There aren't too many high school graduates that would consider a double degree in Mechanical Engineering and Marketing as a logical choice.
For Graduate Engineer Courtney Brown, it was a chance to combine his love of efficiency with a strategic mindset and creative problem resolution.
Marketing changed my perspective in many ways. Engineers are trained to jump straight to the structural or mechanical solution. Now I am much more likely to think of the non-engineering opportunities for improvement in any given situation."
Courtney joined our Graduate Program in 2018 and rotated through roles with our Easternwell business in Toowoomba, Queensland and with the APP (Project Management) team in Melbourne, before joining the Maritime team in Defence. Through that most recent experience, Courtney led projects on Garden Island in Sydney Harbour, including the engine overhaul of the HMAS Choules.
"That project involved managing a team of four riggers who pulled out two diesel generators, handed them over to the OEM for overhaul, and then put them back in," Courtney explains. "Ships were not something I thought I'd end up working on when I was at uni, but it's been really interesting learning about maintenance of vessel in our Defence fleet."
Pictured above: the team at Garden Island, Sydney.
A new role for Courtney
Most recently, Courtney joined the Defence Base Services contract as a Project Manager based in Sydney.
Courtney says he is looking forward to his new role as he enjoys problem solving and running projects. He also believes in the importance of collaboration for better outcomes.
"Thought diversity is key when you're looking at complex problems, as you want a wide range of experience and perspectives in order to come up with the best solution," Courtney says.
The end of his time with Maritime also coincides with the end of his time in the graduate SWOT team.
This group of 'Future Leaders' is the second to go through the SWOT program, an initiative of Group CEO Dean Banks that brings together fresh minds to solve a particular business problem. For this group, that involved taking a look at the challenge of client segmentation.
"We looked at where Ventia is today, what other market operators are doing, and what we can learn from them," Courtney says. "Doing this research and using an agile approach to solving the problem we were presented with has been a great experience."
Ultimately, Courtney says he's keen to see where his career might go with Ventia, given the organisation's breadth and scope.
Ventia provides so many different services across so many business sectors. I can see the opportunities are almost endless as to where I could go and that's pretty exciting.