You're an environmental engineer, correct?
Yes
Okay and when
How did you decide to pursue environmental engineering?
Well I decided I was at the end of, you know
at the end of high school. I had a like a lot of different interests
And I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I went to a career fair Expo with my older brother
And he's really interested in electrical engineering. And so I went to
a few engineering talks with him. I never considered doing engineering, but it
sounded really interesting. And I guess I chose environmental engineering because
it's a mix of science and engineering and it's also, you're able to help
build things and actually make an impact in the world
But I also chose to do a double degree with corporate finance. Just because, like
most of you, you'd be a bit I'm sure of what you actually want to do when you
finish University and get a real job.
Corporate finance, I don't know you studied that. That's so cool
And so, you pretty much decided just because you weren't
sure that you wanted to do environmental engineering?
Yeah, well I always really liked maths and science
but I also liked English and human biology. So I was a bit torn.
I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do but I guess also my parents
influenced me. Because engineering, my mom said, always has a job at the end
There's a set job and it's quite easy to get a job. And actually at the time
I'm from Australia and we were in the middle of a drought and there was a lot of
in the media, a lot of concern about water. So I chose to do environmental
engineering focusing on water. To try and help secure water resources for Perth
but also because I knew that would be a job at the end of it.
Okay that's awesome, so you study in Australia.
And you did your double major in Australia.
And why did you decide to come to Switzerland? To Europe?
I mean that's so far across the ocean.
What influenced you to come here and why did you decide to do a masters
instead of going to industry?
Yeah exactly
Well, I've actually worked for six years in industry as an environmental engineer so
I've worked at an engineering consulting firm in water resources
So I worked one year in Perth and five years in Melbourne
And after about six years in the industry, I felt that I needed a bit of a break
I needed just to take a bit of time and
Just take a break from working
So I was looking into a lot of different options
And I've always wanted to do a masters and they offer a really good master's at ETH
In sustainable water resources. So it was perfect down
And very flexible but also a bit of an adventure.
So I decided, me my partner came over here and we're both studying.
So would you recommend to anyone looking to move to Europe
for an engineering job, to learn a second?
Yeah, I think so. Because if you want to work professionally, even if the
business language is English, a lot of field client contact would be in the native language
And like, day to day interactions, if you can't speak the native language fluently
you'd be at a really big disadvantage. I think.
What was the best advice you've ever gotten?
One thing I did try to do, when I was studying
my bachelor's degree was, I had a really amazing supervisor for my undergraduate
thesis project. And he gave me so many opportunities and opened a lot of doors
but at the time it was really annoying because it made me really accountable if
he gave me an opportunity I had to follow through and actually do it so I
So I guess the advice he gave me was always, like if there's an opportunity you
should always take it. If someone spends a time to open a door for you or give
you a chance, you should always follow through with it
It's a bit of extra work but it really pays off
If there was one thing that you could tell your younger self
when you first started studying, what would it be?
Yeah it probably be to try and take every opportunity I can get.
So sometimes things seem a bit scary and you don't want to go outside your comfort zone.
But yeah, just try to be engaged in everything that you can.
So how is studying in Switzerland compared to studying in Australia
In terms of women in your courses?
Yeah well, the course which I'm studying, it's a Masters of sustainable water resources
and it's mainly with environmental engineering students
So I think it's almost it's 50/50 males and females here.
So the difference is, in Australia I was studying a bachelor's degree
and I had to do a lot of other broader engineering subjects
which don't have many females in them.
So here it's not
I haven't found that it's exclusive at all. No it's really nice.
Okay, awesome!