Sakura Mukhopadhyay

Since finishing university in mechatronic engineering, I have been working full-time at Arcadis as an overhead wiring graduate engineer in the rail team. I started working at Arcadis as an undergraduate at the end of my second year of university, loving the vast variety of projects with a supportive work environment.

8.30 AM

A typical day in the office starts around 8:30 AM, actioning emails from the prior day and collating the tasks to be done for the day. We have a variety of projects ongoing at the same time, so it is important to stay up to date with the continuously evolving environment we are in.

9.00 AM

At 9 AM I have my first meeting for the day with my overhead wiring team in Sydney starts with where we update each other on project work, progress, and the agenda for the week. It is also a great start to the day, ensuring everyone is doing well. At Arcadis, we work on projects within NSW, interstate all around Australia and globally. In the overhead wiring team itself, members can work on multiple projects for different locations therefore it is important to stay connected and update each other on the status of work around the globe.

After my morning meeting, I get into the engineering design work. For overhead wiring in the railway, this involves producing the design of overhead wiring structures and wires for the set scope to the standards set by the client. This includes utilizing engineering modelling software to model and producing various drawings and calculations to analyze and verify the design. While designing, it is important to consider not just the design, but how the design will be constructed, how the system will be maintained and how it will be operated.

When working on interstate projects, the project team consists of a lead engineer, other engineers, and modellers. These engineering resources can be Arcadians from around the globe, so daily project meetings are undertaken. This allows for clear communication of the progress and status of tasks for deadlines as well as addressing any design queries to ensure they are compliant to all standards and the best quality of work. Throughout the day I will be involved with various project meetings ranging from being in person or over Microsoft teams and can involve clients, project managers, and interfacing project disciplines to coordinate and discuss together to move the project deliverables forward.

12.30 PM

At around 12:30 PM, I take my lunch break in which Arcadis facilitate learning and development activities for graduates and young professionals. Lunch and learns are technical presentations that occur during lunchtime and are presented by talented Arcadians from disciplines all around the business. This presentation was given by a senior from the overhead wiring team all about rail electrification. It is important that graduates are exposed to areas and knowledge outside of their own disciplines to further understand more about the business values and missions.

I have been able to work on projects all around Australia including the cities of Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. These projects have allowed me to gain experience in the design of overhead line electrification systems for both 1500 V DC and 25kV AC in railway projects working within multi-disciplinary teams. Working in a multi-disciplinary environment, especially for the design of a railway, it is very important to think of it as a part of a system. Therefore, all designs need to integrate with one another. You can’t have overhead wiring without the railway track, similarly, you cannot have tracking without signalling. An environment like this allows you to not only develop knowledge in your own area but also be made aware of the importance of interfacing disciplines. This means when producing drawings, it is important to ensure they are not only compliant with your own systems standards but also that they corporate all the interfacing disciplines and do not clash. Interfacing disciplines are also heavily involved when producing design engineering reports and preparing for submissions.

5.30 PM

I usually tend to wrap up for the day around 5:30 PM and send out any emails to close out tasks or communication required. Depending on the day you will find me either at Muay Thai, playing the violin or if I’m at neither then I’m at a work function! It is so important to have a social and work-life balance which includes team-building activities and events. Arcadis holds a very supportive, collaborative, and connective community and always upholding to the value of putting its people first. The community of Arcadians is so supportive, and I feel so lucky to work with such incredible people. This one was an internal networking event with the graduates and managers from all across the business that I had the pleasure of hosting.

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