Make the World

Because she loved the environment and animals, Suzanne went through and circled all of the courses that featured those two buzzwords. It also had to be a degree – to please her parents – and what was left at the end of that selection process was one unexpected choice: A Bachelor of Environmental Engineering. Up until then, Suzanne only had a vague picture of what an engineer was: hard hats, building sites, and male. To her, engineering was either structural or civil, bridges or buildings. But the course description ticked all her boxes, and meant she could ride her Ford Escort to classes in freedom. She was sold. And because she’d kept studying maths and science throughout high school, she went straight into the degree.

Fifteen years, and three children later, Suzanne, 34, is now Northern Networks Manager for Watercare. Her job, and her team, covers getting water and wastewater to and from most of Auckland and she manages one of the biggest maintenance contracts in New Zealand.It’s not just bridges and buildings, it’s everything. It’s making communities and cities work like clockwork. And when it comes to problem solving, it’s high stakes.

“You come to work every day and it’s like, ‘What’s going to happen today? What’s going to break today?’ You know the saying for the police, ‘get better work stories?’ I always say, ‘Engineering could smash that.’ We get the best stories.”

Fixing things forms the reactive part of being an engineer, but the other, bigger part of being an engineer is the creativity behind it. It’s not an exaggeration to say that everything that makes up our modern world was created by an engineer. And whether it’s a smartphone, an Airbus, an electric car, it’s not just about coming up with a solution. It’s about having the vision to create something the world didn’t know it needed, and now can’t live without. It’s having a blank slate, every day, and getting to work on filling it in.

For Suzanne, both her big-picture work and day-to-day role has revolved around the environment, just as her teenage self wanted. Her very first role at Watercare was in odour monitoring at the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was for a summer student job at the time, and she applied with two friends for the role. One friend’s nose was too sensitive for the smells, the other’s wasn’t sensitive enough. In a Goldilocks-style twist, Suzanne’s nose was just right. It may not have been the most glamorous start, but it kicked off one heck of a career. Three months of nosing her way around the wastewater plant saw Suzanne moved to an environmental planning team, before moving into environmental compliance – both over in the UK for her OE, and then back in New Zealand. Her skills were both universal and in demand – Suzanne jokes that apart from the nose test, she’s never had an official job interview in her life as doors have continued to open for her as she’s moved throughout the industry.

“If you’re good at what you do, people will always want you. And at the end of the day, you can’t survive without engineers. There are a lot of opportunities for females to do well in engineering.”

It wasn’t always this way – there’s a reason why the stereotype of an engineer is, as Suzanne puts it, ‘Beard. Glasses. Pocket protector.’ But she’s already seen the shift in the industry in just her years of working there, and believes it’s only the beginning. While maths and science do play a part in the black and white background of a good engineer, it’s creativity and vision that elevate someone to being a great engineer.

“Engineers have to be leaders. You always have to make a decision, even when you’re new to the job. And you have to have passion – waking up and wanting to come to work each day is huge. You always want to learn more and push more and make things better. There’s also a combination of being both a really good team player but also having the ownership to work on your own thing. It’s quite an independent career, very much ‘you just do your thing and let me know if there’s a problem.’”  

In 2009, Suzanne was made Headworks Engineer, which meant that all of the raw water assets like catchments, dams, water pipelines, aqueducts and tunnels fell under her jurisdiction. For the next six years, Suzanne and her team of 20 managed every aspect of the dams: the infrastructure, the communities they service, heck, even the fish who dwell within them, creating little pathways so they could move freely throughout the dams. This year, she became Northern Networks Manager for Auckland and her responsibilities got a little bigger.

“In the first 20 minutes of the meeting, there were 200 people out of water that we had to fix. Every day really is that different.”

The influence of technology and the internet has meant that a lot of industries are now scrambling to keep up with the pace of change. But not engineering. For one thing, they’re the people driving the change. And secondly, the creative streak that runs through engineers means they’re always looking for a different way to do things. The concept of learning the rules so you can then break them is at the heart of every engineer, who refuses to rest on the laurels of their last good idea.

“The coolest thing I’ve realised about being an engineer is that you really do make a difference,” Suzanne says. “Every day you come to work and at some level, you make a positive difference to something. And that’s a really good feeling.”

Fast forward to adulthood, and McCallum was standing next to Alien star Sigourney Weaver on the set of Avatar. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening!’ You are as close to the storytelling at some times as the camera and the director.” 

34-year-old McCallum’s had many job titles, from propmaker to mechanist to the very epic “swordsmith”. From helping create Matt Damon’s mechanical exoskeleton in the sci-fi blockbuster Elysium, to making the giant swords seen in The Hobbit - McCallum is bang in the middle of the movie industry. And a New Zealand Diploma in Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) helped get him to the top of his game. 

“I didn’t precisely know what engineering was! And I think if you ask a lot of people, ‘What does the word engineering mean?’ - they can’t tell you. Well, it comes from the same root as ingenuity or ingenious.” 

Before enrolling in the diploma, McCallum had already been working in film and television for 10 years. But he knew he needed engineering to take his career to the next level. 

“I loved it, it was very liberating. I was on my own terms when I started studying, and I loved that.” 

With a diploma in hand, his career went from strength to strength. “I did a lot of work on the hero swords that were used in The Hobbit. They just got so much screen-time! And with all of the posters, you had the sword right in front of the actor’s face,” McCallum laughs. “When you see that, and it’s 220 feet tall on a billboard down the end of Cuba Street, it’s just like, ‘Wow’.” 

Recently, McCallum made the bold move - leaving his home at Weta Workshop to set up his own studio in Ireland, The Workhouse. Jobs have been non-stop, from blockbuster films to huge new TV shows. 

And while business is booming, he’s already looking to the future. Recently, those exoskeletons he worked on during Elysium have been playing on his mind. “Next week I am going to a surgery where they are actually implanting a device to straighten up a scoliosis.” 

It’s a case of the skills he learnt working on a sci-fi film being used in an entirely different field - medicine. In his mind, not only do engineers make the world: They could be responsible for saving it. 

But first… 

Meet Hannah 

Meet Hannah Klein, the 27-year-old stormwater specialist at Auckland Council who is looking after Auckland’s waterways above and below our precious ground. And yep, there are hundreds of waterways running under the ground not too far below where you’re walking. 

Put simply, engineer Hannah ensures people who visit and live in New Zealand’s largest city have an abundance of healthy streams and clean waterways to enjoy, and that we don’t lose them by building over them. 

And if we do have to build over them, that the alternatives are just as good, such as enhancing an existing waterway with trees and plants around the edge of the water (which keeps the water cool and hospitable for the fish and critters that live there), creating walkways and cycleways, or creating a better open stream further up or down from the hidden piped stream. 

Why this matters 

“Streams are very important to the environment because they convey storm water flows, which is important if you don’t want your house to be flooded,” she says. “They create a home for many different species of fish, bugs and eels. If you don’t have the streams, some fish species that migrate up the stream to spawn will have lost their habitat, which means ultimately whole species could die off.” 

We asked Hannah to reflect on how exactly her career choice manifests in real life, and what is so exciting about it (and she’s a gal who loves her job!). She says that as well as the amazing friends she has made in her studies from all ages, ethnicities and countries, it’s the awesome projects that she gets to work on that gets her out of bed in the morning and ready to go. So here’s Hannah’s  7 surprising facts about her career in Engineering. 

It’s Bringing the Gals! 

Contrary to its history, engineering is no longer a man’s world. It’s fast becoming more gender equal, and females bring unique and necessary qualities to the profession. 

“Females bring so much creativity in,” she says. “Females are generally creative so that’s a hugely beneficial thing to bring to a role. Women bring a different way of looking at things. As a woman, if you know your stuff, and you work hard people are going to take you seriously, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.”

It’s Respectful! 

Engineers are wholly respectful in their consideration of the Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi). Hannah says this is one of the most rewarding parts of building the future Auckland. 

“I have been involved with the implementation of the Mauri Model Decision Making Framework. This Model helps engineers consider environmental, social, economic aspects of project in relation to Maori values. Using the Mauri Model in their decision making will help develop infrastructure solutions that provide the most benefits to Aucklanders.” 

It’s Sensitive! 

It takes a very sensitive hand and lively, creative brain to implement the best solutions for any environment, and an engineer needs all these qualities. 

“One of my favourite projects is the rain gardens in Wynyard Quarter,” says Hannah. “As well as enhancing the area, they help with stormwater run off, which is the water that flows off concrete and into the plants which absorb some of the run off and slows down the velocity of the storm water and so decreases flooding. This is called water-sensitive design. Urban design doesn’t all have to be concrete and hard engineering.“ 

It’s Creative! 

Engineering is not just about building buildings and bridges, says Hannah, it’s so much more than that! 

“There’s such a broad range of what you can do with engineering and I have chosen to work with the environment in terms of water which allows me to be very creative day-to-day,” she says. “We have to think creatively and problem solve in teams to build amazing solutions that excite the communities. Wynyard Quarter is just one example where hugely talented engineers came together to create one of Auckland’s most revitalised and exciting places to be.” 

It’s Adventurous! 

This is no desk job! To solve problems about the environment, infrastructure, buildings, roadways and more, you have to get outdoors and in amongst everything. 

“We go stream hunting!” laughs Hannah. “We’re finding what’s called ‘intermittent streams’ and classifying them. These are the streams that flows some months but might go dry through summer months. So we go all around Auckland hunting streams. “I’m also doing a planting project and stormwater renewal project on the North Shore, so get to go on site with the contractors and see the work that’s being done. It’s definitely not just sitting in front of a computer; I get to go outdoors and get my hands dirty. Everyday is different!” 

It’s About People! 

Engineering is not about building stuff, in fact, at its heart and its entire point in fact, is people. Pretty much everything engineers do is about making people live better, easier, happier lives. 

“We’re dealing with people all of the time, and everything we do is for people. We’re about connecting the community with our spaces. It starts with having an idea and communicating it with the community to see what they want out of a project, or what they want to see. In my role, we use water to connect them to the environment and reinforce just how important water is.” 

It’s Making the Future! 

“We work towards the future every day,” says Hannah. “We’re optimistic and we create the change we want to see. It’s about getting a problem, exploring all the different solutions and arriving at the best one that’s going to benefit the city, the community and the fast growth that’s happening. The coolest moment is when a project is finished you can drive past it or ride your bike by the stream and think ‘I had something to do with that’. Engineers are part of the future, we’re creating the solutions.“ 

Hannah’s career journey 

A degree in Business was not enough for Hannah; she wanted to be part of something far bigger, so she enrolled in a three-year engineering degree. 

“After my business degree, I decided that if I was going to work for the rest of my life I was going to enjoy what I was doing,” laughs Hannah. “So then I finally decided that I would go into engineering, which is what I wanted to do in the first place.” 

Now Hannah is heading towards her final semester of her Bachelor of Civil Engineering Technology with a focus on water and environment. Her role at Auckland Council began as a summer intern which then became a permanent 3-day-a-week role, which she hopes will become full time once she completes her degree. 

“It was fun, because you never realise how much design goes into making something like that work. At one stage they had about a 1,000 people working on it, crawling over each other!” Martin’s role was key: To light the whole thing up. Literally. 

“We had to make sure the stadium was all completely uniformly lit. Not just for those in the stands: Sky was shooting down there, and they had to have the right lighting to broadcast live video. We also designed the emergency lighting system to guide people to safety”. Proudly of Ngai Tahu descent, Martin feels a deep connection to the region. “This was my ancestor's home, it’s my home, and it’s my future generations home,” he says. “I feel a great sense of worth of being able to give something back to my community”. 

As a child, Martin was always drawn to electricity. “You couldn’t see it,” he laughs. “I loved that. When I was a kid I was into slot sets, and remote control cars. And we had Lego and K’Nex, and I got motor add-ons which made it so much better.” Before he knew it, he was doing night courses while still at school so he could become a sparky. But he wanted more. 

As he began studying towards a Bachelor in Engineering Technology, Martin becoming increasingly fascinated by the electrical systems that made things tick. “Me and another student made an electric go-kart, out of an old Fisher & Paykel washing machine. You know those Smart Drives? Well, we took one of those out of a washing machine and rewired it.” 

During his final year of study, a project saw him analysing the lighting systems in a giant industrial warehouse. Thanks to his findings, not only did he make the lighting efficient, but CO2 emissions were lowered at the same time. 

Now working as a commissioning engineer, the projects he works on are wide and varied. Recently he found himself working rural hospitals in Kaikoura and Rangiora, both of which held special significance for him. “I grew up in Rangiora for 13 years, and have whakapapa back to Kaikoura, and still have family up there.” 

From Monday to Saturday Poini Palu leaves his Mt Wellington residence in Auckland’s south-east to head to across town to Whenuapai in Auckland’s north-west. Making the journey through Auckland’s traffic isn’t a problem for Poini (known as ‘Poi’), because he loves what he does. 

Poini allocates the jobs for the machine operators, and orders the materials required for the day, ensuring they have the quantities and quality required. All this while keeping an eye on proceedings, to ensure that at the end of the day they’ve achieved what they aimed for. 

“Ordering materials is very important because you don’t want to be too short, or over order. Knowing the maths is very important,” he says. “On a subdivision, what you can’t have is big machines sitting around doing nothing because they cost hundreds of dollars an hour. But one thing you can’t control is the weather. When it’s raining, it’s hard to do anything.” 

Although Poini agrees it sounds stressful, he thrives on the pressure and responsibility that goes with it. 

“With this job, the earth movement is just the start. We’re building roads and retaining walls, setting up storm water and waste water systems, street lights, and electricity for the homes. “We’re creating something,” he says. “I’ve worked on projects around Auckland and enjoy driving past them when they’re completed. I think to myself, ‘I helped build that’. It gives me a lot of pride.” 

Whenuapai Village is just one of a number of subdivisions to house Auckland’s rapidly growing population. 

Poini became part of that population growth in 2011, having arrived in New Zealand’s most populous city from the village of Havelu in Tonga. He describes his upbringing as “tough”. 

As the eldest of five (three boys and two girls), it was largely a subsistence lifestyle with the family living off the land. They grew their own plantation, mainly taro and yams, and maintained cows and pigs. Yet he knows it instilled the strong work ethic he has today. 

“My mother (Kaimapa) never had a job, but she always made sure that we went to school and my Dad went to work, we had lunch and everything was prepared for us.” Poini describes his father, Nikolasi, as his role model. “My dad was a road supervisor in Tonga. I grew up watching him at his job,” he recalls. 

He started from the bottom as a labourer and worked his way up. He didn’t get the same opportunities that I did in education, but he’s very smart. 

He thought “pursuing a career in engineering was not only good for me, but for my brothers and sisters. That’s why I’ll always support my family in Tonga whenever I can.” 

The key to that, Poini stresses, is to choose the right subjects to study while still at school. While at college in Tonga, Poini studied calculus, statistics, computer studies, physics, and chemistry, securing a Diploma in Construction Technology. 

He received a scholarship to study in New Zealand and arrived in Auckland five years ago. After initially staying with members of his family, Poini chose to live at the residential village within the campus. 

“Living within the campus made it easier for me to focus on my studies,” he says. “I didn’t have any transport hassles and could study whenever I wanted without other distractions.” 

After completing his three-year Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree in 2013, Poini secured a job at an engineering firm, specialising in the geotechnical aspects such as ground improvement, slope stability analysis, foundation designs, site investigations etc. He says much of his time was spent in front of a computer at their office. The occasional offsite visit fuelled his desire to work on subdivisions. “I don’t go to our offices (based in Penrose) much, probably once every few weeks because I need to be on site. I like to ensure everything is ticking along.” 

After work Poini likes to stay fit by going to boxing training in Panmure, Auckland. “A great place to keep fit, release any stress and make new friends”, he says. 

Also moving along is his personal life, having married Karlien, who is originally from Holland. They met in Auckland when Poini worked across the road from her workplace. The couple flew to Europe and were married in her home town during the Christmas holidays. Poini says travelling through Europe and the United States has opened his eyes to the world even more. 

“I’ve been to places that I thought I’d only see on TV or the movies.” 

But he adds that such opportunities wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for his determination to fulfil his parents’ desires for him to make the most of his education. The environment in Tonga that Poini grew up in is far cry from where he is today. But his determination and ability to adapt and make his mark on this world cannot be denied. 

For Poini, his desire to motivate others is just beginning. “There are so many opportunities in Auckland. The city is growing fast and there are new subdivisions being set up all over the place,” he says. “There’s a demand for skilled and experienced workers and we need to see more young Pacific people stepping up to fill those roles.” 

As we conclude our meeting, we head out of the small portacom to a grey windy day with a threat of rain. When asked if he has any concerns about the weather, all he has to say is; “We initially planned to finish this in August, but the way we’re going we’ll probably have it all done by mid-July … it’s always good to complete a job before schedule.”