Douglas Muthamia MIEAust is an electrical engineer with a Masters Degree in electrical and renewable energy from James Cook University.
After moving to Australia from Kenya and completing his masters Douglas struggled to get full time employment in Australia.
Through Engineers Australia Douglas found the Global Engineering Talent (GET) Program. After completing the initial six-week online course with Australian engineering standards-specific training, Douglas began work as a Project Engineer at RoadTek in Townsville.
Engineers Australia interviewed Douglas about his experience, he was pleased to be placed in a job matching his engineering skills. You can watch more of his interview below.
“I'll say I never expected I would be given a title of project engineer. RoadTek are currently working on a lot of technology for road safety, and this really matches the skills I know.”
“Queensland roads have many structures that are meant to protect road users and workers such as Visual Messaging Systems. The most exciting thing is to see the team strategising in the office, be a part of that group and go with them to see the changes being installed after I have worked on them. To me that is the very best kind of experience I can have.”
Douglas has completed his placement with RoadTek and now feels more confident to kick off his career in Australia.
“When I started I was curious about how I would gain practical experience, how I would expand my professional network and how I would get to learn more about Australian engineering standards and adapt to the culture. I think I have achieved that,” he said.
“I was given a chance to communicate directly with suppliers for the information I needed, I didn't have to go through someone I had the resources to do that myself.”
He is now looking forward to his career in Australia and hopes to work on projects in solar energy, which was what inspired him to get into engineering in the first place.
“I come from a village and that is what inspired me to work in engineering. Our village was often without lights and power, in the dark, and so I wanted to come to Australia to work in renewable energy.”
“This and watching my dad fix many things in my home was what inspired me to get into engineering.”