Nick Jatan, Senior Systems Engineer
Who do you work for?
I work for Hydro Tasmania Consulting, which provides engineering and environmental services in the areas of renewable energy, power engineering and environmental and catchment management both across Australia and across the world. This includes the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of a wide variety of major energy and water projects.
What does your job involve?
My job involves three main responsibilities:
- Developing innovative solutions to problems that are being encountered in the power systems that are used in a hydroelectric power station, and in collecting important data.
- Providing technical leadership to a team of software developers.
- Providing strategic advice to senior management.
Why did you choose to be a systems engineer?
I enjoyed subjects at school that involved problem-solving, such as Physics and Maths. I also was a big fan of movies and books set into the future and intrigued about how inventions would work. This led to my interest in electronics and computers. I like messing around with computers, which is why I chose to major in Computer Systems Engineering at university.
What has been one of your recent achievements?
Designing and developing a large-scale data acquisition tool we called Ajenti. This collects data that is sent remotely by a large number of specially designed data-loggers.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
It provides exciting opportunities to work with new technologies and to be involved in the areas of water and energy. It gives great satisfaction to see something you have designed being built and then going into operation. And there is always something new and interesting to learn. Also, because our expertise in renewable energy systems is in demand everywhere, I have had many opportunities for travel. This has included going to conferences in Europe and to Sri Lanka after the tsunami.
What is the biggest problem you have to deal with over your career?
My biggest problem is sometimes having to say ‘No’ to new and exciting projects because I have too much on at the time.
What are some of the benefits that systems engineers have in their jobs?
Besides job satisfaction, there are other benefits such as mobile phones, laptops and attractive pay packages. The typical salary range of senior systems engineers, like other senior engineers, is $80 000 to $110 000 per year.
What training did you have for this job?
In my senior years at secondary school, I studied English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and Music. I then completed a double degree in Science and Engineering at the University of Tasmania, majoring in Mathematics and Computer Systems Engineering. The advantage of doing a double degree it that it only took 5 years to complete, whereas it would have taken 7 years to complete the degrees separately. I chose this double degree as I thought it would give me exposure to a wide range of fields, and hence keep my options open.
What is your advice to students?
Career choice to me is about ensuring you have all the bases covered – doing subjects you enjoy as well as the important staple ones. I don’t know anyone who really had an idea about what they wanted to do after school until they got there and worked out their own strengths and weaknesses.
There are a lot of opportunities for young talented engineers and scientist to get involved in our global community, now and in the future. Future challenges for scientists and engineers will involve managing the Earth’s finite resources - conservation and recycling. Climate change will be an important area for everyone.