AwalkwithMO

Sometimes you have to rattle the cage to be heard, sometimes you have to be open-minded to be in uncomfortable environments, sometimes you have to ask for you to get, sometimes you have to see the value in making new friends, sometimes you have to change your surroundings for you to grow. Most importantly, be yourself in the process. I call this the power of networking.

I moved to London at the end of 2022 – Wimbledon specifically—one of the best decisions I have made, personally and professionally. Coincidentally, one of our work offices was just a stone’s throw away. I was cruising through the final year of my 2-year graduate scheme with the freedom to work from home due to the department I was seconded to at the time. Although I had no business at our Wimbledon office in terms of work, knowing me, I saw this as an opportunity to show my face now and then by getting to know possibly everyone in there. You never know where an opportunity will present itself. So stay with me, and you will find out what I call the beginning of an eventful roller coaster journey of who you know, not what you know.

Falklands Island – The concept of working abroad has always been one on my list. As you can tell, I enjoy traveling. One lovely morning, I sat in the comfort of a desk at the Wimbledon office, doing some work. A very familiar face walked in again. Twice I’ve seen him within a short space of time. A week ago, I visited our Heathrow office and, surprised, I bumped into this familiar face. Press the rewind button to 2019-20, during my year internship at Brighton, where I met the person for the first time. He was only there for 2-3 months, but we got acquainted from the get-go.

Fast-forward three years, and I bumped into him at our Heathrow office, where we briefly exchanged smiles and moments of surprise. Going back to the comfortable desk at the Wimbledon office, there he went again; he walked in, and of course, this time around, we had to dive into a proper catch-up. So we did. Now, put a pin on that for a few seconds.

About a month ago, before our encounter, an email was generated across the company regarding upcoming overseas projects. This was then followed by a second email specifically directed to all of the graduates who may like to embrace such an opportunity. Of course, I responded to those emails within a minute of reading them, expressing my interest but honestly not knowing where on earth the Falkland Islands are, for as long as it requires me to catch a flight, that sufficed for me. Now that was the easy part.

The hard part was finding the main man in charge of the team delivering the project at the Falkland Islands. This is where networking becomes your most powerful tool. Two weeks went by without a response, so I started making noise by knocking on the doors of the directors to point me in the direction of the main man in charge who could get me on that plane. Now, remove that pin I politely asked you to pin down for a few seconds.

He walked in! The same man from Brighton, the same man I bumped into at Heathrow and now at Wimbledon. Stars were aligned in a linear trajectory. “Hey Mo, would you like to see some penguins in the Falklands?” Ahhh… so you are the main man in charge…! Of course, I would love to, I said with haste. “Welcome on board,” he uttered. Is that it? I said. Do you have a British passport? he asks. Yes, I do. Well, that’s all you need. I will send you an email regarding all the necessary documentation so we can get you on that flight. Sometimes it’s about who you know, not what you know.

This was perfect timing for me as I was coming to the end of my 2-year graduate scheme and looking for a permanent department/team to work with. The choices were: work in rail, work in aviation, or work overseas. I chose overseas. We shall dive into my time at the Falkland Islands in another blog.

Birmingham City: Having spent 2 months working in the Falklands as a site engineer assisting a senior engineer, I volunteered to move to the aviation sector to work on a project at Birmingham City Airport. I wanted to rekindle my relationship with Birmingham—where I attended university. But this time around, I came as someone who wanted to give back to the city that gave me my civil engineering degree. I also reached out to my former lecturer to give me a platform to engage with the civil engineering students. We will dive into my time in Birmingham in another blog.

Isle of Wight: My 3-year plan when I started my Graduate scheme in September 2021 was to be a Project Civil Engineer by the end of 2024. In the order: Graduate Engineer – Site Engineer – Project Civil Engineer. I volunteered to work in Birmingham in January 2023, thus I made it clear I could only spend no more than 6 months before moving to our Rail sector as a Project Engineer (fingers crossed). My time in Birmingham was coming to an end, so I started banging down the doors again to the powers that would enable me to move into the next sector (rail).

However, before making this move, I was promised a promotion to the role of a project civil engineer. Provided I ticked off all the professional development goals that were set by the company. I did achieve them and sat down with my line manager to sign them off.

During the process of banging down these doors to ensure I was given what was promised, I volunteered to attend a work industry-related event called the ‘Big Rail Diversity Challenge.’ An annual event organized with a series of challenging activities to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workforce and industry. You have over 50 companies participating, and each company has a team of representatives to undertake these activities. Every year, I looked forward to this event mainly because of networking. In my team, you’d have directors and people high up in the ranks that I may or may not have met before. If you’re following, you can tell that there’s another curveball on the way. Anyway, I walked in, sat at our designated table, and introduced myself to the team. There goes another familiar face that I haven’t seen for over 2 years.

I met him once during the early years of my graduate program when he did a short presentation to the graduates – I was one of those graduates. That presentation was memorable for us both because I remember very well bombarding him with questions, to the point where he sent an email extending his support and interest. Shortly after that, he opted to work for another company.

Fast forward, he walked in and gave me a tap on the back. We picked up from where we left off 2 years ago. Through our conversations regarding my journey and his, he mentioned he has lots of projects coming up and would want me on his rail team. What a sigh of relief it was for me. We went on doing the challenging activities together with the rest of the team and ended up taking second place just by a point. He said, “Mo, I want you on my rail team and will make it happen.” All I had to do was sit back and get ready for my next chapter. That chapter was working on an island called ‘The Isle of Wight’ – as a Project Engineer. We will dive into my time at the Isle of Wight in another blog.

I REPEAT: Sometimes you have to rattle the cage to be heard, sometimes you have to be open-minded to be in uncomfortable environments, sometimes you have to ask for you to get, sometimes you have to see the value in making new friends, sometimes you have to change your surroundings for you to grow. Most importantly, be yourself in the process. I call this the power of networking.

WHAT’S NEXT? Along with delivering ongoing bridge projects, the year 2025 will see me make a start in another world – that world is combining Data with Civil engineering. Professionally, my goal three years ago was to be where I am right now. That is being achieved. I used that journey to explore the industry through networking and concluded that I would like to branch into something else when I achieved the role of a project engineer but still stay within the confines of civil engineering. Now I will start branching into another professional universe. The sky is the limit, thus don’t limit yourself. Dyer & Butler (My Employer) has been supportive throughout this Journey and for that I am grateful.