09 | December | 2015 | Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Oz NDY – Transitions In More Ways Than One

09/12/2015 Fran Rizzuti 21 comments

Introduction

In this blog I will cover the lead up to transitioning between Phase 2 & 3. It aims to help out the Phase 1 students and hopefully give you a few pointers come your impending move – it rushes up faster than you think!

Background

You will be fully aware that Phase 2 in Australia is set-up with John Holland Group (JHG), so apart from sorting out your own admin for the move, work wise things should be plain sailing. However, you should also be aware that Phase 3 – Design Consultancy attachment is partly up to you to organise.

My Experience

The most important thing to factor in is time. Eight months flies by and you really need to give the move some thought early on, allowing sufficient lead-time to jump through a few hoops. My experience could be classed as atypical as I tried to break from what my predecessor did but for, at the time, what I thought were good reasons.

The norm is for the student to move to the office of whoever the design consultancy was for your JHG project. This has pros and cons:

Pros

You will have had some interaction with them at some point on your project and hopefully built-up a good rapport.
You may be able to visit their office through working on an area of the project; a great way of meeting more employees but more importantly get a feel for the vibe of the office. I did this and it really helped with my decision.
If the previous PET student went there then they will have a very good understanding of what the programme is all about and importantly how to manage you. I think this is invaluable and sealed the deal for me in the end. Although it’s not difficult to inform a new office of all that info, they may have a different agenda for you and by the time you work that out it might be too late.
Equally, if the student you follow is a good egg then the office will understand your experience, capabilities (especially managerial) and general ‘can-do’ attitude. This can also be tempered with them knowing your other commitments; academic studies etc.
It also reduces the number of hoops and admin for JHG and the design office to do.
I was told that for conflict of interest reasons that I would categorically not be working back on the JHG project. This is a positive thing as it gives you a clean break and doesn’t get you working on the same project tasks; potentially reducing your chances of gaining more breadth in usually much needed competency areas. It doesn’t however stop you from imparting your newly gained knowledge and experience to help out your design office colleagues; only being in the office for three days I managed to do this with one of my very first tasks as I have the understanding from being familiar with NDY documentation.
Another related positive is your ability to see things from the other side of the fence and maybe understand why certain decisions were made without the JHG inflated spin.

Cons

You may have had to deal with the design consultancy staff whilst wearing your Managing Contractor (MC) hat where you may have had to show bias to the MC in order to please your chain of command, only to then find yourself working alongside the design office staff or be a member in their team.
There may be other design consultancies that have better projects on the go.
A diminished office and demotivated atmosphere. They used to occupy the entire 11^th floor but have reduced in size due to reduction in work and so are looking to lease out the other half of the office. [I have to say that although they have condensed into a single side of the office the atmosphere and spirit seems good].

Decision

It may seem, from the pro – con balance, that it’s a no-brainer in following-on in your predecessor’s footsteps. But, there may be very good reasons for a change. For me NDY were having a rough ride at the hands of JHG’s management on the PCH project and there were a number of design challenges, which no amount of senior management meetings on the 18^th green were going to resolve; there could still be a court hearing come the end of the project. To that end and with repeated warnings (slurs) from JHG staff it seemed like a good idea to at least investigate alternative attachment opportunities.

I engaged with two other big consultancies in Perth, Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. WGE had won the bid for the new Perth Stadium, which I thought looked like a great project but unfortunately they had been laying staff off and presentationally they said it wouldn’t look good taking on new blood. WSP was more of the services director at JHG trying to line me up with their office, but i just couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow it was mates doing each other a favour and so didn’t feel my best interests were at heart.

For both I did a fair amount of research, rewrote my CV, covering letters etc and even used known acquaintances on the inside to at least get an interview (hence the comment above about needing lead-time). After weeks of not really getting anywhere it was on the advice of another design consultancy, Cundall, whom I was working with on the PCH project who gave me the low-down on each prospective office and ultimately helped me make my decision to stick with the original plan and join NDY.

I suppose the important point here is to not just follow the norm because that’s what others before you did. Investigate for yourself and use as many sources at your disposal as possible to aid you in your decision. But remember this… it is you that’s going to be working at the office for the next 6 months and it’s your needs and requirements that must be met, which therefore should be your priority over everything else; remember the end-state is to become a Chartered Engineer.

I don’t know if any other Phase 3 students would like to echo my experience or add their own?

In Other News

I completed Ironman Western Australia at the weekend. A tough 6 month training programme, juggling work and study, resulting in a lot of blood (when I broke my thumb) and sweat, but thankfully no tears. I managed to get a PB in a total time of 12hrs 7mins (beating my previous best by 1hr 13mins) for the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2 km run.

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Results2

Results3

The weather caused mixed emotions with high morning wind and rain creating 1 – 2 metre swell, causing somewhere near 100 participants to jack-it-in through vomiting and general panic during the sea swim to sections on the bike course cycling into a 50km/h head wind. Thankfully though the cloud cover and low 21°C temperature meant a cool bike and run. With 1205 competitors starting, coming home in a divisional ranking of 91^st (based on age category) and 519^th overall, I was broadly happy. As a comparison the winner, a pro-athlete completed the course in 7hrs 55mins, an Australian course record – phenomenal!

At least now I can have my life back, lie-in at the weekends, not feel guilty about missing a training session and drink alcohol…until next time; which won’t be anytime soon, well not for the long course anyway!