lecturer

research fellow

research associate

operations officer

project officer

The University of Western Australia

The formula SAE project is an international organisation which gives student engineers invaluable lessons in engineering, team management and work dynamics.

Our team was no different. We had a steep learning curve and many challenges which we were all proud to overcome through mostly late nights and great supervision by university lecturers.
The project initially involved a lot of design constraint analysis and learning the design regulations to identify what exactly needed to be done and how. Then design groups were formed, to be analyses by myself and a few others to ensure they were structurally sound and complied to all regulations. Thereafter we identified which components required their manufacture to be outsourced and which we were able to create ourselves in the university workshop. This required technical engineering drawing with relevant tolerances and material selection.

The final part of the project, other than the assembly of the vehicle, was to provide documentation for all costs and hours spent on the vehicle as well as safety compliance analysis paper work. I was responsible for the latter.

When I was involved in research, I spent a lot of time in the field establishing, maintaining and monitoring crop trials and recording observations. Other times, I was involved in lab work or in the office, on the computer entering data and writing reports.
I learnt to set up field trials. This included site preparation, ongoing maintenance of the trial plots, spraying programs, applications of fertilizers and harvesting.
Later when I was employed as a Project Officer, I was involved in administration which included budgeting. I learnt the different software programs used by UWA in their administrative procedures.
Generally, I found my co-workers to be helpful, pleasant and knowledgeable.
Sometimes working in research in the field can be physically hard and the work has to be done whatever the weather. However, I enjoyed the opportunities of being outside.

When I do work during summer school of winter school, I start early and attend a briefing with the coordinator to find oput the program of the day. Further I the assemble students that I'm in charge of to ensure everyone is well and present. Then we from there we join everyone as the coordinator explains what is going to happen throughout the day. When start with the day's program. 

The hardest part of the job is ensuring everyone's safety and maximum gain of the day's program. The most enjoyable part is getting to meet different students who have different and fascinating careers aspirations. My co-workers are fellow students at the University and the most fun bit about it is there are those who have been in the program longer others so assistance is always available when needed.

I worked as a lecturer at this university for some time. They university has a deep rooted culture of bullying. Many of the lecturers have joined the Union to defend them against the bullying heads and supervisors. The pay is very low and we were struggling to make ends meet. The people who work there are from third world countries who are just happy to be allowed to live in Australia, otherwise there are no Australians working there full-time, unless if they are over 70 or have some medical handicaps that make them suitable to have an office job.

So many of their heads and managers have been sacked (under the radar) due to abuse of power, bullying, corruption, lying etc.

I am my own manager. I create content according to my Lecturer objectives, but form then on, my job is to create content that will appeal to our postgraduate students. 
What I enjoy the most is mixing my previous business experience with state of the art business intelligence tools. 
The most difficult part of the job is keeping up to date with new releases on all the software tools I teach. 
The most rewarding part of the job is watching how students grow through the semester. I specifically focus on developing their critical and analytical skills.

The lower-level faculty are highly motivated but mostly collegial.  There is a pretty good work-life balance; particularly for academic positions which are generally considered high-stress.  The down-stream ramifications of the self-interested politics occurring at the upper levels of faculty management (e.g., Head of School, Deans, Vice Chancellor, etc.) on the ability for lower-level faculty to get things done in their daily work could be a bit dispiriting at times; sometimes to the extent of feeling like an episode of Downton Abbey.

Working at the University Club has been quite an experience. Each day I have spent there has been a learning experience. I learnt how to be leader that is when I worked as Stewarding supervisor. Most importantly I was given an opportunity to polish up my culinary skills obtained from college when I changed my job status to that of kitchen assistant.
Management has been good and very understanding an attribute which has been transferred to my co-workers.

Normally, volunteered in the laboratory in the morning and attend my Masters classes in the afternoon. I spent a few hours in the laboratory helping in PCR based experiments. Their laboratory are well managed, clean and tidy. My colleagues are multicultural such as from Canada and France. It was a valuable experiences that I had as at the same time I did not wasted my morning but to contribute some work to build up more practical skills.

If you are lucky enouhg to havea good team, the job is great. I finish work on time every day, and go home and don't think about work. The main problem is management and the executive wanting to constantly cut money, leading to a negative impact on the students. Academics are overworked and not paid for so many hours that they work overtime

Serious engineering research, surrounded by busy academics with a laser sharp focus on delivering results, especially for practical applications in industry. Long days and sometimes nights but rewarding sense of achievement at the end.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Lecturer 136 salaries reported	$129,386 per year
Research fellow 27 salaries reported	$123,640 per year
Research associate 11 salaries reported	$100,240 per year
Operations officer 8 salaries reported	$87,158 per year
Project officer 6 salaries reported	$98,237 per year

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