• Subject Name : Engineering

Engineering Practice Preparation

Table of Content

Building professional reputation and social capital to connect with industry:.

Reflection on workplace safety issue:.

Reflection on professional development goals and strategies:

Reflections on Teamwork and Leadership:.

1. Building Professional Reputation and Social Capital to Connect with Industry:

Looking at myself a year ago, I felt really amazed and somehow intimidated by those who have already graduated from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and taking the right path on their way to professionalism. I can clearly see the maturity in the way they dress, on the way they talk to other people; on the way they handle situational problems and many others, which I think I am not that capable yet. I was just an ordinary engineering student who just wanted to play, to meddle around, and live an easy-go-lucky life.

I felt intimidated because our university encourages their students to attend in different career events such as training, seminars, team-building activities, and others. I was also one of those students who were encouraged to join in such an event. A huge number of companies were invited by UTS, so one can imagine that it was a matter that I, along with many of my peers, believe that I could not actually miss (Capper & Green 2013, p68). These included John Holland, BMD Construction, Robert Bird Group, KANE, and many more.

Of course, aside from the fact that we were excused to attend our classes (which I always found boring), nothing in my mind was more important than that. However, I am pleased that one career event changed my perspective and definitely changed my life. I attended a Virtual Career event organised by UTS for civil engineers. During our career event, we were allowed to interact online with other people from other universities, either students or already professionals. And looking at the way I dressed, the way I talked to other people, the way I ask questions to them were far different from those who were already professionals.

Kipping, Buhlmann and David (2019) write that the strong impact of careers and academic universities acts as drivers of significant social progress for anyone. Going through the career talk portion of the event, a spokesperson from a well-known and world-class company talked about the way how they choose a candidate for a job position. He said that during the interview, we should always arrive on time, maintain an eye contact, practice active listening, and therefore we should prepare ourselves every time we have to attend a career event since this is a measure of how you will handle yourself in meeting new faces and definitely talking to them. As a continuation of his career talk, he flaunted us the perks that they receive as an employee of the said company. Free food, free board and lodging, high salary and competitive benefits, and many others which other companies are not offering. That moment it changed my perspective.

After this tutorial, I now know that it is really important that I should attend Virtual Career events since it can build me up to become a professional someday. It moulds me to be educated, to be mature, to be brave, and definitely to become a better version of myself. What I learned is despite being a student; we should already prepare ourselves for opportunities like this because there is a big possibility that it can definitely put you in a better place. Because I was really motivated to achieve something in my life, as of now, I am working with one of the reputed company “Caltex”.

2. Reflection on Workplace Safety Issue:

In the evolving financial growth of the world, the construction sector plays a large and substantial position. However, for advanced project management, such a sector is often known to be one of the scariest and most risky working areas. During my job at Caltex, I faced so much pressure while working as a Customer Service Assistant. I have to work for 12 to 14 hours every day. I believe that it affected my health very badly. What I struggle with was difficult to manage so much that things became a high risk for my health eventually.

Reflecting on my site visiting during an internship at Caltex, where I was working outside the 2nd story house, and unexpectedly my leg drifted away, and I fell backward. Just because of that, I injured my left leg. Since that moment, my supervisors and site manager advised me that while working, I need to concentrate on some safety metrics, such as appropriate binding of the safety harness rope, proper positioning between the co-workers, and other categories of hardware, minimizing the risk of electrical shock. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) writes that as per their study, there are other primary factors beyond the poor wellbeing and death in the sites, like as electrocution, caught-in/between, or struck-by-object.

Fekele, Quezon and Macarubbo (2016) writes that the worldwide construction industry's health and safety concerns in the workplace are strongly reliant on workers' operating conditions, their desired awareness of safety metrics, and the roles of possible stakeholders, such as government, management, and labourers themselves. However, Demirkesen and Arditi (2015) writes that in OSHA's proposal, all staff, supervisors, and contractors need to be included in the program understanding, health, and safety analyses at the workplaces and hazard detection systems. What I learned is that it gives me a greater awareness of health and safety problems at work and methods for achieving zero injuries in construction works.

Each worker is required to be ethically aware and develop knowledge to handle the works while collaborating with individuals from various ethnic perspectives, values, and beliefs while working in a multi-cultural globalized environment. These skill sets help to prevent disputes and incorporate team-building techniques aimed at leading activities by the workers towards the safe execution of construction fields. I felt confident, as it enabled me to analyze the introduction of ideas and concepts in various fields, such as resource mechanics, structural analysis, reinforced concrete development, metal projects. Along with the safety awareness, I am now adequately prepared with a knowledge of the approaches to integrate secure construction in my career field. An understanding of the legal system, statutory OHS criteria, and obligations, along with thorough awareness of the mechanism of risk management, might make me a successful civil engineering employee. I am currently aware of numerous OHS-related information resources, such as ASCC, State Work Cover / Work Safe Authorities, which will serve as a reference in the future to ensure a healthy atmosphere in the workplace (MacEachen et al. 2015).

3. Reflection on Professional Development Goals and Strategies:

Jawabri (2017) writes that internships are considered as an essential training opportunity not only for graduates but also for the hosting companies. I have a Civil Engineering background and a particular passion for investigating structural aspects and understanding structural principles. During my internship experience at Shree Sadhikrupa Associates, I was lucky enough to have experienced firsthand. What I learned is distinct aspects of the project requirements, the overall concept of how a site is created, built, and finished, and also how much effort and analysis goes through every stage.

The multiple categories of the project that an engineer has to do is also another useful skill I gained during those 12 weeks of internship, which in turn gave me further insight into the various categories of duties and responsibilities that I might undertake as a civil engineer. Throughout the first week of internship finishing the contract, I was prepared to gather up ideas and develop various types of skills by experiencing and learning from my supervisors and executives, from learning to interact and work with other corporations, to reviewing and decoding multiple sorts of strategies.

I felt overwhelmed, because it was fun for me to work on contracts during the first few weeks as it made me employ most of the civil engineering strategies that I acquired, such as geotechnical, structural, hydrological, and transportation skills.

What I struggle with was the inappropriate selection of resources for construction and a survey by millimetres. After this internship, I now know that it must always be reviewed multiple times and from top levels of references before any assumptions can be drawn, particularly if they are to be introduced to a buyer. During the next weeks, I also had the chance to get a 'white card' (or structural invitation card) to be permitted on site. It is another part of civil engineering that I was grateful to have the chance to learn. Also, I had the opportunity to travel on-site over the M80 Ring Road with senior civil engineers and labourers.

Ullman developed a series of smart strategies to recognize the various principles of reflective writing (Kovanovic et al., 2018). An engineering implementation skill is described by Ullman as a technique for engaging students in constructive learning. The very first approach represents the competence that any academic in my area of study must have in the qualified role of an engineer in the application of existing civil engineering techniques for handling problems (Ullmann, 2017). The connections it has with the Growth Mindset will gradually achieve the requisite emphasis in integrating all the diverse attributes (Ullmann, 2017). Being a civil engineer and having knowledge of structural analysis & dynamics, it has helped me to identify and solve all the challenging issues. I believe that I ended up by gaining a lot more than I imagined I would be willing to in the period, and after it, my efforts paid off as they provided me a job.

4. Reflections on Teamwork and Leadership:

Reflecting on the Week 5 tutorial, the team spirit in my perspective primarily represents a specific segment of the course that involves the Peer Review Group. This team was the product of the stuff we had to discuss in Tutorial 5, and it was dealing with the valuable team working details. In the very first section of this reflection journal, Assessment 1 has been reported, in which the team members had to upload a unique version of their perception with the Virtual Career Fair. During our week 5 Tutorial, I was allocated a particular team in which the participants were entirely defined as a character whom I did not know. Thus, at the starting moment itself, I conveyed all the essential details that I believe that it would be useful in developing the requisite coordination. I felt overwhelmed because other members were both attentive and responsive to that moment. I believe that Assessment 1 was mostly a concern of individual composition among those who were personally engaged in such activity with minor collaborations.

However, during Assessment 2, I realized that the problems and difficulties of teamwork became apparent. All members had to submit feedback on the other's work, and due to our non-familiarity with one another, it resulted in a large number of obstacles. The main difficulties I faced were that everyone had been stumbling on their opinions upon the others' work. I usually believe that it brought down the quality of work for everyone. So, in that situation, I took the responsibility to schedule a meeting with the members to convey the correct feedback in a way that would be both valid and positive in every sense of the term. There were many challenges and issues in this section, which the team was hopefully able to overcome. Whenever it comes to fulfilling requirements and satisfying them to achieve the appropriate performance, several instances featured a great deal of failure. However, I am pleased that the group learned to work appropriately with good integrity and with an analytical vision of improving performance and effectiveness by efficient trial and error.

By the end of a day, individual efforts were refined, converting to the requirement, developing a scenario loaded with stakes and possibilities that generally happen in a business organizational environment. Bell (2018) writes that on the grounds of delivering favorable outcomes from the entire state of teamwork, the actual points each of us recorded outlined positive feedback from our instructor.

What I learned is the value of balancing the desire of teamwork with the requirement for company leadership to get everybody to the single page. Parumasur (2013) writes that I was also productive in working on it to highlight the appropriate outcomes. Bell (2018) writes that to present important information about the possible execution of the Growth Mindset in a teamwork environment, an influential case of association must be linked It clearly represents and outlines the productive ways in which the whole group develops and becomes responsive to the achievement of targets. This specific Mindset was challenging to bring forth and instill within every member. However, rational points about the collective necessity drove forward the common realization and understanding why exactly this point was important to address and present.

Reference for Professionalization Through Symbolic and Social Capital

Bell, T. 2018. The secrets to beating an applicant tracking system (ATS), CIO.com https://www.cio.com/article/2398753/careers-staffing-5-insider-secrets-for-beating-applicant-tracking-systems.html (Links to an external site.)

Capper, C A & Green, T L. 2013. ‘Organizational theories and the development of leadership capacity for integrated, socially just schools’ Handbook of educational leadership for equity and diversity, pp. 62-82.

Civil Site Visit. 2020. Internship for Civil Engineer students. https://civilsitevisit.com/

Demirkesen, S &Arditi, D. 2015. ‘Construction safety personnel's perceptions of safety training practices’ International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 33, No. 5, pp. 1160-1169.

Fekele, L, Quezon, P E T & Macarubbo, Y C. 2016. ‘Evaluation of health and safety practice in building construction: a case study in Addis Ababa’ International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Vol. 7, No. 10, pp. 122-131.

Industrial Safety & Hygiene News. 2020. National outreach campaign aims to prevent fatal construction falls. https://www.ishn.com/articles/99024-national-outreach-campaign-aims-to-prevent-fatal-construction-falls

Jawabri, A. 2017. ‘Exploration of Internship Experience and Satisfaction Leading to Better Career Prospects among Business Students in UAE’ American Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 1065-1079. 10.12691/education-5-10-8.

Kipping, M, Buhlmann, F & David, T. 2019. ‘Professionalization through symbolic and social capital: Evidence from the careers of elite consultants’ Journal of Professions and Organization, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 265–285. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpo/joz014

Kovanovic, V, Joksimovic, S, Mirriahi, N, Blaine, E, Gasevic, D, Siemens, G & Dawson, S. 2018. ‘Understand students' self-reflections through learning analytics’ The 8th International Conference, pp. 389-398. 10.1145/3170358.3170374.\

MacEachen, E, Kosny, A, Stahl, C, O'Hagan, F, Redgrift, L, Sanford, S, Carrasco, C, Tompa, E & Mahood, Q. 2015. ‘Systematic review of qualitative literature on occupational health and safety legislation and regulatory enforcement planning and implementation’ Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Vol. 42, No. 1. 10.5271/sjweh.3529.

Parumasur, S B. 2013.’ The importance of teamwork, continuous top management support and training in bringing about TQM’ Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, Vol. 5, No. 9, pp. 639-651.

Ullmann, T D. 2017. ‘Reflective writing analytics: empirically determined keywords of written reflection’ Proceedings of the Seventh International Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference, pp. 163-167.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Engineering Assignment Help

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