At Vertech Group we are proud to offer graduates a chance to excel in their chosen career path. From engineering to technical scopes of work. We asked a few of our current graduates how their time at Vertech Group has been so far, take a read below of their answers….
What motivated you to pursue a graduate role in this field?
• To learn best practices when it comes to software development and gain more experience developing in a commercial role.
• I like the engineering mindset; I like how versatile and practical engineering can be and that it’s something that I can use from professional environments to general day to day activities.
• Then delving deeper into that I chose to pursue a grad role at Geo oceans because of the ROV’s and innovation I saw in the company. I looked forward to the aspect of being able to work in an innovative and technical company that is working on and improving ROV’s, its creating ROV’s that take people away from danger and is genuinely improving the way we work. There is so much room for growth and being early in my career it provides great opportunities.
• Gain practical experience and develop employable, industry specific skills in my field. Looking to forge a career in industry, rather than academia/research.
• I was interested in mechanical engineering from school so pursued it as a degree at UWA and the job description for this role at Vertech was very similar to interesting things I had learnt so it seemed like a great idea.
What skills have you developed during your time in your graduate role?
- I would say that these skills are still being developed, however, I have been working on the following:
- Social Skills (Speaking up for tasks, generally being part of the team)
- Development Skills (MVVM, DevOps, Best Coding Practices)
- Management skills, I shied away from the prospects of management for reasons I am honestly not really sure why. However, having led and managed the graduate program I have had a massive amount of development in this area and is something that I am coming to quite enjoy and am good at.
- Learning how to say no and I don’t know, It is so underrated how important it is to voice when you cannot do something or that you don’t know something. This is an area that I never understood how vital this would be and has been a real development point for me
- Cad modelling – specifically with inventor, prior to working at geo oceans I had done hobby modelling, now I have much more experience and skill in professional engineering drawings with manufacturing details.
- On a role specific level my data processing and interpretation skills have improved beyond what I was thought to be possible when I started, while my professional interpersonal skills have also greatly improved.
How have you found working at Vertech?
- Culture is quite good, definitely one of the better places I have worked at. Highlights for me personally are:
- Freedom of Work. (Able to just work on my software projects and am trusted to get things done)
- Flexibility of Hours. (Freedom to pick what times I start and end work, within reason, has been a godsend)
- Quality of People. (Everyone has been so kind and willing to help out.)
- Company culture in generally really good with supportive, open staff willing to listen and give advice. Being quite early in my career this is an area that is influential and helps massively with personal and professional development.
- The culture and environment of my team (BOMS) is absolutely amazing, and a large reason why I enjoy my job so much. As for the wider Vertech Group, the same can be said, I feel as if all companies within the group get along very well, creating a good work environment.
- The culture/work environment is very good. Everyone is super nice and happy to help when you ask. Everybody feels very close and friendly and social events are great.
How have you overcome challenges you’ve faced in a graduate role?
- Lots of reading and research as a means of self-teaching the skills I required to complete the software development tasks I have been given.
- Approaching Vertech management about reforming the graduate program as well as gaining a mentor that provides great advice and insight.
- Broadening my role to include skills that I was previously a complete novice at. Spending time offshore/away. With support of my company and team, these challenges have been overcome, and now form a large portion of my role within the business.
- The start of the role I had a lot of questions about the processes involved with reporting and inspections so that was probably the biggest hurdle, but I had the support of the other grads to help me with those. By asking heaps of questions to the grad team and taking lots of notes.
Have you had the opportunity to work on any interesting projects?
- Yes, my two main projects are wildly different from each other and have been quite interesting. They have forced me to learn quite a bit, which is often the best part.
- Yes, I have had the opportunity to work on and develop ROV tooling which is interesting.
- For sure, there have been a handful of projects that have really interested me, while the majority are at least enjoyable to be apart of.
