What's your job about?
The PTA maintains, improves, and future-proofs Perth’s metro rail network. As a civil graduate, my responsibilities tend to revolve around civil, structural, and track infrastructure, though the basic engineering approaches to risk and governance lend to a variety of other roles outside of the civil area.
I currently work in the project space, assisting in the delivery of the Thornlie-Cockburn Link (TCL) and Yanchep Rail Extension (YRE) METRONET projects. My daily responsibilities include: drafting Deliverable Review Notices for design packages to assist the Coordinating Project Engineers (CPEs) for both projects; liaising with internal and external Project Engineers (PEs) brought onto the project to coordinate the review of project-specific deviations from PTA specifications, and general support to the engineering assurance team and the CPEs for both YRE and TCL.
In essence, I am currently working on improving Perth’s metro rail network by helping increase access to public transport. In previous rotations, I have worked on maintaining the network and, in my next rotation, I will be looking to help future-proof our public transport infrastructure for projected future population density.
What's your background?
I grew up in the Perth hills and went to a small school of about 800 students from Kindergarten to Year 12. I dove straight into University life after graduating in 2015, with a small private tutoring gig and a scholarship to make my way through the first three years. After failing the first-year unit by 1%, I found I had a lot of extra time on my hands due to the yearly course structure offered by Curtin. In late 2017 I picked up a casual job delivering parcels out of the back of my car and in mid-2018 I started as an instructor for a group teaching primary school students STEM using LEGO Technic and Mindstorms.
Through this I also played softball for Western Australia, representing my state for every year from 2015 to 2019 before COVID shut the borders. I was an outfielder/first baseman and made it to two grand finals, though we never took home a trophy in my years of playing.
When everything started to open again at the end of 2020, I managed to tear my TFCC (a ligament in the wrist) while weightlifting, putting a hold on softball and giving me no excuse to shirk my final year of study in 2021. Over the 2020-2021 summer break, I had the opportunity to spend 3 months in PTA’s Vacation program, after which I stayed part-time as an undergraduate track engineer until starting the graduate program in February 2022.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Of course! Obviously, you need an appropriate qualification to apply – which for the PTA graduate program is usually an engineering degree of some kind – but the current cohort is a diverse mix of backgrounds, degrees and interests. As long as you have a genuine interest in serving the public and are motivated to learn a relative niche industry, you could thrive in this job.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
As part of an organisation focusing on the delivery of infrastructure, the coolest thing about my job is seeing your work come to fruition so quickly. Even if it’s not something as huge as the Airport line, being able to point to something and say “I helped put that there” is an amazing feeling. There are two signs on the Fremantle line that I worked very hard to put up – they are a highlight of my career so far and I can only imagine what it’s like when that signpost is instead of a station or a new line.
What are the limitations of your job?
Access to our network for any major repairs/inspections is limited to 12 am-5 am most nights, meaning night shifts if you want/need to attend any of these works. Additionally, larger projects may instead take place over a weekend when there’s reduced rail traffic and less commuters are inconvenienced. These hours aren’t for everyone but can often be a requirement to get the most out of the job. Having done a 24(ish) hour weekend with night shifts, it can be exhausting to say the least.
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