Diversity, equity & inclusion
At Aurecon, people at the heart of all we do. Learn more about how we are building a workplace where everyone is heard, and feels valued and connected.
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Ryan Bain’s journey to become an engineer started in a show-and-tell activity when he was in pre-school.
He created a dinosaur made up of cardboard boxes, old ventilation pipes and other bits and bobs. After proudly showing the creation to his classmates, his teacher told him that one day, he will become an engineer – and after spending years studying to achieve his dreams, he finally became one.
We chat to Ryan about his internship and what the work he’s doing in our ground and underground engineering team.
My name is Ryan and I am a graduate civil engineer at Aurecon working in the Ground and Underground Engineering team within the Wellington transport team. I grew up in Wellington but went down to study civil engineering at UC in Christchurch. I am super passionate about sports, main ones being football, golf, skiing, and basketball. I interned with Aurecon over the 2022/2023 summer.
I began my journey with Aurecon as a Civil Engineering Intern in the Ground and Underground Engineering (GUGE) team within the Transport team. I worked on heaps of projects, with people from all across our diverse team.
I tried out some transportation focused projects including Transmission Gully, Let’s Get Wellington Moving, Wellington Metro Upgrade Program, and Otaki to North of Levin Highway. I got to test out some contaminated land projects, including the Southgate Landfill, Plimmerton Farms, Parliament, and Te Matapihi Library Development. As well as more geotechnical-focused projects including Arlington Development and Palliser Street Retaining Wall.
As an intern, I wanted to work on and learn about as many projects as possible, to try and get a better understanding of what our team does and what engineering consultants do. My team at Aurecon was super accommodating and really keen to give me the exposure I was chasing. It was a good mix of learning on the job by watching others and putting me in situations where I had to figure it out myself, but always having guidance on-call. It has totally set me up for future career adventures.
"I wanted to work on and learn about as many projects as possible, to better understand what engineering consultants do."
One of my biggest highlights as an intern was the team lunches that we often had together. I promise, I did not just come to work for lunch! It was awesome because we got to discuss what other people were doing in their teams and gave us the opportunity to expose ourselves to other teams throughout the office. It was always interesting to discover that just in our Wellington office alone, there’s a massive variety and scope of works going on. I found it fascinating to see people working on the same project as you, but in different areas of the project. This gave me a massive perspective change relative to the work I was doing.
I also really liked the social indoor football team that I was part of. Every Thursday or Friday afternoon we would walk down to the waterfront and kick a ball around for half an hour and then go for a swim after to cool off as this was during the height of summer.
My team for the innovation challenge was AREK-ON (Ashna, Ryan, Eloise, Kerwyn – ON) and our slogan was 'built different'. Our project was based on re-cycling Wellington’s roads, we wanted to increase the cycle lane network around the city, increase bike access and parking, and make active transport as the more efficient means to transport.
We did this by constructing a miniature model of our proposed solution which consisted of separated, safe bike lanes and bike storage. The intern challenge was a cool experience for us as the little challenges that lead up to it like making our self-portraits and rivers of life really helped us get to know each other.
This was awesome because our group ended up winning the New Zealand competition against the other offices, which scored us a few Prezzi cards for the team – it was a fun experience.
The culture embraces a really good work-life balance. There were times that I needed to travel over the summer, and Aurecon was very supportive. I have been down to the Christchurch and Queenstown offices and worked from there. A cool hybrid work moment was the chance to work in the Melbourne office when I was in Australia visiting my brother.
I’ve found the culture in all the offices super consistent. Regardless of location, everyone has always been super inviting and helpful. Now that I have connections across other offices, I can always pop in and say hello or complete some work whenever I’m in the area.
"You never know when someone is going to tap you on your shoulder and invite you out on a spontaneous site visit, giving you a learning opportunity that might be right up your alley."
University provided me with the foundation knowledge. Aurecon has shown me how to put that knowledge into practice. My experience here has taught me how to apply my knowledge and use it to approach complex problems. It has also taught me the importance of collaborating with experienced peers, who have a greater understanding of the world of engineering to work towards optimal client solutions.
Be in the office! That doesn’t just mean to show up and work from the office. It means to go in and engage with your team and as much as you can – whether they’re Limelight events, coffee runs with your team, or even just team meetings. This job might not be forever, but networking and making those connections in and around the office will give you an edge when it comes to becoming successful.
When you are new to a company, it is essential that your put yourself out there and volunteer for random jobs and projects while you can. When I started, I made it quite clear that I loved going out on site or getting out of the office, which meant that whenever someone in my team needed someone to assist them, I was always there.
You never know when someone is going to tap you on your shoulder and invite you out on a spontaneous site visit or give you a random opportunity that might be right up your alley. There were countless times during my internship that people, even from other teams asked me to come out with them or do something for them that I would have missed out on if I was working from home or hiding in the corner with my headphones on.
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