Civil Engineering
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Site Engineer
Cameron Rowlands , Fletcher Construction
| Earning: | $55-65,000 |
| In a nutshell: | Managing engineering construction site projects. |
| Why? | “It’s exciting, it’s outdoors and there’s always something to do.” |
Pathway Wanganui Collegiate, Year 13: Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, English, Art, Geography
University of Canterbury: Bachelor of Engineering, majoring in Natural Resources
Half way through his last year at school, Cameron had no idea what he wanted to do as a career. As his best subjects were sciences and maths, his school careers advisor suggested studying medicine. The long hours and prospect of blood and guts didn’t appeal, so he asked what the other options were. “He said I could be an engineer, so I did.”
His first project after graduation was the New Lynn rail trench tunnel, which has made train travel an alternative to the major traffic problems on Auckland’s western motorways. It was a very high pressure project with a tight timeframe and crews working through the night. “We were working as fast as possible, as hard as possible for 70 hours a week. There was concrete flowing everywhere, you just had to get in there and do it. It was lots of hours and my boss demanded a lot of me, but I learnt heaps and it was fun. A good way of developing fast,” he says.
Cameron is now working on the Victoria Park Tunnel, on the Logan Campbell Kindergarten building. “I get given a set of plans and a crew of guys, and basically we just have to get it built,” he says. The first step is to look at the design and make sure it actually can be built, and that it will comply with the environmental controls in the building consent. Then he plans and programmes the work, makes sure it’s all done safely, and does inspections and quality control to make sure that the work of the sub-contractors is up to standard.
“When things go wrong I have to get them fixed.”
One of the things he likes best about his job is working outdoors, “I’m off a farm, so it makes sense that I would end up where I am.” And he loves the variety of the work. “It’s exciting – the challenge of jumping around from place to place and working with all the different teams of people is great.”
Posted September 2011
