Where are they now?

What are your memories of MSCW?

I regard Marist-Sion College highly and have great memories competing in different sports for the school. I also remember being fairly frustrated from Year 11 onwards and ready to move on to other things as I got bored with school. I’ve always required a challenge and was ready to move on to something else.

How do you think your experiences at MSCW helped you become the person you are today?

Marist-Sion always encouraged me to stretch my targets, whether that was in an academic, personal or sporting field. That desire to reach is still pretty core to who I am.

Was there anyone at MSCW who had a positive impact and on reflection, influenced you to follow the pathway you have chosen?

Stuart Fankhauser’s (VCE physics) passion for physics left a mark that definitely influenced both the way I think and my choice to study engineering. I remember him telling us about how he ended up a teacher of physics instead of an academic, and I still think about that sometimes when deciding on whether to take a path that isn’t in line with my original intention.

What did you do after leaving MSCW and where are you or what is your role now?

I studied Civil Engineering at RMIT, and then bounced around a bunch of different roles as a project engineer on road, landfill, bridge and power infrastructure jobs. It’s a crazy industry with lots of different opportunities. I’ve worked all across Victoria, and taken every opportunity in front of me to diversify my skill set and experience new challenges.

Greatest accomplishments and/or defining moments?

I’ve started my own consultancy (Barker Project Management) in the last 6 months, with the intent to provide better project outcomes for communities across Gippsland and opportunities for young professionals in Gippsland. Within a couple of days of announcing it, I had so much work being offered to me that I had to start knocking it back. It was really humbling to have all of those people I’d worked with over the previous 10 years reaching out and reaffirming my decision to give it a crack.

What advice would you like to give any of our current MSCW students, especially those considering an engineering pathway?

I’d say that there are two distinct streams of engineering and you don’t really hear about both. The first is design engineering, which is your stereotypical engineer in front of a computer doing calculations on how to make things work theoretically. This is suited to logical and creative people who love a process, and enjoy repetition with the goal of perfection, and takes some social skills but is predominantly an independent, self-motivated role.

The second is project engineering, which is working as a “project manager”. Project engineers are out on site everyday and their job is to make sure the people on the tools have everything in place to build the job. Unlike design engineering, it’s a very social role and your job is challenging in different ways every day. It is less about math and logic, and more about contracts, money and relationships.

And if you get bored you can swap between the two if you like, and there is a big difference between each of those roles while working for government or working for the private sector. Also, every industry loves engineers so sideways transitions are very achievable (think banking, safety, corporate management).

Anything else you would like to include (eg. future pathways plans)?

My goal for the next 5 years is to create a strong group of young engineers based in Gippsland, and maybe even expand to other regional areas. If any current year 12s intend to study engineering and stay in Gippsland, please encourage them to reach out about potential opportunities for work experience/part time work, or even for general advice – I’d be happy to help them.

Callan has kindly included a copy of his company profile Barker Project Management and work related projects including: Hazelwood Power Station Switchyard 2021; South Gippsland Highway Realignment Bridge 2021; a model of a skyscraper I designed/built at university; and a grader working on the Bairnsdale Landfill which was my first job out of uni.

Nicholas Allen – Student Panel Guest Speaker at the Deakin Careers Practitioner Day on 7 April.

I was super fortunate to recently attend Deakin’s CP event and listen to past student Nick Allen speak about his student experience with Deakin as he completes his double degree in Law/Criminology. True to form, he was articulate, informative and good-humoured. I was also very humbled to be publicly acknowledged for the work I do as Careers Coordinator at MSCW. There is a recording of the Student Panel session for those who want to watch Nick and other Deakin student ambassadors in action. They come from a variety of backgrounds with great aspirations, mixed career certainty and varying levels of career development. Click here for the recording of the student panel.