Taste test puts career on track
2 November, 2021 2 min read
Braydon Starr (17) had a career-defining experience while doing student work placement with ADG Engineers. The Highfields State Secondary College already knew he wanted to be an engineer but was unsure which direction to head in, as there are so many options in the field.
“This is a very broad industry and, to help explore my interests, I decided to enroll in work experience,” he says.
Braydon was exposed to on-site buildings that were halfway through construction and says, “this allowed me to see the real-world application of math I was using to engineer a solution”.
“I also got to modify a house I previously designed in graphics to engineer the structural materials where the building was founded on.”
CSQ’s Gateways program provides a suite of tailored information and experiences for young people looking to gain a better understanding of desired job types.
Braydon describes his favorite part of the program as: “working with the friendly engineers at ADG and getting to pick civil engineering, as this helped me narrow down what I want to do in the future.”
“The experience was everything I could have asked for,” tells Braydon, “It was crucial in helping me find out what path I would take.”
ADG Engineers (Toowoomba) team leader, Andrew, says that he wouldn’t have made it to where he was today without being mentored and supported by several people in life and is now happy to pay it forward to other new entrants.
“I find these opportunities a great chance to pass that on to others and hopefully help them in deciding what their future looks like.”
“It is very difficult for students in Year 10 to be told to pick subjects for future careers without any real-life experience.”
“Encouraging young people to undertake placement in the industry could go a long way in helping them to decide what they want to do (or not to do) in life,” Andrew says.
Gateways has been an extremely successful program created by CSQ with many positive stories like this one!