INGENIEUR
INGENIEUR
Ameera with her family
Working at the MNLG plant in Bintulu
Class Medal award during her fourth year academic strengths in Physics and Mathematics and selected the University of Edinburgh .
Being smart , Ameera thought university education would be a breeze but it was not as she envisaged . “ As smart as you are , you must manage your studies . I had to learn time management and sticking to a planned schedule . At A-levels , there was not much effort needed ; at university , you have push yourself ,” she explains . She struggled in the early years at university and failed some assignments . The third year was extra difficult because of the Covid-19 pandemic . Learning went online and there was little contact with fellow students . But she overcame the challenges with hard work and discipline . She was rewarded with a Class Medal for scoring the highest marks in her class . On top of this , her thesis on “ Feasibility of reusing electric car batteries with an off-grid solar PV via simulations ” was given an ‘ A ’ grade . She used MATLAB , a high performance language for technical computing which integrates computation , visualisation and programming in modelling , simulation and prototyping .
Like most overseas students , Ameera had her share of adapting to a foreign land . “ In the beginning , it was a drastic change — no parents and no family support . The weather was so cold . I had difficulty understanding my lecturers with their Scottish accent ,” she relates . Over time , she acclimatised and engaged herself in varsity life . Connecting with fellow Malaysian students made a lot of difference to her . She made many friends when she became Vice President of the Edinburgh Malaysian Student Association ( a society of 250 plus Malaysians on campus ) in her second year . To earn more money , she worked part-time in the University Library in her final year , and got to know more students and staff .
The high achiever was brave to start her career in a remote LNG plant in Sarawak . Ameera ’ s first job was as an electrical engineer at Malaysia LNG ( MLNG ) Sdn Bhd for two of its plants , MNLG Satu and MLNG Dua , Bintulu , focusing on maintaining electrical equipment . “ As my first job , I was scared working on an installation yard and being a minority ( male dominated ),“ she reveals . There were no female toilets where she worked but she took it all in stride . Ameera was there for five months and left after getting three job offers .
She chose to join Orsted in June 2023 as the company offered a two-year graduate employment programme . This took her to more challenges — job training in Denmark and adjusting to a new work culture .
Ameera ’ s scope of work covers low voltage and utility for offshore sub-station from concept , detail installation and commissioning . Besides the technical aspects , she has learnt a lot about networking and working with people from different parts of the world . She sees the obvious differences between Westerners and Asians . “ The Danish are very direct in what they say but there are no hard feelings . They like to talk and it is normal to book someone for a coffee chat to catchup , network or just talk about work ,” she notes . Her colleagues also come from other countries such as India and Iran .
Ameera acknowledges that she can apply about 50 per cent of what she learnt in her engineering course in her current work environment . In the longer term , she plans to sharpen her knowledge with a Masters in Electrical Power Engineering . She is also contemplating an MBA if she wants to progress to managerial positions in the corporate world . Her advice to aspiring engineers is to be courageous – “ be scared but take calculated risks and bear the consequences ”. - Inforeach
8 VOL 99 JULY - SEPTEMBER 2024