I once said my hobby is Instagram. They looked at me like I am fool like you doing right now.

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Evelyn Ethan Small
5 years ago
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1 INTRODUCTION Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen It is such honour to be here today I would like to congratulate you on coming this far. Many are called but few are chosen and in this context that statement means that many register for engineer but few get to the point you are at. Even if it took you long because you may be lived at kitcheners or gradane and it took you 6 or 7 or 8 years to obtain a 4 year degree. I am judging - it took me 6 years. I believe in celebrating small victories, So let s have a toast to this milestone. Since Dominique and her team didn t organise champagne for us, lets rather cheers by fist pumping the person next you or around you and say well done for getting this far. Once you done with that fist pump yourself and say well John Peter Paul whatever your name is for getting this far. As Dominique mentioned I am a pageant girl/aspiring Miss South Africa Question that you get asked frequently at pageants is what is your hobby or talent. I once said my hobby is Instagram. They looked at me like I am fool like you doing right now. I first login, switch mobile data, data is expensive, by the way data must fall, and then I play around with the filters on my picture and save them for my next post. I know this might sound lame, but I guess how you feel about my Instagram filter playing hobby are the same feelings I share for people who play candy crush or angry birds. So if you play any one these games, you and I are in the same WhatsApp group and we all lame. By the way you can follow me So growing up was quite tough because whenever my mother said one, I said two

2 And if she said three, I said four. The way she would win or end the conversation is she would say fentse onale di karabo meaning you have answers or reasons for everything. I think the problem why I always had an answer for everything is that I am firm believer that there is a solution for everything, guess that s why we engineers... to provide solutions to problems. Since I am an engineer I thought I should address the problem you might be facing today; obviously because of my line of profession, providing the solution will be easy. Looking back I think the biggest problem is that nothing or no one and no module could prepare you for the TRANSITION between TERTIARY and INDUSTRY. FELLOW ENGINEERS POINT OF VIEW: So I asked my colleagues/friends what are the things that they wished they knew after tertiary before getting into industry. I will share them throughout the presentation. TERTIARY Who you leave tertiary as does not define who you will be at work. Your failures do not define who you are. It took me 6 years to finish a 4 year degree. I started by studying chemical engineering, after two years of doing it and failing I realised that I will not reach final year and I did not enjoy it so I jumped ship and studied metallurgical engineering.

3 Failing a couple of modules and not graduating with distinctions hanged as a cloud over my head that I was not good enough. That the other graduate engineers were better than me. Yes distinctions are great and they do help you get a job sometimes but distinctions are not everyone s reality. I saw this picture sums up what my transition looked like: The important things are being on time, work ethic, effort, body language, energy, attitude, passion, being coachable, doing extra and being prepared. The most important thing is being a competent engineer. What defines a competent engineer is the paper during graduation ceremony. Your employer cares about you applying the skills acquired in tertiary to make him money. What are saw with myself is that the bad habits I had in tertiary moved with me into industry. Let s dwell a little bit on the things I pointed out earlier. Being on time: Because I was always 5 minutes late for my classes... I was always 5 minute late for work. You cannot sneak into work like you do at class. Or if it s a double period module, come in at the second session and hope the lecturer does not notice. Your boss will notice if you are late. We have finger sensors, and we have to clock in by 7:30, but already HR questions why you arrive 7:29 because when did you have chance to change into your overalls. Work ethic, effort, body language, energy, attitude:

4 We work with clients. A little on what I do at my company, I run a couple tests accompanied by a report of the results. That report represents you and the company you work for. So you cannot just throw unnecessary information just to make the report look bigger. Sometimes in tertiary you will work on a report the whole night and because time catchers up with you, you just submit your report without prove reading it, and convince yourself as long I get a 50%. There is no 50% when working with clients, there is a satisfied client and unhappy client who are willing to take his business somewhere else. And if you are not making your employer money, then he is willing to lose you and willing to find someone else who is willing to make him get rands. Passion Sometimes you might have studied what you didn t like or the environment you are in you, doesn t do it for you. But you need to find the thing that will excite you about your job. When I started, I didn t like to concept of always getting dirty and wearing overalls. But what excites me and finishing a report, killing it, having a happy client, and knowing I have finished one more project. I chase the number of projects, and set targets, it s a game for me. And that keeps me going in my job. INDUSTRY The truth about the industry Challenges: Being young Being a woman Not being utilised to your full potential

5 You with a qualification vs malome/oom/uncle without a qualification Being young You will get undermined, but let your work speak for you. Your point view won t always be considered but say at any way. Because you young everyone thinks you do not know much, but there is something you do know. Because they do not think you know much they are sometimes eager to teach you just so they can feel important, so learn as much as possible from them. Always offer a helping hand. This will to your advantage because knowledge is power. Tshepo Theory isn t everything, you need practical experience. You manager needs results and not excuses. Be able to work with no supervision. Being a woman Sinothile You have to be very strong as a woman; Men don t take you seriously; all they do is ask you out. I worked on 2 mines, and I must admit that men sometimes can be trash. They will whistle, they will not want to take instructions but this is where we as ladies need to learn to be assertive and most importantly set boundaries and respect your own boundaries. This is a character building process.

6 As you guys go out to be dominate male in the industry, please make this character building process easier for us by allowing us to be assertive and by respecting the boundaries we create. When I worked at the Rustenburg mine I did not go around giving guys my numbers because usually if he asked for your numbers he wants to call you, so if you do not want him to call you do not give him your numbers. And be so good at your work that it forces people to listen and respect you. Not being utilised to your full potential In my industry we find a lot that people who graduated as chemical engineers end up working as metallurgical engineers. The truth is that you are a competent engineer, and you able to provide the answer to whatever problem. Be willing to learn and sometimes you will have to knock off late and knock in early so you can master the work. You with a qualification vs malome/oom/uncle without a qualification Luddy Candidate s ego tends to stand in the way of competence. Undermine little respect for fellow colleagues and seniors. Learnt respect and showing compassion for others. Yes you have the qualification but respect people s years of experience. Your degree will earn you a better salary then the guy who is just a general worker but to get a head we need people. Let no one fool you into thinking you can do it alone.

7 If they do not feel respected by you they will not be willing to help you and the best information that you need, you will not find in a text book comes but rather from the guy who has been running the same machine 20 years. Moshobane At work there is no answer at the back of the textbook. The answers come from the guy who does not have an engineering degree. Conflict Management Hlanginiso There is some intellectual and emotional intelligence factor that varsity can never prepare you for. Thulani How to handle politics in the work environment. You will not always see eye to eye with some colleagues and sometimes with your boss. But the way around it is: Do not get involved in office politics. o There some fights not worth getting into. o Sometimes you would want to be the voice of the people and end up get the short end of the stick. Because the people you were fighting for do not have the guts to stand for you because everyone has a family to feed and they don t want to lose their jobs. The approach is everything

8 o If something does not sit well with you yes voice it out, but do not make someone feel disrespected in your response to the point where what you are trying to communicate does not come through. o Know the people you work with and their characters. YOUR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS: The last important thing about your transition between work and industry is that know where you want to be 10 years from now. When I started working I did not know where want I wanted for myself for the future. SO the first thing I did is that I got myself a mentor who is Mr Graham Butler, who has so many years of experience and has retired right. Secondly I dedicated my first year of working to discovering what opportunities are available out there. At the end of my first year working I knew that I want to be in a managerial position that does not specialise in one concept but rather a specialist. Since everything life term decision I have made thus far contributes to this dream I have registered for my honours in technology management and at work I have asked my manager to rotate between different types of projects. Right now the projects I work on are focused on magnetic separation and solid liquid separation and in the future I will be working cyclone projects. In closing Working is great experience You earn a salary, can buy vrrrr pha, etc. But your experience will be different from someone else

9 But you decide what you want for yourself. Always have a learning spirit it will take you far regardless of the path you choose.

MY QUEST. Will s Story

MY QUEST. Will s Story MY QUEST Will s Story 1 This story, as told to Catherine Raju, was written as part of the Story Project funded by Disability Services Queensland through the Community Enablers Project, 2013. 2 Will is