (Google: Dixon St, Newfarm). Whilst there was a lot of property available, the need for furnishings narrowed the field considerably. Of the 2 weeks relocation leave, i spent just over one finding a place to live and got to know the city for the second.

The pad

I am still a little unsure as to why so little information about who I was and why I was there was passed to my PM. John Reddie (the JH LO to PEW) is a calculated man so I have no doubt it is a deliberate move but I have been unable to work out why. Whilst we get the Coursework Instruction from PEW, a single document from PEW outlining key information to a PM, such as course objectives, coursework requirements, accommodation allowance / entitlement, request for support in terms of study time etc. would save some early, slightly uncomfortable, negotiations. In the end I wrote one myself and talked it through with the Senior Project Engineer as something to fall back on later. The trigger for this was repeated attempts to get me to take over some of the structural engineers workload such as testing concrete etc.

Starting Out

Very slow for the first couple of weeks. I had no desk, no computer, no phone and no safety boots. For the first week my job was to perch at the plan bench and familiarise myself with the project drawings. This revealed my first and probably most significant weakness; i knew nothing about architectural/design drawings. A basic understanding of what drawings i could expect to find and how to read them would have been a huge help. Furthermore i knew nothing of the other key project documentation i should be looking for such as specification documents, the project management plan and the safety management plan.

First impressions count as we know, so the early days of asking billy basic questions lead to me being perceived as a work experience kid by many I’m sure. This made it harder for me to get traction for the things that I could add value to, and set the starting bar for earning respect amongst the team unnecessarily low. In hind sight, I could have dramatically reduced the quantity of basic questions if I had had access to and had trawled through the intranet. Unbeknown to most of my project team, details of procedures, the most up to date forms, and checklist prompts to assist in safety walks etc. could all be found on the intranet.

My advice – ensure you are familiar with reading drawings before you arrive on site and read the following key documents (or equivalents) as a matter of priority; Project Management Plan, Safety Management Plan, Head Contract, Sub-Contracts and relevant trade Specification documents. I also recommend having a good trawl through the company intranet (IMS in JH) as there may be a raft of useful information to save you reinventing the wheel.

The JH site shed.

Look Forward To….

In Part 2 of Services Engineering with John Holland in Brisbane I will try and cover the following:

• The Project
• The Project Team
• Roles & Responsibilities

This should lead on to Part 3 where I will try and summarise key lessons.

Let me know if there is anything else that could be of use……