News
| 18 July 2022

Meet Omar El Sernagawy, Young Engineers Australia Victorian Branch member

Omar is a senior consultant in KPMG, working in the engineering, assets and project delivery team. We spoke to Omar about his inspiration and career highlights, and how joining the committee has helped him along the way.

What was your inspiration for choosing a career in engineering?  

I was always interested in the STEM subjects in school and curious about the ‘how’ of everything. I also asked family members and friends of my parents about some of the interesting careers within their organisations, and some of the roles that excited me the most were engineering ones. I originally applied for science programs in university, but having these conversations motivated me to go back and change all my applications to engineering programs. 

What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?  

My highlights have all been around seeing the implementation of projects I started go live. One of my more memorable projects was designing an interactive training workshop to train everyone during the implementation phase of my program. It was a simple paper airplane activity, which ended up being picked up and replicated across our global network for training on similar programs. I’ve always enjoyed designing and running workshops and this one was by far my favourite (and often challenging) because of the people element that comes along with what we do as engineers.  

Why was it important for you to join the Young Engineers Australia Committee?  

When I was graduating from university, I found the transition from student to the workplace really confusing and so open-ended. I appreciated all the help and advice I received from mentors and professionals while I navigated that transition, some of which came about during continuing professional development or attending networking events organised by the committee. So, when I came across the opportunity to join the committee and be able to do the same by helping young engineers navigate these early career challenges, I went for it... and I have enjoyed it ever since. Being a part of the committee has also helped me continue to learn and grow along the way, so it was a no brainer and a win-win. 

What advice would you give other young engineers?  

Take every opportunity to explore and figure out what it is you want to do. The answer isn’t always clear and sometimes it’ll take a few iterations to get there. Don’t let the rush keep you from trying different things.