Terry Nguyen is the NSW Partnerships Manager for the Power of Engineering. We asked him why he volunteers his time, and what he’s gained from his role.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I work as a track/permanent way engineer in Sydney. I love to travel and have a big obsession with cooking and food science. During the COVID-19 self-isolation period I’ve taken up a new hobby every week. This week I’ve been trying to perfect sourdough loaf baking. 

Tell us about your role at the Power of Engineering

I’ve volunteered as the NSW Partnerships Manager for the Power of Engineering for just over a year now. My responsibilities include being the first local point of contact with our engineering industry partners who have offices and projects in NSW. Our relationship with our partners is fundamental to what we do, as the Power of Engineering is a registered charity organisation and we rely on the support of our partners through financial contributions to keep events free for all students. Our partners also help with in-kind contributions such as providing staff as event volunteers and running site tours for schools.

I keep our partners up to date on our upcoming events and contact them to see if they would like to get involved in our events as volunteers, guest speakers, workshop hosts or site tour providers. I also manage our ongoing relationships with our partners, renew agreements, and actively seek out new partners who may want to know more about us or get on board with our events.

WHY did you volunteer with Power of Engineering?

I heard about Power of Engineering from one of my colleagues who sat across from me at work as she was involved in many Power of Engineering events. We would chat about all the awesome things she was getting up to, and the amazing impact of the workshops Power of Engineering ran to reach out to high school students about engineering. It sounded like a great extracurricular initiative, and had parallels to my day-to-day profession as an engineer, so I asked where I could sign up and the rest is history.

Power of Engineering’s goal is so important to the growth of the industry I work in, and I wanted to be a part of making a difference in dispelling the stigma of diversity and gender equality in engineering. I also wanted to help increase the uptake of students (not just female students) who are interested in what we do, how it impacts them, and how they could further pursue STEM learning to go on and make their own difference. I believed in the Power of Engineering’s mission statement, and I’ve always felt like I could be doing more in my profession. Getting on board was also an opportunity to further my own skill set and develop skills as a more well-rounded engineer.

What have you achieved and learnt as part of the team?

I’ve learnt to manage my time more efficiently between my office work and volunteering responsibilities, become better at managing relationships with partners and have made a bunch of connections throughout the engineering industry through my time spent volunteering.

WHY would you recommend a state partnership manager role to others?

I would recommend this role to anyone who enjoys communicating with people and wants to grow their skill set in managing stakeholders and relationships. It is a rewarding experience to be a part of the Power of Engineering’s ongoing mission, and you will make invaluable connections both within the Power of Engineering and the engineering industry along the way.