Wednesday, December 7, 2016

AECOM Sydney Welcomes Little Feet

First day of work was one day after I landed, 14 November 2016. I managed to walk to the office without getting lost, thanks to the building manager who showed me around the day earlier.

AECOM Sydney office is located in George Street, back to back with Pitt Street Mall. George Street is one of the streets in Sydney CBD, stretching from The Rocks all the way to the south at Central Station. It is 5-minute walking distance from my apartment. Awesome.

This company occupies 9 levels in the building. The office spaces are modern-looking with spacious arrangement. The interiors are creating the feeling of comfort, well, at least for me. There are staircases that interconnect the levels. The meeting rooms and gathering spaces are huge.

AECOM Sydney Main Reception Area

Main lobby
View from the main lobby


One of the interconnecting staircases
Another staircase connecting four levels
One of the cool discussion spaces

"The Hub", the gathering space to eat, to discuss, to do anything with others

Pantry with Nespresso Coffee Machine - my first lesson here in Sydney office

I did a quick google search and this office is actually features in Design Addict and Architecture AU. You can read more about the concept, the objective, the use of materials, and some other things here. I am not an architect but I love this place.

I went through an induction process, just like any other new hires. Safety. IT. Administration. And then I was brought to my team down at Level 5.

I am assigned under Civil & Infrastructure Group, specifically under Ground Engineering team. There are approximately 50 people in the team. I was introduced to the team. I found it difficult to recognize the faces at first. Most of them are caucasian (Ang-Moh in Singaporean terms) and for me who is so used to seeing Asian faces, they all look the same! Luckily, I adjust myself.

My computer with a docking station
Two big screen and a big table where I can spread 3 rows of A3 size paper in landscape
The workstations

The first week was the adjustment time for me.

The team leader spoke to me, we chatted about my past experience back in Singapore and what I wanted to achieve during my 12-month assignment here. I told him I would be open to anything because everything would be new for me. I am coming from different part of the world anyway, so things are different.

I tried to read some papers related to Sydney geological profile, flipped some Australian design standards and revisited some of the technical papers that I thought would be useful.

I did not get any access to my e-mail on my first week, that's the hiccup. Other than that, all were great. I used the quiet week to observe more on the working environment, on the interaction amongst people, on the general behaviours. I used my time after to explore the surroundings. I walked around the blocks to find grocery stores, food places, etc. I tried to settle down.

It was 4 weeks ago, now I can say I have more or less settled on living here. I have my own routine, I resume my yoga practice regime, I know more people in the office and more people know me, I am involved in a few projects that keep me busy continuously.

I have 52 weeks and now I only have a little more than 48 weeks remaining.

I will live it to the fullest.

The theme for these 12 months will be YOLO!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

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