Connexis Our People - Water Apprenticeship graduate Jon Welch

Jon Welch – Working at the front lines of change

benstevens Telco

A career switch from baking to helping to build New Zealand’s internet fibre network has been a positive step for Christchurch-based Fibre Technician Jonathan Welch.    When it comes to revolutions, there is probably none larger than the technology one we are living through. In the last three decades the internet has transformed how people around the world live, work …

Symarah Benette-Young – GWHV Event Leads to Apprenticeship

benstevens Energy, Ultimit/Women in Infrastructure

A career in an industry with loads of variety was high on the wish-list for Invercargill’s Symarah Bennett-Young. And it’s something her role as an apprentice substation maintainer at PowerNet is serving up in spades. Symarah, 22, got her first taste of the industry when she was 15 – taking an electronics class at Southland Girls’ High School, where she …

Pearl Jury: First Woman to Gain CTC

benstevens Civil

Hawke’s Bay Civil Operations Manager Pearl Jury became the first woman to gain her Civil Trades certification, the nationally recognised accreditation programme for civil contractors in New Zealand. Pearl has more than 15 years’ experience with Gair Contracting in Napier, she loves working with heavy machinery, and the company is one of the few contracting companies in New Zealand led …

Dylan Samson: Water Reticulation Technician

benstevens Water

Taking a leap of faith into a career as a pipe layer at 19-years-old has certainly paid off for Dylan Samson. Now 23, Dylan is a Water Reticulation Technician in charge of his own crew for Allens United Drainage and Earthworks in Hamilton and is loving every minute of it. It seems a world away from the career as a …

Encouraging more women into infrastructure with Genesis: Rebecca Larking’s story

benstevens Energy, Ultimit/Women in Infrastructure

Genesis Energy is currently working hard to put together the company’s 2018 GWHV event at Tokaanu Power Station in the central North Island. It’s the second year the company has participated in the GWHV programme, which aims to provide insight into the career opportunities for young women that lie in infrastructure industries. Opportunities they may not be aware of otherwise. …

Holly turns her love of engineering into a career with Meridian Energy

benstevens Energy, Ultimit/Women in Infrastructure

Holly Frewen is engineering herself a bright future. The 16-year-old Twizel Area School student now spends one day a week working with Meridian Energy’s mechanical team at Ohau as part of the Gateway programme, designed to attract and train new talent. She wishes it was more. “It’s so great, I’m really loving it. I wish I could be there more.” …

Craig Hart – Civil Trades Certified, Infracore

benstevens Civil

“I love everything about it,” says Rotorua pipeline worker Craig Hart about his chosen career. After 10 years constructing and maintaining water pipeline infrastructure in the Bay of Plenty, Craig, who works for Infracore, still loves the challenges of his job. “I think I’ve seen everything.” And now his skills and knowledge have been formally recognised with his completion of …

Clayton Douglas – Civil Trades Certified, Abergeldie Harker

benstevens Civil

A career that began on rooftops almost 30 years ago has now seen Clayton Douglas scale the heights of pipeline construction and maintenance. While his work keeps his feet literally on and in the ground, Clayton has become the first Civil Infrastructure worker in New Zealand to be awarded Pipeline Construction & Maintenance in Water as well as Wastewater and …

Naomi Coatsworth – Invercargill City Council Water Treatment Operator

benstevens Ultimit/Women in Infrastructure, Water

Working as a Water Treatment Operator was never Naomi Coatsworth’s dream job as a child. Yet after almost two years into the role and having recently won the Young Operator of the Year award, her sights are firmly set on her continued career in water treatment. Having grown up in Southland, Naomi had worked in several jobs before undertaking a …