It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see along the way

Many people wait for the exactly the right job opportunities before they make a move to a new job. But I’ve found that’s there’s no such thing as a bad opportunity. I’ve learnt from every single job that I’ve had. I’ve also found that some of my best jobs, have come from taking jobs I wasn’t entirely sure about. It’s here that success arises from luck, combined with opportunity i.e. you need to be lucky to be in the right place to find the opportunities, but you also need to be ready to jump into them when they arise.

I also learnt early in life to not be scared of jumping into opportunities that you’re not quite sure of, because you won’t know what you’ll enjoy until you give it a go.

My first example is after my first job down in Hobart, I was working at a government owned training organisation, that was run as a business, called the Centre for Precision Technology. It was a five year program and it was shut down in my third year.

I could have stayed in Tasmania and finished the Bachelor of Technology in Manufacturing Engineering I was studying. Instead I moved up to Brisbane to study for a Bachelor of Engineering with a specialisation in Manufacturing. It happened to be a dual degree with a Bachelor of Business, specialising in Marketing. I never would have studied Marketing otherwise, I was focused on working in the Manufacturing industry. However, later in my career, Business Strategy Development became my career passion. Many people wouldn’t have chosen that degree because it was a lot more study, in an area that didn’t interest me too much at the time, but I got so lucky it was a dual degree. It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see along the way.

Another great example is my first office job out of University. It was as a Production Engineer with Corvette Queensland, who imported Chevrolet Corvettes and trucks; then converted them to right hand drive. They were a small company, located in the regional Queensland town of Gympie, which is about two hours north of Brisbane.

Starting your career with a small company in a regional town doesn’t sound promising for a stellar career, however one of my key tasks at Corvette Queensland was to implement ISO9001, the international quality accreditation. I never would have got that opportunity at a bigger company so early in my career and it set me up to land a job with multinational Defence and Aerospace giant Boeing, who flew me to their factory in Seattle Washington to learn all about Lean Manufacturing. I never would have got the Boeing job without the experience I gained implementing ISO9001. I also got to drive Chevrolet Corvettes and trucks, which was very cool.

I’ve also never regretted moving between cities, towns and states. I’ve always found new friends. My co-Engineer at Corvette Queensland was Joe Butterworth. He was about my age, but much more experienced in converting cars to right hand drive. He warmly welcomed me to Gympie, we soon be became fast friends and we got shit done.

I also played field hockey at Gympie, the competition was tiny, basically rock up on a Friday night and organise a scratch match with whoever else was around. But everyone was so friendly and I became really good friends with the lady who ran the junior program Sally Parker. You also experience new things, including Rainbow Beach on the coast near Gympie, which is called that because of the rainbow coloured sands. There was also the Cherry Venture nearby, which was a massive freighter that had been grounded there for decades slowly rusting away. That’s cool shit.

I was the first Lean Manufacturing specialist Boeing had employed in Australia, which is why they sent me to their factory in Seattle. I then came back to Australia and delivered training courses and facilitated Lean Manufacturing workshops at all the Boeing sites around Australia, where we looked after the mighty F111 fighter jet, the C17 Cargo Plane and so much more. It was such a cool job.

But even though the Lean Manufacturing job was so cool, I also kept an eye out for other job opportunities within Boeing Australia. My next job was as Quality Manager in the Integrated Logistics Support Capability. I wouldn’t call it an interesting job, I’m sure many people wondered why I’d left such a cool job to do this one. But I really wanted to work there because there was such a good manager in charge, the wonderful Jack White. I really wanted to work for him and I’m so glad I did, because it set off a chain of events that landed my dream job. It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way.

Not long after I started as Quality Manager in the Integrated Logistics Support Capability, one of our customers on a $500M program started jumping up and down that we weren’t implementing Reliability Engineering properly on his program. We didn’t have a Reliability Engineer at the time, or previously. I’d never even heard about Reliability Engineering. This was a good opportunity to throw myself in the deep end and prove my worth. So I taught myself all about Reliability Engineering. I delved deeply into the program. I gathered evidence that we were implementing Reliability Engineering. I presented that back to the customer and everyone was happy.

This one was scary. It was a big program and it had management’s attention. Which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how I performed. But I wasn’t scared to jump into the unknown here, because it was partially related to my Quality Assurance role. I was effectively auditing the program and gathering evidence that we were implementing Reliability Engineering. There was knowledge of Reliability Engineering in the team and I was also provided access to an external consultant who was a Reliability Engineering expert. All of that made it much easier to understand what evidence I should be collecting.

Because I’d done so well at that job, I got the opportunity of a lifetime. Boeing Australia created an Advanced Systems Team and I was one of the first members. We were asked to look widely across the global Boeing company and identify products and services we delivered elsewhere, that could be applied to the Australian market and then develop business strategies to bring them here. That’s cool shit. I wouldn’t have got that opportunity if I hadn’t taken the job as Quality Manager in the Integrated Logistics Support Capability, because I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to prove myself with Reliability Engineering. It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way.

I was then offered a redundancy from Boeing and found a job with KPMG, who are one of the Big Four in Management Consulting. Whilst I’d heard about Management Consulting, I’d never considered a career as a management consultant before I’d applied for a position as one, but it doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see along the way, so I climbed aboard. I’d learnt all about process improvement at Boeing and that’s a key capability used in Management Consulting, so that gave me confidence that I could do the job. I’d also developed a good knowledge of the Department of Defence through Boeing; and KPMGs major customer were the Department of Defence. So that gave me more confidence.

Management Consulting is such a great place to extend your capabilities and I would recommend it to anyone as a way to get out into the world and develop new capabilities, networks and friends. They always have several jobs running needing different skill sets, so you learn new skills quickly and you get to work with some of the best in the business. But I also got rewarded when I walked into the induction program and met my wife! It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way.

Another great example is my job straight after Management Consulting, it was as a Competitor Intelligence and Position to Win Analyst with Lockheed Martin. I didn’t even know that job category existed, but it looked like an interesting role and I figured that the market analysis I had learnt in the Advanced Systems team at Boeing would be directly applicable, so I thought I’d have a crack at it. It really was a fascinating role and I learned so much about how markets work in a competitive environment. The stakeholder engagement skills needed for the role were also much harder than any other job I’d done, so I extended my experience even deeper. My old boss from Boeing, Rod Drury had also joined Lockheed Martin. I then got rewarded when he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to join him as Business Development and Strategy Manager in the Space Industry! I wouldn’t have got that job if I hadn’t jumped in and been working at Lockheed Martin. It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way.

After my cancer journey is another great example. I returned to work as Business Development and Strategy Manager for the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company for my mate Rod. The Australian Space Agency had been established while I was in hospital and the Australian government had invested significant funding to aid development of the industry. All of that got me so excited to get back to work and help grow the next exciting industry for Australia. Unfortunately the acquired brain injury I sustained during my cancer journey, meant I was unable to work full time, or do the wide thinking needed to develop business strategies. So my boss asked me to resign. I could have fought for that cool job, but I moved on quickly and quietly. I then got offered a job at a Computer Company. I had actively avoided computer projects and jobs my entire career, because in every project I’d seen, there was never a good integration between the technology and work environment. But it doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way, so I climbed aboard. Once I headed down that road, I found a computer company that worked so closely with the users and their business environment, that they uncovered latent needs and delivered solutions better than anyone expected. They also have outstanding flexible working practices that are making it so much easier to deal with my acquired brain injury. I honestly couldn’t be happier. It doesn’t matter which road you go down and who knows what cool stuff you’ll see on the way.

So please remember that every job is experience, even the jobs that you’re not sure about, or don’t enjoy. Have faith, that even though you don’t know where the road will take you, that you never know where opportunities will arise, or what you will learn along the way. But you need to be ready to jump in when opportunities arise. Don’t be scared of jumping into the unknown.