Sydney Division

Sydney Division of Engineers Australia has approximately 19,000 members state-wide. The Division conducts numerous annual events that allow engineering professionals an opportunity to publicly demonstrate and celebrate their skills and achievements, whilst also encouraging young students to consider the profession...Read more

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Presidents Column

Some Thoughts for the Year Ahead February 2010 Newsletter

As this is my first column for the New Year, I extend best wishes for the year ahead to all. There would seem to be a lot more optimism around among businesses now than there was at the same time last year We are working towards improving the operations of Sydney Division Committee and establishing better communication links with our members. If you are reading this and have not already provided your email address in the membership records, please consider doing so in order to ensure that you can receive email updates though national eNews and the Sydney What's On email newsletter.

My theme for this year is "Steady Ahead" by which I intend to continue on with the efforts commenced by recent Presidents and build on their good work, as well as working within the National imperatives, both present and past. As this year has the theme of "Engineering Leadership", this provides ample scope for a wide range of activities, and I would encourage you to become involved in as many as possible. The "Make It So" campaign is another initiative that we can all be involved with, having promise to further lift our profile within the community. Like my predecessors in this role it will be my aim to visit as many country regional groups as possible, and the good work commenced during the Year of the Engineering Team in 2008 needs to continue. Our Institution contains Engineering Associates and Engineering Technologists as well as Professional Engineers, but it seems to me that for too long the primary focus in Sydney Division has been on Professional Engineers, which I would like to move back to more of a balance with our whole membership. I am very pleased to welcome Sam Gobraiel, an Engineering Technologist to the Sydney Division Committee, which is certainly a first in my memory of the Committee. I certainly hope that in the future, the Division Committee will have more involvement from both Associates and Technologists, so that we become even more representative of the organisation as a whole. From the foregoing remarks you can see why my theme is as it is.

One of the most pleasant experiences I have already had immediately upon taking up the Presidency was to attend the Careers Night at the Honeywell Engineering Summer School, followed by the student's Farewell Dinner. It was exciting to listen to these young students expressing their interest in engineering as a career and the many probing questions they plied my fellow colleagues and me with. Attracting and encouraging young students to take up the profession is one of the most worthwhile things we can ever do, if we want to secure a future for the engineering profession.