James Westcott FIEAust CPEng NER graduated from the University of Western Australia 28-years ago in Mechanical Engineering. His professional experience has been mostly in the oil and gas industry, spanning across the globe including Australia, the UK, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, in the areas of project management, business development, subsea operations, mechanical design, and offshore construction.
James’ experience also involves a 5-year stint in the USA working in the aerospace industry and 4 years in the UK, working on clean fuel technologies and electric vehicles. Completing an MBA at INSEAD in France, he is now working in engineering and business management related activities. Prior to serving on the WA Division Committee, James was Chair of the Oil & Gas Group.
James’ goals as President are to further position Engineers Australia as the voice of the profession, both at state and national level, and help improve the standing and sustainability of WA’s engineering profession, in the face of many challenges.
Current job title and function?
I am a Director and the Engineering Manager with Atkins, a global energy consultancy.
Why did you pursue a career in engineering?
As a kid I always enjoyed learning how things work, so engineering was a natural fit. Engineering is a degree that travels well, and has enabled me to work in many countries and to see the world. This was always a strong desire, having grown up in Perth.
Most challenging or interesting project you’ve ever worked on?
The most interesting project I worked on was building an advanced electric vehicle in the UK based on the BMW Mini – it’s great to see that battery technologies and drive trains have advanced so rapidly and that hybrid/electrical vehicles are now in the mainstream and taken very seriously. I look forward to having a Tesla electric vehicle in the driveway, fully powered by a domestic solar and battery storage system.
What do you see as one of the biggest issues facing the engineering profession?
I see significant challenges to the engineering community, coming from a variety of areas - advanced cognitive computing; outsourcing work from Australia; underemployment as a result of short-term, part time contracts; and all this leading to a lack of full-time salaried career opportunities for engineers.
Modern engineering requires increasingly complex levels of thinking and collaboration. It’s important the profession is properly recognised and respected, upheld with appropriate professional standards, and not reduced to a commodity.
How do you achieve work life balance?
A work-life balance is always a challenge – I have a wife and three small children who demand a lot of my time. I strive to be disciplined and serve my family, profession and community as best I can whilst recognising you can’t expect to do all three perfectly. From my experience it’s been important to work hard, but periodically get away from work completely and take proper holidays to recharge and refresh myself for the next challenge.
What would you ideally like to be involved in, in the future?
I am looking to combine engineering with more philanthropic and altruistic pursuits, which adds more meaning to what I can contribute to society. I think happiness comes from passionately being of service to something higher than oneself, whatever that might be.
Main image: iStock
Body image: James Westcott