Updating Results

Worley

4.2
  • 50,000 - 100,000 employees

Albert Lam

A balanced lifestyle is the key to success. Work hard but also take some time to hang out with friends, play with your pet or go for a run. 

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Blackburn South in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and when I was 6, my dad took me to the Royal Australian Air Force Museum at RAAF Base Point Cook. I fell in love with the planes there so from then onwards, I knew I wanted to 'build stuff' for a living. 

As I entered high school, I picked up music, art and technology subjects and really liked making something that people enjoyed. I was 16 when I discovered what industrial design was and that it was also a double degree with mechanical engineering. I picked my VCE subjects to help me with the course admission and the rest is history!

How did you get to your current job position?

One of my favourite and defining experiences while I was studying at university was the chance to intern at Yarra Trams. The internship allowed me to experiment in all sorts of disciplines related to digital – virtual/augmented reality, data and statistics, user experience (UX) and human-centred design, customer behaviour and change, graphic/mobile design etc. It was a huge learning moment that piqued my curiosity and my desire to do something that helped others and encouraged me to seek out opportunities in the digital space. 

At the end of my penultimate year, I interned at Deloitte Digital in a UX design role. This was another great learning experience in consulting/corporate work. Most importantly, both internships reinforced my desire to design things that were aesthetically pleasing, practical and provided value to people. In my final year, I applied to many places and Advisian Digital seemed like the perfect place for this – I have been here for just over three months now.

How did you choose your specialisation?

My time at Yarra Trams kick-started my pursuit of design as a career as I became really interested in spatial design. I loved how physical spaces could be made in such a way to create an influential and valuable experience in itself – from the design of retail stores to public spaces. The opportunity to spend a few weeks at Deloitte Digital allowed me to further explore career choices in UX, service design and spatial design. Throughout the final year of my course, I began to take on a larger interest in technical engineering-related careers so, in the end, I decided that with my passions, goals and what I had studied, I would enjoy a job that combined the best of both engineering and design. 

What was your interview process like?

My interview was more like a casual conversation than an interview! I was asked general questions regarding my motivations for applying, my knowledge of the company and how I overcame situations/experiences, etc. I was also given hypothetical scenarios that forced me to think on the spot but the relaxed nature of the interview made answering questions quite natural for me. After the interview, I was asked to provide references and then I received the offer shortly after.

What does your employer do? 

Worley is a leading provider of professional projects and asset services in the energy, chemicals and resources sectors. As part of the Worley group, Advisian Digital, which is Worley’s data science, software and digital consulting business, is responsible for driving the digital transformation of the wider company which includes digitising business practices/infrastructure and assisting our customers and users to keep pace with change, using technology to solve industry challenges

What are your areas of responsibility?

My current responsibility is the complete design and development of an online skills platform tailored specifically for the Energy, Chemicals and Resources industry. This involves creating wireframes and prototypes that are then tested with focus groups, as well as working with the developers to produce the actual outcome. I have also been involved in the project management and customer-facing sides where I assist the project director with organising/chairing meetings and responding to support queries from our users. 

Can you describe a typical workday?

My typical workday usually consists of a morning cup of tea followed by meetings with my team/users and developers, creating prototypes, managing my professional career development, and attending various training and social events held in the office. The last thing I worked on was a presentation/demo of new platform capability we are looking to develop to several senior business leaders as well as specific customer user groups.

What are the career prospects with your job?

This is a tricky question to answer because, at Worley and Advisian, there isn’t a set route that one can take and being only a few months into my role, I am also still figuring out my path. However, being a global company with almost 60,000 people around the world, I look forward to opportunities to work at sites or overseas on different projects (either technical or corporate). 

What would your career be if you weren’t doing what you’re doing now? 

If I wasn’t doing what I’m doing now, I would probably be either an engineer in the Royal Australian Air Force, a designer at LEGO or a bassist in a rock band. Maybe in another life!

What do you love the most about your job?

The work is fantastic and it’s what I want to do but the people in the workplace are what makes me look forward to coming into the office every day. In terms of tasks, I enjoy running workshops to gain different perspectives from people which feedback into seeing my designs go from the drawing board through to development, and then being translated into the actual live product. 

What’s the biggest limitation of your job?

Being new to this job means that I have to juggle work priorities with deadlines and since starting, my responsibilities have grown but my manager is awesome and very understanding if the workload becomes too much. The biggest limitation so far is my lack of experience in the workplace environment, for example meeting new people and working with them. Relationships and dynamics are things that aren’t taught at school but I am not too stressed about it because it’s just something that I have to look out for and learn from. 

Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student?

  1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Studying is hard and you will need all the help you can get – friends, classmates, lecturers and tutors are a huge source of knowledge so use them! 
  2. University is the best time to explore and pursue different interests. Joining a club or picking up a sport can be a great way to socialise and build your network for both studying and when you move into a career.
  3. A balanced lifestyle is the key to success. Work hard but also take some time to hang out with friends, play with your pet or go for a run.