I had wanted to become a firefighter since I was a child! At the age of 17, I knocked on the door of the local fire station. This station was auxiliary firefighters (on call in small communities), and I was told that I was too young! With that in mind, I found a fulltime management…
When I was in grade 7, I knew I was going to be a lawyer. Initially I thought I would become a divorce lawyer. But I quickly knew I wanted to do more than just be in a court room and argue about cases theoretically. While it took me a while to navigate towards the…
When I was younger I wanted to be a pharmacist but by the time I finished high school I had decided on engineering. I studied microelectronics in Scotland and worked in the electronics industry before I move to Australia in 2003. I joined the mining industry in 2005 and have worked at Rio Tinto for…
Coming out of high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I enrolled in a bachelor of commerce, majoring in actuarial studies. Later in university, I discovered a passion for econometrics—the use of statistics and data to understand and predict economic trends. I went on to complete honours and a master’s in…
I’ve always believed that when you take care of people, success follows naturally. As a child, I dreamed of becoming a teacher, tutoring kids who couldn’t afford lessons. Science fascinated me, leading me to a master’s in software engineering while keeping my passion for dance alive. Excelling academically, I secured top placements. After moving to…
I did my Bachelor of Science at The University of Melbourne and majored in Immunology. While doing my degree, I realised that I really hated lab work and did not want to go further with my studies! I was happy when uni was over but I was very aware that my degree was in a…
From a young age, I’ve been very creative and thought outside the box. I have a love for math, but creativity always prevailed. The majority of my classes throughout school reflected that. When it came time to choose a university path, I selected architecture. It allowed me to be creative while also giving me the…
Growing up, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. It wasn’t until my school’s career advisor recommended looking into Chemical Engineering (when I was in Year 12) that I considered becoming an engineer – up until that point, I thought all engineers built roads and cars, which I wasn’t super interested in. Not…
I was living in Queensland from 12 years old and completed my Cert 3 in Business Administration straight out of high school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I also knew that university wasn’t for me as I struggled to study and complete assignments. I now know that I am ADHD. After…
At school, I enjoyed lots of different subjects, and my favourites were Maths C (specialist), Chemistry and Drama. I thought I would be a doctor or a biomedical scientist but ended up applying for a double degree in Engineering and Science. After school, I took a gap year to work as a teacher aide, which…
Growing up, I was forever changing my mind about what I wanted to be when I grew up – an accountant, a journalist, a lawyer…I still wasn’t sure by the time I graduated year 12, but I was accepted into uni and started a Biomedical Science degree. Tertiary-level science wasn’t for me, so I switched…
I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school. I was good at maths and science but didn’t know if I necessarily wanted to work in that area. I felt like I wanted to explore my options and see what happened. I started studying human biology and chemistry in university but…
I made the choice to go into engineering as I enjoyed both maths and physics and this seemed to be the most natural choice. Once I started engineering I began to slowly understand that underpinning the technical work was a humanitarian cause. Engineering to me is all about finding the most effective solution to a…
I always enjoyed maths and science at school, and puzzles and problem solving in my free time so I thought engineering might be a good fit. I didn’t know much about engineering going into the course at university, but I quickly learnt there were so many options with a range of disciplines from civil, environmental,…
When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor. But growing up in a Sri Lankan family, becoming an engineer was one of the top professions my mum encouraged me to consider. Looking back, I’m so glad I chose this path because it suits me perfectly, and the work-life balance at Department of Transport…
Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by how things work and where they fit in the world. This led me to study science at university, where I discovered Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which is like a superpower for understanding the world. Imagine being able to see hidden patterns and connections just by looking…
I always loved to draw and use technology in an artistic expression. I also spent a LOT of my time as a child on my dad’s building sites, where he built speculative homes. Looking back, it makes perfect sense to me that architecture would be a natural outlet and career path. That didn’t stop me…
In high school, I wanted to study philosophy and economics but I was always very interested in geography and nature, loved the environment from a young age going camping with my family and exploring. However I never thought I would study it, so I enrolled in an Arts Degree to study philosophy and politics. I…
I wanted to be a teacher until grade 11, where I was exposed to some accounting and business subjects that I really enjoyed. I selected a commerce degree as I needed a higher year 12 result to study it. I didn’t really know what being an accountant would be like. I finished my university degree…
I had no clue what I wanted to do when I finished school. I dropped out of my first degree (business) after 1 semester and started full time work as an admin assistant while I figured out what I wanted to do. The State Government Computing Centre (now CITEC) was recruiting for computer operators and…