And now Katie Gotlieb and Max Meffan have forged award-winning careers in the city while working on multimillion-dollar international projects for their employer Farra Engineering.
Ms Gotlieb, 25, was recently named joint runner-up in the Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ) young achiever of the year award, while Mr Meffan was highly commended in the SCNZ apprentice of the year.
Farra’s nomination for Ms Gotlieb described her as an ‘‘incredibly capable young woman’’ excelling in the field of engineering in construction.
Her career to date at Farra as a project engineer in the design and innovation team had been an exciting one.
As a graduate engineer, the company would have expected her to have spent the first one to two years learning its industry but she had demonstrated a hunger for knowledge that had accelerated her development.
Most significantly, her boss — Farra’s head of design and innovation — resigned only eight months after she started.
She stepped up and took over not just the engineering of the projects he was working on but project management and client management.
In the past 12 months, she had successfully delivered a $4.5million project for one of Farra’s biggest clients, and incorporated new technology into one of its building maintenance units.
Farra has made a name for itself delivering and exporting access machines and building maintenance units for the top of some of Australasia’s most complex high-rise buildings.
Some of her notable projects include the Sydney Metro Martin Place Integrated Station Precinct and the One Sydney Harbour R3 Tower Building Maintenance Unit.
‘‘Feedback from clients has been that she has built a high level of confidence and trust … which, given their highly demanding standards, is very surprising for someone of Katie’s experience level.
‘‘We look forward to her continued development and see her being a true leader in engineering in a very short space of time,’’ the nomination said.
Ms Gotlieb is an ambassador for Engineering New Zealand’s The Wonder Project in Dunedin.
That desire to share her passion for engineering and help others started while she was studying at the University of Canterbury and she mentored and supported first- and second-year engineering students.
The former Otago Girls’ High School student said she had enjoyed the practical side of things during her schooling, whether that was maths, physics or design.
During her final year at university studying mechanical engineering, students were required to do a project which was sponsored by Farra.
After spending a year working with the company, she was hired.
The past couple of years had seen her gain a large amount of experience in a short amount of time and she felt lucky to have the opportunity to take on so much responsibility.
Meanwhile, Mr Meffan — a recently qualified fabricator — was described as a capable young man whose self-management, initiative and commitment to his trade and to health and safety made him a role model for his peers.
‘‘His positive attitude and dedication is evident in his exceptional work ethic and constant drive for improvement,’’ his nomination said.
He had played an important team role in Farra’s production of eight building maintenance units (BMUs) manufactured in the last year.
He was used to working on challenging projects.
He had been involved in the manufacture of bespoke BMUs in Farra’s workshop all the way through from fabrication to installing at the top of a 170m tower at One Sydney Harbour while the building was under construction.
Mr Meffan, 23, initially came to Farra for an interview after leaving school and was offered a two-week trial.
He was hired after just one week.
He then proactively pursued and completed his unit standards for his apprenticeship in record time.
He enjoyed the variety of work; even on the BMUs — all custom and bespoke machines — and also the opportunity to work overseas.
He was now contemplating the possibility of completing a fitting apprenticeship.
Asked if she had any advice for young people contemplating a career path, Ms Gotlieb said engineering was not as intimidating as it was sometimes made out to be.
For those who struggled at secondary school with the likes of physics or calculus, they could often ‘‘click’’ with those subjects at university.
Getting through engineering was ‘‘less so about your smarts’’ and more about a desire to learn and an ability to problem-solve.
‘‘It’s a great career path for anyone, especially young women,’’ she said.
