In Tasmania, Engineers Australia is continuing to focus on the workforce development of the engineering profession. This week we hosted a round table to discuss the role international engineers play in addressing the skill shortage.

Mehnoosh Hosseini is a student member of Engineers Australia in Tasmania from Iran and is a member of the recently formed diversity and inclusion group. It is a great pleasure to be able to introduce Mehnoosh and for her to tell her story.

Introduction

I completed a bachelor of chemical engineering in Iran around five years ago. After graduating I looked for a job as an engineer for around four years and at last I decided to move to Australia to continue my study. I chose Tasmania because I have my sister in law’s family here and I can live with them. I faced lots of challenges when arrived in Australia particularly in semester one.

Language barrier

One of the main challenges that I have faced with my move to Australia has been the language barrier. Prior to my Tasmania move, I studied English for six months to take an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. I completed the English language course around one year before I came to Tasmania. However when I first arrived and began studying a Masters in Civil Engineering, I did not understand my audience very well and sometimes I misunderstood what they were saying. The main difficulty that I faced with the language barrier was in the academic words that were used in lectures. This meant that the first semester of study was very challenging for me and most of the time I was struggling to understand the topics that were being presented as I was not familiar with many of the technical words that were being used in the lectures. Because of this it took me a long time to grasp the concepts and to gain an understanding of the topics from my study notes as I had to both understand the technical aspects but also the new words from a foreign language. This meant that what would take a local student less than a week to revise was taking more like a month for me in spite of working very long days!

Changing subject from chemical engineering

I had several options to choose as subjects at the Univeristy of Tasmania which some lecturers or friends suggested to me because that subjects were closer to the field of chemical engineering such as pharmacy or fluid mechanics research. These choices made me confused and panic because the semester had been started and I did not have enough time to make decision very well. Finally by consulting with one of my lecturers and my family I decided to study master of professional engineering. First semester was very hard for me and sometimes I gave up. However, I kept studying hard and tried to do my best and spend all my time at uni for study. Fortunately I got a good results and I gained self-confidence for the next semesters. In semester two, I won a scholarship from GHD and doing vocation work was part of my scholarship. After I started working at GHD and became familiar to the engineering environment and its works, I really got happy and understood that I made the best decision in choosing my subject.

Finally, I can say that through all of the challenges that I have encountered, it has made me grow as a person. It has given me the confidence to persevere when things become hard, and to believe in myself. I am very grateful for all the help and encouragement that I have encountered along the way. While it has been difficult being away from home and initially I was very homesick, I am now much happier in myself and very happy with my decision to move to Tasmania. I feel proud of my academic achievements and for being able to work in a large engineering consulting firm like GHD, which has given me the confidence to trust in my own abilities. I am also involved in the Engineers Australian Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee and I have found it a rewarding experience to be a part of this and to have the opportunity to network with others in my field of study and to have the peer support of other female engineers.

Article and image source: courtesy of Mehnoosh Hosseini.