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ACCIONA Australia and New Zealand

4.2
  • #3 in Construction & property services
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Thomas Fuller

Being in the construction industry, you are seeing the project from inception to completion, and it is a sense of achievement being able to physically see the difference you have made and the work you have done.

What does your employer do and what are your areas of responsibility?

Geotech is the ground engineering company for ACCIONA Australia. Geotech support some of the largest infrastructure projects within Australia in the design & construct and delivery component for ground engineering solutions as well as design and construct basement and foundation work of building works. My role at the present is assisting with the delivery of the piling works for the Level Crossing Removal at Glen Huntly & Neerim Rd.

What are you exactly doing? Tell us details about your daily work and your specific tasks.

My standard day-to-day works involve compiling quality assurance documentation for the piling works to help assist with the onsite workers so they are given the required information for the day piling works, liaising with suppliers to organize getting materials on site (concrete & steel) & the procurement of piling cages. Most days involve going out to the site and checking the piling production is on track, compiling quality assurance documentation to meet the design requirements of the projects and managing the onsite process of pile sequencing and material delivery – cages and concrete.

Does a teenager understand what you are doing? State any kind of interesting details!

Ground Engineering works and piling specifically is a unique industry and component of the construction sector so to describe to a regular teenager what I do would be a little difficult unless they had a well-versed understanding of the construction industry.

Where did you grow up? What were the important stages of your life? How did you get to your current job position and for how long have you been doing it already?

I grew up in country Northeast Victoria in the town of Shepparton before moving to Melbourne when I was 14 where I attended boarding school at Melbourne Grammar. After graduating Melbourne Grammar in 2014. I started and completed the Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science/Business Management. I was working as an Intern at Geelong FC during the summer of 2019 and into early 2020 before COVID hit and I knew I needed a career change. At that time, I was working as a landscape labourer and thoroughly enjoyed the lifestyle of the Construction Industry and was then I made the decision I wanted to move into the construction industry for a career. I decided to do the 2-year Diploma of Building (Construction) at RMIT and completed it in the middle of 2022. I was fortunate enough to do 6 months of work experience at Australian Precast Solutions (APS) on behalf of Geotech to help at the Seaford Precast Yard working on QA documentation and assisting with the delivery of precast panels to AWP2.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

I have always been under the belief that intrapersonal skills are a large contributor to how you perform at your job. If you are capable of learning – and learning fast and on the fly, capable of communicating verbally and written, ability to be cohesive with people of all personalities and backgrounds and a good comprehension of what is required of you as a worker you will be able to do most jobs. With that said there are technical terms within construction that a person with a different background may not be able to do and the hours we work are usually long which is not necessarily for everybody but it’s a requirement of the job.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

There are many cool aspects of my job and working for Geotech. Firstly, the people you work with are a mix of blue and white collar and it diversifies the type of people you work with because they all come from different backgrounds and are a mix of different personalities so it’s good to get along with a huge variety of people. Secondly, Geotech being a part of ACCIONA gives you accessibility to a huge number of opportunities of work, whether it is a large project or the ability to work in a new environment it gives you endless opportunities for the potential to work anywhere in Australia and potentially in the world. Another cool aspect of my job as being in the construction industry you are making a change in the world as my project LXRP AWP4 – Glen Huntly and Neerim Rd is eliminating dangerous level crossings and clearing congestion on the road which will make a huge difference to the people who live in the area. The last “cool” aspect of my job as being in the construction industry you are seeing the project from inception to completion, and it is a sense of achievement being able to physically see a difference you have made and the work you have done.

Do you bear a lot of responsibility? What's for you the biggest limitation in your job?

At Geotech they give you a lot of responsibility early on and it really allows you to learn on the fly. The potential for mistakes evidently increases but you only learn through mistakes, and it purposefully teaches you what to do and what not do. This allows you to be fast tracked in your role by giving a large portion of responsibility early and not like other companies you aren’t stuck doing the mundane boring jobs at the start because you are given more tasks to take on earlier than most. The biggest limitation for my job is the hours of work. Going into my change of courses I knew the construction industry hours were longer, so it is no real shock to me, but it is the current limitation where Saturdays are always workdays and 10+ hour days are regularly on the cards. Also working on level crossing removal project, Occupations (24 works) happen so you are given the opportunity to work a 12-hour day or night shift which can be long and fatiguing but overall, it’s a good experience to learn when you’re young.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student?

  1. Get external advice early – when I was freshly coming out of high school my mind was solely set on on sports science as a degree but with no real goal at the end game. Gathering the information to understand all various types of jobs avenues would have allowed me to understand what types of jobs are out there and the prospects in those jobs.
  2. Be open to new experiences – 1 regret I had during my time at uni was not experiencing an overseas exchange. This would have been a great experience for me personally but also for my future career as it would have taught me skills and knowledge that I wouldn’t receive in my usual day to day life in Australia
  3. Trust your gut and take risks – The best thing I have ever done was changing career paths. This decision ultimately wasn’t easy, but it was a risk I knew I had to take. It set me back 2 years of being in the workforce but long term it was the best decision I could make for myself. Short-term pain for long-term gain.