Adam Jarvis Presentation

Engineering at Murdoch:

An Alumni Perspective

By Adam Jarvis

What will tonight cover?To give you a graduate’s perspective on:

•Where will I get a job?

•How much money will I earn?

•What is an Engineering degree like?

•What can I do now to start preparing for this kind of work?

•What is the lifestyle like? Are the work hours long? Is it stressful?

•What are the future job prospects?

Who am I?•22 years old

•Completed Year Twelve in 2003

•Studied at Murdoch from 2004 to 2008 (5 years!)

•Graduated 2009

•Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Power and Industrial Computer Systems)/Bachelor of Commerce (Management)

•Currently working as a Graduate Electrical Engineer with Rio Tinto

Codrington Wind Farm in Victoria

Why did I go to Murdoch?•Studied ‘Design and Technology’ in high school

•Enjoyed making electronic circuits and the subjects ‘design and build’ approach

•Also interested in power systems and renewable energy technology

•Received three offers for uni: Murdoch University, University of New South Wales and Australian National University

•Chose BE (Renewable Energy) @ Murdoch due to financial status!

Me – back in the day

Getting in•Year 10 – was doing reasonably OK at school and thought about studying engineering

•Year 11 – S1 bad, S2 better and was keen to do electrical engineering at uni

•Year 12 – big turnaround due to a lot of study which got me a competitive TER

•Some tips: ensure you have a good grasp on maths (calculus) and physics – it will help!

•Develop an understanding of your school TEE subjects for yourself – i.e. don’t rely on how other students learn, but develop a good study process for yourself

•Work hard, manage your time well, don’t put too much pressure on yourself and focus on the bigger picture!

Studying Engineering•What is the lifestyle like? LIFESTYLE?!•Are the work hours long? 9am to midnight then 9am to 5am was longest I ever did•Is it stressful? YES!•It was always sunny when I was inside studying =(•Good mix of practical versus theoretical study •Smaller class sizes so lecturers are easily accessible•Overall I believe I got a good grounding in what I needed to know for the workplace

Bachelor of Engineering: 1st and 2nd year

• Assessment driven

• Maths (calculus, complex numbers, trigonometry, differential equations)

• Electrical engineering (AC/DC circuits and systems)

• Computer programming (eDiary and Snakes and Ladders)

• Computer based control and measurement systems

• Analysis of process systems (mass and energy balances)

• Expect to work on a lot of assignments, lab reports, major projects, mid semester tests and exams, which will give you a good grounding for 3 and 4 year

Bachelor of Engineering: 3rd and 4th yearLargely project driven but there are still mid semester tests and exams (start to

specialise in your chosen field of engineering)

BE 3 year:

Lab work on connection of motors, transformers and switching circuits in a power

system. Analysis of power transmission and distribution networks. LARGE amount

of lab work on PLCs, microcontrollers and SCADA systems. The hardest year for

me, by far!

BE 4 year:

System study verifying the connection of a processing plant and gas turbine

generator to the Murdoch University power network (theoretical case study).

Practical design and implementation of computer based measurement and

control systems – maximum power point tracker for a PV array, controlling the

output of DC generator to simulate a wind turbine, battery bank simulator, AC and

DC load banks

Experiences from Commerce

• Always wanted to learn about ‘business’

• Many benefits of doing a joint degree – adds another dimension to your knowledge, skills and abilities as an engineer and separates you from the pack when applying for jobs

• Biggest learning for me was realising how people actually work and perform in a team environment

• Gives you additional skills that can allows you to justify projects in a company e.g. showing that a project will deliver value ($$$) by knowing the business dialogue (e.g. NPV)

• Understanding operation of legal and financial matters

• Engineers do the planning, design and oversee the installation but there are many other parties in an engineering project (project managers, vendors, clients, trades people, operations personnel) – it isn’t purely about the technical stuff so an understanding of management helps the engineering process

In the office, Dec 07

Undergraduate Work Exprience•Dec 06 to Feb 07

•Iluka Resources Ltd

•Narngulu Processing Plant, Geraldton

•Residential placement

•Main project was planning the relocation of a section of the process plant and ensuring the E&I systems were up to current standards

•Began to understand how a project team works

Undergraduate Work Exprience•April 07 to Nov 07 (part time during uni)

•Swispec Pty Ltd, Belmont

•Main role saw development of skills in project scheduling as well as performing minor design tasks such as cable schedules and project technical queries

On site at Yandi, Feb 08

Undergradutae Work Experience•Dec 07 to Feb 08

•Rio Tinto Iron Ore

•Yandicoogina Mine Operations

•Fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) roster: 9 days on and 5 days off

•Main projects included planning the installation of power meters across the entire site, installation of an oil cooler for a conveyor belt gearbox as well as installation of a level sensor for a process tank

Assessing the Paraburdoo 11kV distribution system

Undergradutae Work Experience•Aug 08 to Nov 08 (Internship)

•Rio Tinto Iron Ore

•Project Engineering

•Main project was planning the upgrade of Paraburdoo’s 11kV distribution system

•Also did planning for the installation of HV power to the West Angeles Admin/Plant Workshop

•Also got involved in testing of 33kV switchgear and planning the environmental clean-up of a reactor

Graduate Role•Feb 09 to present

•Graduate Electrical Engineer with Rio Tinto

•Will be rotated throughout the business in 2009 and 2010 then will progress to a ‘professional role’

•Long term would like to be in a technical role

What is it really like to be an Engineer?•Accountability!

•Need to be resilient – dealing with setbacks

•Managers run projects, not engineers =(

•Need to be able to liaise with multiple ‘stakeholders’ from the business in order to provide a solution that is both practical and economical (emphasis on the latter!)

•Uni gives you a solid grounding on the technical side but you NEED to have workplace skills (e.g. dealing with colleagues, vendors, the company) so do as many extra-curricular activities (i.e. part-time work, involvement in committees, networking etc) as possible to build these up!

Installing a HV connection

What to do

•Client consultation - site visit to establish the objective

•Planning – assessing the options: overhead vs underground connection, analysing the cost/suitability of each

•Design - the easy part: sizing the cable, transformer, kiosk substation, spatial issues of installation etc

•Procurement – purchasing transformer, cable, kiosk substation to required specification and dealing with delays in delivery (the hardest part)

•Installation – supervision of electrical contractor’s role

•Testing and commissioning – ensure that the system works

•Client acceptance and handover – does it meet the client’s objective?

•Project management – ensuring solution meets required scope, budget and timeline as well as working constructively with the project team

Salary Expectations

•There are different companies serving different purposes across multiple industries (e.g. government utilities, private consulting firms, mining/oil and gas companies …)

•Perth based role can expect anywhere between $56K to $85K p.a.

•Site based role can expect anywhere between $90K and $130K p.a. (for a mining/resources type role)

Any Questions?