EASYUNI Ultimate University Guide 2013 July Issue | Page 47

Interview Graduate

Engineering

Soraya Sri Cahaya, 26
Subang Jaya
Studied Mechanical Engineering
at UNITEN

Tell us about your job scope and key responsibilities in
your company.

How different is the real working world compared to
your expectation during your undergraduate years?

In a nutshell: coordinate construction-related activities during the
fabrication/execution phases, ensuring constructability plans are
followed, and executed in accordance with project objectives.
My responsibilities include reviewing and providing input to
development of contractor’s detailed plans and procedures,
review deliverables for quality, conformance to contract
requirements, and consistency with other work product. Also,
monitoring contractor construction activities and performance,
highlight issues to the project management team, determine and
implement actions needed to meet project objectives. Of course,
being in the oil and gas industry, promoting safety awareness and
safe performance among team members, including consultants
and contractor personnel, is just as important.

Fortunately, I was exposed to a lot of site work when I was
doing my industrial training (internships), so there isn’t much
of a variance between my expectations during my undergrad
years and the real working world. The only difference was that
I thought I’d be doing more technical hands-on work. However,
the nature of the role that I am in does not require me to be fully
developed in technical skills but basic competency that enables
me to perform my duties ef?ciently.

Tell us about your typical working day.
My day starts off with a morning toolbox meeting with the
contractors where we discuss a brief review of their work plans
for the day and also safety sharings. Of course, it also involves
typical activities like report writing and responding to emails, etc,
discussions with the contractor on outstanding issues, but I also
try to spend as much time as possible on site – there’s always
something new to learn and it’s a good way to maintain a good
relationship with the contractors.

How well did your undergraduate course prepare you
for your real working life?
To be frank, I only apply 10-20% of what I learnt as my current
work is not directly related to what I studied. What helped me
though, was that we are taught how to think critically and
also how to cope with high workloads (remember all those
assignments, project papers and quizzes you had to prepare?).

What are the most rewarding and challenging parts of
your work?
Working in a schedule-driven project, the many challenges I
face are such as late material delivery which leads to a delay
in both onshore and offshore schedule, having to deal with
unproductivity during monsoon seasons, boosting contractor
morale, ensure all personnel comply with safety requirements,
working on a tight budget and a whole lot more. Given all these
challenges, it is most rewarding when we successfully achieve a
project milestone without any safety incidents.

What is your advice to engineering graduates who are
joining the workforce soon?
Try to apply for internships as much as possible. Even though
you probably won’t do much, but by being in the working
environment you get a feel of how working life is and know
what to expect so it wouldn’t be too dif?cult to adapt when you
start working right after graduation. Also, participate in as many
university programmes (academic or non-academic) as they train
you to be more coordinated with your work. Any experience is
valuable even if it’s not what you were expecting.

EASYUNI Guide 2013

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