Anthea Johnston, Director Strategic and Internal Communications, NSW Department of Education

Good morning and welcome to the Launch Your Career in Transport event today, proudly brought to you as part of National Careers Week. Today we are going to go on a journey of exploration through the Transport world, and I am your host to take you on that journey. My name is Anthea Johnston. I'm currently the Director of Strategic and internal Communications at the Department of Education, but I spent close to over ten years in the Transport sector, so I got to see firsthand the amazing opportunities that are on offer in this world. And I’m a beneficiary of many, many of those opportunities and roles and a really, really exciting work.

My job today is to inspire you to consider and think about maybe how you could see yourself in the Transport sector in the future. Transport is just so important. If you think about when you step outside your door, you are engaging with the Transport network and the Transport world. It drives so many of our decisions around where we live and where we work. It's also a really exciting industry. It's always changing. It is fast paced. It is a technology and innovation space. And you get to design solutions, to help move millions and millions of people every day.

Today's session, we're going to pull back the curtain on all the different parts of the industry. So whether you're interested in the road or the rail space, engineering, you name it, it is happening at Transport. Today, we also really want to share some practical pathways with you about how you get started in this amazing world, in this amazing industry. And this can lead to extremely rewarding careers as I experience myself. We're going to talk about lots of exciting things. So there might be a bit of artificial intelligence in there, some electric vehicles. You we'll see where the journey takes us. We'll talk a lot about journeys today. It is Transport after all. And there's lots of new and exciting opportunities. So we're going to talk to. I'm very lucky that I'll be joined by an amazing panel today who will share their experiences with you, because there is nothing better than hearing it firsthand from people who are living and breathing this world.

We want you to be part of today's session. So please, as we go through today, pop in your questions because we do have time to answer some questions a bit later in the session. But we’re also going to ask for your feedback because we are designing these sessions for you, we want to make sure they're useful and you're getting what you need out of it. Today we are here at the Meadowbank Institute of Applied Technology (IAT), which is a fantastic space. I would like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal people, who are the traditional custodians of the lands I am on and my panellists are on today, I would also like to acknowledge the lands that you are joining us today on, and I would like to pay my respects to Elders, past and present. I would like to honour that deep connection to the land and the waterways our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have, and I would like to welcome you if you are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student, teacher or colleague joining us on the call today.

Now to kick us off, I would love to throw over to an amazing video that will give you a bit of a taste of some of the opportunities and people’s career choices and roles they are doing right now in Transport.

[Highlight Video]

Anthea

How amazing was that video? So inspiring. And so many diversity of roles and pathways. And thank you to everyone who has shared their story as part of that. And I hope that has started the journey of inspiration for you into the Transport world.

Before I go to the panel today, I thought I'd just give you a little insight into the scale of Transport. Because I think sometimes, and I certainly didn't when I start to realise how big and diverse this industry is. So every single day, every single day, as I mentioned, millions and millions of people are moved around the state by the Transport network. It runs 24/7, 365 days of the year, and one of the busiest days is New Year's Eve. As you can imagine, trying to get everyone home after the New Year's event, which is months in the planning to do that.

Over 100 million people have caught one of our new Metro trains, autonomous trains, which is amazing. There are over 469 million public transport trips taken every year on our network. We maintain over 18,000km of state roads. So this is like driving from Sydney to Melbourne about 20 times. It’s about 3000 kilometres in our regions. And the regional roads that we look after, three tunnels, and 5000 bridges, well over 5000 bridges. One of those bridges you might have heard of, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And yes, I did get to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of my job, so that's a pretty cool day out.

We also managed 13,000km of waterways. I was really lucky to go out with one of the maritime crews up in Coffs Harbour. And as we were out chatting, a pod of dolphins goes past. Again, what an amazing workplace. We help move 500 million tonnes of freight. So that includes everything from building supplies, to Amazon delivery and of course, the all important toilet paper, which in Covid became really, really important. We support 21 million passenger journeys in our regions and our regional trains, and our coaches, because we are statewide organisation and our regions are really, really important.

There's some really exciting stuff happening too. So, the Future Mobility Testing and Research Centre in Cudal so this is out in the sort of Central West. They're testing autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, smart infrastructure, advanced driver-assistance technology. And if you ever think if you need to get to school, if you need to go to work or go to a concert or importantly, on a holiday, very important, the Traffic Management Centre, which you saw in the clip there or the rail operations centre, it's going to help you get there. The Traffic Management Centre manages about 700 incidents a day on our network. So that's everything from breakdowns to floods, fires, major events, road closures. It automatically adjusts traffic light timing based on real time conditions. And the technology that was developed to do this was done right here in Sydney by Transport. And this technology is now used in over 200 cities around the world and 33 different countries. So it just goes to show how cutting edge we are here, right in Australia and in New South Wales.

There's also the Crashlab where vehicles are crashed in controlled environments, which gives researchers thousands of points of data in a millisecond. And they use that data to make vehicles safer and our roads safer.

So there's really something for everybody here. This is only a mere snapshot. Like, if I had my way, I could talk about this all day because I absolutely love Transport. But what's really, really important is everything I just talked about, there are wonderful people, smart, dedicated people who are delivering, to make these things happen.

And also what I would say, there's a lot of people at Transport who have a really great sense of humour, like, you spend a lot of time at work, you kind of want to have a bit of a good time, right? Really, really humble and amazing people. So I was super lucky to work on some really challenging and some really interesting things at Transport. And it could be everything from working with Google on how better map technology can create better imagery of our stations. So if you're going to the station, you can kind of map your way around with even what platform you're on, work with the regional operations teams who help people who've slid off the highway, who are trying to get to the ski fields in winter, or the Opal card teams who are crunching billions of data points to try and design better customer journeys.

I started my career at Transport in the major infrastructure space in Greater Sydney, which was really, really interesting. I then moved to regional operations, where I worked through multiple major flooding events, and I saw firsthand how Transport saves lives, actually saves lives in a crisis. I worked on in the road safety area where I worked with people who had really, sadly been impacted by road trauma, and we worked with them to try and find better solutions, Transport solutions. I've worked in big transformation programs, where we redesign the entire organisation to make sure it's living up to the expectations of what New South Wales communities need from us. And also in large language models came on board, I helped the teams work out how we can actually use that technology safely.

One moment that will always stay with me is I was really lucky to go into the Metro Station at Martin Place whilst it was being constructed, and I remember sitting there and looking up in what would become the station right from ground floor up this huge empty space underground, with a city, thriving city on top, and they'd done all this underground, and just thinking how many amazing people, the capability, the skills that were needed to bring that together. It will just be a moment I will never forget.

So what I would love to say about Transport is there's a job for everyone. There's jobs, and we're going to hear from some of our panellists today. If you love working with your hands, there is a place for you here. If you are a creative person, there's a place for you here. You can help design road safety campaigns. You can do so many. You can design a new bridge structure. Also, what I say is, it’s really great if you love solving problems. You've definitely come to the right place. There's also jobs if you're regionally based. So I don't live in Sydney, so I did my whole career at Transport, being regionally based and Transport was extremely supportive of that.

I also am part of a neurodiverse community. I'm very proudly dyslexic. It is absolutely my superpower and I always felt welcome at Transport and I found so many like-minded people. And I was really open to tell people about this.

So there are many pathways in, as we will discuss today. And explore like we saw in the video. And also to, there's, it's not just about the start, it's about then, how you can grow your career once you get into the industry.

So what I would like to do now is to introduce our panellists. So I will just take a seat up here. And firstly I would like to introduce is Brad Martino. So he is our Apprentice Coordinator at Sydney Trains. We have Melinda Svanberg who is an Apprentice Signal Electrician who is in her second year also working for Sydney Trains. I have Anisha Kiran, thank you for joining us, who is a Technology Delivery Officer working in the Technology Innovation Partnership Group. Like that is a really cool name if I ever heard one. And Kaushanah Thivagarupan, welcome, as a Graduate Engineer at Transport for New South Wales also.

So Brad, I would like to start with you today. So as someone who's been living and breathing the apprenticeship space, could you talk us through and, this obviously being a really great pathway in especially in the Sydney Trains, can you talk us through what kinds of apprenticeships you can, students can actually apply for at Sydney Trains and what these jobs sort of involve day to day.

Brad Martino
Apprentice Coordinator, Sydney Trains Apprentice Unit

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Firstly, thank you for having me. So Sydney Trains has a pretty extensive apprenticeship program at the moment. We've got about 260 apprentices going for our program. So we offer ten different trade specific disciplines, that all focus on a different part of the network. So most of those are backed with electrical or mechanical kind of trades. And when the apprentices start, they'll be selected in a particular skill set and focus on that throughout their apprenticeship.

While they are out working in the network, so most of them will work on the actual infrastructure itself. So that might be the signals that you go past on the train. It might be from a substation’s point of view or a overhead wiring point of view that's actually allowing the electricity to run to the train. And then we also have our rolling stock of fleet maintainers who actually work on the physical trains themselves.

Anthea

Yeah, amazing.Already a huge diversity there for people to be interested in. So if I've got anyone who's listening in who would be really interested in starting an apprenticeship with Sydney Trains, what kind of skills or subjects should you or would you recommend for people to?

Brad

Yeah, I think one challenge that a lot of apprentices have is mathematics. So mathematics would definitely be something that I would encourage them to do at school, along with any hands on subjects. So woodwork, metalwork, something that they’re getting their hands dirty with along with also looking at any Certificate II or VET courses that they can also do at TAFE might give them a leg up into the industry if they were successful as well.

Anthea

Yeah. Perfect. That's great. That's some really practical advice there. So I might move to Mel now. Hi, Mel. Thank you for joining us today. You've got a very interesting story, and I'd love to delve into that a little bit more today. Can you tell us sort of why you decided to take on an apprenticeship, and what sort of your role involves day to day?

Melinda Svanberg, Apprentice Signal Electrician, Sydney Trains, Engineering and Maintenance

Sure. So I took on the apprenticeship because I was actually lucky enough to be working with the electrical trades in a safety position for some time, and I always admired the apprentices coming through thinking how lucky they were to get an apprenticeship at a young age. My contract was coming to an end, and one of my leaders suggested, why don't you go for an apprenticeship? And I thought, oh yeah, I really don't want to go back to an office environment. And I sort of researched, well, but I really laughed when he first said that because I thought, what? But I researched it more and I was really lucky. I got into the women's preapprenticeship program, because I was concerned that I might not have the physical capabilities, and that gave me an opportunity to explore those, get hands on, try things. And, once those issues were resolved, I went for the apprenticeship and I never looked back.

My day to day, at the moment, I mean, maintenance, which is really important to make sure we keep the trains running. I tap on in the morning, I go to a meeting where we work out where we're going, what we're doing, what we need. I'll pack the utility. We'll drive to site. We'll get briefed. Safety briefings are really important. We will attend to the maintenance. Sometimes we'll get called out to a failure in the middle of that. And, they will eventually finish the maintenance. There's sometimes a little bit of opportunity in the afternoons to do a bit of paperwork and, tap off. Yeah.

Anthea

Yeah. Amazing. And I love how you described the how every day is different. And even when you have your best laid plans, things happen on the network and you have to go out. And I'm sure many of you have seen that live, live crosses, on the news when things are happening on the network. So that’s your team’s out there making a difference in making that, turning things back on again.

I'd love to know also about your job as someone who's very envious, I do work a lot in the office of people who are out and about. I’m very, very envious. Could you let us know a bit more about what the best, maybe the worst parts of your job are, not being office based?

Melinda

I think, yeah, working in an office sometimes, I never saw the light of day. I had no idea what the weather was doing. So I'm so grateful to be working outdoors now. So I would say that is the best and worst part is the weather. But even when I'm feeling Lithgow and it's sleeting, it's so cold I can't feel my fingers, I just think back to when I was in an office that I think No, I'm still happy. It's still a good thing. Yeah.

Anthea

I love that. So yes, it’s positive and sometimes a little bit cold.

Melinda

Yes, I definitely.

Anthea

I just like to stay with you for a minute, Mel. You talked about how you sort of made that shift, right? So apprenticeship wasn't sort of the first pathway that you chose. Was it really difficult to make that decision to sort or, yeah, and once you jumped in, yeah, you said, you never looked back, but just talk us through that process of making that decision.

Melinda

Yeah. I mean, I thought that I was probably a bit too old and I was a girl, but then when I looked around, I saw so many women that had paved the way before me and were doing such a great job. And I knew Sydney Trains was really inclusive. So yeah, the more I researched into it, the more I thought, you know what, I could do this. So this could be really a thing, but, yeah, just concerned about the physical capabilities. Could I lift that? Could I actually do that? Am I going to let the team down if I can't do that? And, yeah, being involved in the women's preapprenticeship program, I can't recommend that more. It was absolutely brilliant. Any questions I had were resolved. It was brilliant. And so, yeah. Once I resolved I just applied and it's been brilliant.

Anthea

I love it. I love touching on that too, because yeah, certainly when I started the Transport, I would often be the only female in the room. But in my ten years that I worked there, that changed dramatically. And to be honest, also being the only female in the room was not a problem either. I always felt very included. As part of that, my voice mattered. So I always found it very, very inclusive, which was amazing and supportive. Thanks, Mel.

Alright, we'll go to you, Anisha, welcome. Thank you for joining us today. So you started with Transport as a finance scholar. Yes. As part of the scholarship program, so, and you had quite a journey because you also like almost a decade in the Transport industry. So welcome. I know they do say at Transport, that you, you become a lifer. So if you could stick over and actually, at ten years, people used to say to me, you haven't really been here all that long, Anthea, so I didn't quite earn my stripes in that respect. So I would love to find out a bit more about that, your sort of experience. So what skills and knowledge should students develop if they were interested in the technology and innovation space, which is a very, very exciting space.

Anisha Kiran, Tech Delivery Officer, Transport for NSW

Yes it is. Thanks for having me. So in terms of skills and knowledge, there are so many different careers under technology and innovation, from, you know, I'm a project manager, but I work with business analysts, I work with product owners, I work with engineers. So there's just so many different careers that you can have under that. So I would just say, having a really strong theoretical background or foundation is really important, because it just gives you just general exposure into the work that you want to do, and then complementing that with work experience that you can get in high school, because a lot of the skills that you do learn is on the job. I think like 90% of the skills that you do learn is on the job. So I would say those things and I would say, you know, in high school, stay curious, have an open mindset, be open to new opportunities, especially ones that you would feel are super challenging. Just take them on. And also be open to networking because I feel like that's really, really key because you get exposure to so many different careers, so many different professionals who may be heading in the same direction that you are. Good contacts, and just an understanding of, yeah, careers, jobs and different types of projects and work that you could do. So those are the main skills that I would recommend.

Anthea

Amazing. I love that, staying curious. Staying curious has ended, yeah, in me working in road tolling. I asked a few curious questions about road tolling. It was not something that was on my trajectory at one point, but got to be work with an amazing and very smart team around sort of redesigning, tolling and road tolling. So I love that. Stay curious. When you talk about that theoretical base, can you kind of just give some examples of what that sort of looks like?

Anisha

Yes, absolutely. So I just mean anything, like I said, Certification or a Bachelor's Degree or any kind of, maybe apprenticeship work that you're doing because it just gives you more exposure than what you do get at high school. So just a little bit more of an understanding of how business works and how the world works. But you really do need that practical experience to actually see how these concepts do apply in real time in real life scenarios.

Anthea

Absolutely, theory is only as good as then. Yeah, working on your first day that's like, oh, okay. That's actually how it works. Got it. And seeing it happen in real life. Would you be able to talk to us a little bit more about your experience in the actual graduate program? And because, everyone has to start somewhere and myself included. So how was that for you?

Anisha

Yes, yes. I had a really good experience in the Transport graduate program. The model itself, it's a two year program, made up of four six month placements. And Transport for New South Wales is so large that you get so much exposure to so many different agencies, different teams, different work, so that's the beauty of of the program. And, I had the opportunity to work at Sydney Metro, at Sydney Trains, in Future Transport, which is where I am now. And also the ticketing team. And I've done so many different roles, procurement, communications, finance, project management, which is where I am now. And I got to figure out what I liked, what I didn't like, what I was good at, what I was not good at. So it's really beneficial to kind of figuring out where you want to start with your career and then at the end of the program, so at the end of the two years, one of the directors hired me off the program and into her team, into a project management role. And I progressed within her team. So it's a graduate program, especially with Transport, is really, really good as a stepping stone for your career and to really kickstart it and to also progress within the organisation. So you got a lot of exposure to a lot of different roles, and you get to grow your skills as well.

Anthea

Absolutely. And that networking point we're talking about before, when you were in The Graduate program, because you do sort of different time in different areas. And I've had some amazing grads that were my team that have gone on to do wonderful things, and sometimes not even at Transport. They've gone to work in the Premier's Department, all different kinds of parts of government. So, but it's been wonderful having them in their team and watching their sort of careers flourish. Thank you.

Shall we approach you, Kaushanah. How are you doing? So thank you for joining us today. So you started as a cadet engineer and then now a graduate engineer, and you also have done some really exciting work when I was reading all about, your work history, including some work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge precinct, which again, is pretty amazing place to work. What inspired you to get into engineering in the first place, and how did you actually start at Transport for New South Wales?

Kaushanah Thivagarupan
Graduate Engineer, Transport for NSW

Thank you for having me. So, as a kid, I always liked breaking and fixing things. And this, funnily enough, took me to my pathway in engineering where, I was able not just to see things work, but how things work. And knowing the mechanisms behind it. So with engineering, there's a physical outcome, that you're working towards, and you have a tangible end product and that could be a building, a bridge or trains. Being able to contribute to this planning or execution of a project like building a bridge, and then seeing the end product you visualise come to life, it's really an amazing feeling. You feel like you've contributed to the community and you feel pretty great about it. And so that's actually how I ended up at Transport. I successfully applied for the cadetship program. And, it included balancing my study and work. And I also got to see how my degree had a place in the industry. Being at Transport has enabled me to, visibly make a difference and also just, be a part of the community.

Anthea

I actually love that. And that's something that is definitely shared from all the people I've worked with at Transport. Like when your head hits the pillow at night, you know you have done some good in the world and you have really helped people. And you can save lives. You can transform lives. That's really powerful. I still drive past projects that I worked on many moons ago and bore my kids to death with all the stories and all the things, and every part, every challenge of that project, and you feel incredibly proud. Absolutely. So thank you for sharing that. So what advice would you give for students who are listening today, if you're interested, to join a graduate program or cadetship program?

Kaushanah

I'd just say go for it. You just don't doubt yourself. I feel like the experience is unmatched to any theory you can learn at uni. Don't get me wrong, like, tertiary education is very important and it helps you get to where you are, but the experience you get whilst studying, it's invaluable. You get to experience so much, whilst studying and working. And they work really well hand in hand. You learn to apply technical skills and soft skills like communication or time management, and they really, it's the foundation for the rest of your career, wherever you end up. And my takeaway for all students is, just apply for that cadetship program or graduate program or any sort of internship opportunity. You will always make mistakes, but these programs are designed for making mistakes and learning and improving from these mistakes. And I feel like that's the real ambition for you to fast track in your career, making mistakes.

Anthea

Absolutely. And we also like, this drives innovation. Yeah. If you don't try something new, like how are we ever going to learn anything? So absolutely. I kind of made a few in my career too, but again, a really supportive environment to do that and a safe space to do that, which has been great. Thank you so much for sharing, at our panel today.

I'm now going to bring up Mary Jekki up to talk to us. So she is the Pathways Improvement Advisor from the Career and Workplace Learning team and works with me in Education. She works in the improvement space, which means she supports schools and students such as yourselves to find that right knowledge and tools to get meaningfully connected to whatever your next step might be in your career. She is a passionate teacher, and that's where she started her life. So in English, Drama, and VET Entertainment, which sounds really exciting. We were just having a chat about it before, like, if I could do my life differently. That sounds really amazing. So she's also a public school girl, which we're very proud of. Obviously here in Education. And so I would really like to introduce Mary. Welcome up to the stage.

Mary Jekki
Pathways Improvement Coordinator, NSW Department of Education

Thank you, Anthea, and happy National Careers Week to all of you. Normally I work directly with your careers advisers, your deputy principals and your principals. But today, lucky me, I get to speak directly to you. And I'm going to offer you a few pointers on how to prepare for post-school pathways. Let's begin with work experience. Work experience, as you've also heard from our panellists, is a fantastic way to find out what different jobs are really like. It doesn't always have to be that traditional one week work experience that you might be used to, and you might have seen at schools. There are actually flexible options, such as spending one day a week at a work place over a term, or joining short term projects, volunteering or job shadowing. Any of these experiences help you to build valuable skills and confidence. Your school's careers advisor can help you find something that fits your interests and your schedule. You'll get an idea of what skills you already have, and very importantly, what skills you may need to build. The next point is on subject selection. Choosing the right subjects is an important step. Ideally, you want to balance what you enjoy, what you want to learn more about, and balance that with choices that connect to your potential career goals. Subjects like English and Maths give you essential skills, but don't forget about your electives. Sometimes they can open unexpected doors. You might also want to consider vocational education and training. What you may have heard of as a VET and micro-credentials, which provide practical skills and can give you a head start in many industries. Talk to your teachers, careers advisor or family for advice for our teachers and school leaders who are listening right now. Shameless plug. Check out our subject selection kit on the Universal Resources Hub to help support your students in schools. Back to pointers for our students. Career conversations. Having regular conversations about your options is very helpful. Chat with teachers, your family, or mentors about your interests and ideas. When you meet someone in a job that you think you might like to do, it's really important to ask them, how did you get here? And I really want you to think about that, because that was advice I was given as a young person, and I still use it now as a not so young person. Have some audacity. Don't be shy. Find the people in the jobs. Ask them. And if there are two people in the job, the same job, they might have different ways that they got there. That's really important to know, to remain curious, as you've heard earlier, and check that information is current because things are always changing. The jobs, the entry requirements and those sorts of things. The last bit is exploring opportunities with Transport for New South Wales. Today we're learning about a huge range of opportunities, including some exciting early entry programs with Transport for New South Wales. If you're curious about a career in Transport, these programs can help you get started early and provide suggestions about how you can get involved. Be sure to ask questions in the Q&A so you can get advice and learn how to take the next steps. Finally, remember your choices now can help you set up for success in the future. Take advantage of work experience. Choose subjects that interest you and stay curious about career options. There are so many ways to learn and grow both in and out of school. If you have questions or want to know more, your school's career advisor and the Department of Education are here to help. Don't hesitate to reach out and explore what's possible. I wish you all the best in your career exploration. Handing back to you, Anthea.

Anthea

Thanks, Mary. What amazing advice. I wish I had that advice, earlier in my career about asking people, you know, how did you get here? I sort of cottoned on to that a bit later on. And it has opened a huge amount of doors for me. So, definitely take that one on board. On board. Lots of Transport references today, right? All aboard! So next up we have, you have John Tannous who's luckily joining us today who's an experienced industry liaison lead with TAFE New South Wales. He brings 21 years of experience to the organisation. And just before we were coming on today, I was having a chat to him. And he is so passionate about the area he works in. He is an amazing advocate for TAFE and the opportunities we have here and at Meadowbank, I got to see some of them live in action. People learning is amazing. So it's really opened my eyes to the opportunities available. He's going to talk a little bit today around TAFE New South Wales Electrical Trade pathways and a few other things. So John, welcome.

John Tannous
Industry Liaison Lead, Construction and Energy, Skills at TAFE NSW

Thank you, Anthea, and welcome all. So today I'll be talking to you about TAFE pathways, accredited courses, and short courses as well. So firstly it's the Cert II Electrotechnology career start. So this is a pre-apprenticeship program. So if you're looking at a career in electro trade you can do a TVET course or if you can't get into your apprenticeship first off because of it's been filled very quickly, you could do a pre-apprenticeship program and that gives you a pathway to this Cert III. So the pre-apprenticeship program, it gives students a foundational electrical skills, safety knowledge and practical experience before entering an apprenticeship. Students gain exposure to basic wiring tools, workplace practices and helping them build confidence and readiness for employment. For future studies in the electrical industry. So once you complete that, or if you're halfway through that and there's an opening in the apprenticeship, you could do your Cert III in Electrotechnology Electrician apprenticeship. So this is the core apprenticeship pathway to become a licensed electrician covering installation, testing, fault finding, electrical systems. This qualification develops both theory and knowledge and hands on skills required to work safely and efficiently across the residential, commercial and industry environment. So as the panellist and Mary has been speaking. So for you, if you want to get a taster in this field, and gain some experience or knowledge, TAFE New South Wales has what we call micro skills that are free, 2 to 5 hour online self-paced courses and some of these, the ones that I'm going to mention them are most relevant to electrical trade. So we could do what we call an introduction to digital skills in construction. This is electrical work is becoming highly digital with electricians now using mobile apps, digital plans and smart technology on site. This micro skill introduces new new digital skills and uses communication, documentation and installation planning, helping electricians to adapt, a modern tech work site. The other role is Building Information Modelling or known as BIM in Construction. This is highly valuable for electrician in the pathway of BIM, it's used digital design and coordinating building services. Electricians rely on BIM to plan cable routes, avoid clashes with other trades, and visualise insulation before work begins, improving accuracy and efficiency for large projects. Another micro skill is introduction to Project Management and Construction. It provides an understanding of how construction projects are planned, staged and delivered. For electricians, it helps build awareness of timelines, tasks, sequencing and coordination with other trades, ensuring work is completed efficiently and correct, and on time. Another micro skill introduction to Occupational Hygiene in Construction. It focuses on identifying workplace hazards, maintenance, safety working conditions. It is critical for electricians who regularly work with electrical risk. Given confined spaces and potential hazardous environment, ensuring compliance with safety standards and best practice. The other micro skills that I'm going to show now, or talk about now are for growth. And as our panelists are talking about their growth and their opportunities to grow in their career. So we've got, project management, which is, The Modern Supervisor: Leadership in Action. So this builds leadership and communication skills needed to manage teams on site. This is useful for electricians progressing into leading hand or supervising roles where they are responsible for coordinating work, solving problems, and ensuring productivity is safe. Another one is project management. So Tradie Business Fundamentals. So supports electricians who want to run their own business, or become a subcontractor. This covers basic business operations including planning, legal requirements, financial considerations that are needed to successfully run electrical business. And the last one I'll be talking about is Introduction to Contract Administration in Construction. Helps electrician understands how construction work and contractors are structured and managed. These include scope of work, responsibility, project expectations. Important for quoting jobs, managing variations and working effectively with builders and clients. So if you're interested in any of those, there is a QR code you could scan and that gives you the link to the Institute of Applied Technology. And you could explore our many micro skills that are for free. And, good luck on your journey. Thank you. Anthea, over to you.

Anthea

Thanks, John. How interesting. The really, really practical advice there. And what I would say too, as someone who's myself, who's a little bit further down on my journey, in my career journey, not just starting out, I'm also still really interested in those micro skills and micro learning, especially in the artificial intelligence space. And there's some really great ones at TAFE that I've been doing recently, which have been really, really great. So lifelong learning, that's all that education.

So now we get to the fun part of the session where we get to ask your questions. I'll just load it up in a second. We’ve got Mary, and we’ve got John here as well, joining us on the panel. I'll kick off with a question for Brad, and then I'll load up your questions coming in. So, obviously talking about apprenticeships, can you just talk a bit more practically about how, like the apprenticeship process sort of works and how you sort of do that application?

Brad Martino
Apprentice Coordinator, Sydney Trains Apprentice Unit

Yeah, sure. So, we currently have our expressions of interest open. I think there'll be a slide later today, with that information. But effectively, we will be advertising for our 2027 intake mid-year. So probably around July. With Transport, it’s quite a lengthy recruitment process. You'll initially apply for the role and go for some testing and interview. The whole process itself takes about four months. With offers planned to go out later in the year for a January 2027 start.

Anthea

Yeah, amazing. And we will talk a bit more of that later on. So yes, coming up. So really good call out there. So I'm just having a look at some of the questions coming in. So we do have a question around here that touches on the regional aspect of Transport. So this is asking from Ulladulla High, which is a place I love, the South coast. I have a lot of family down that way. Actually, my sister in law went to Ulladulla high around the South Coast region. I'm happy to talk to this, but I can open it up for others that, you know, if there is any other sort of regional input into this question.

What I would say is, yes. So Transport is very much a regionally based organisation. It's, a lot of its workforce lives regionally like myself. And you need regional people, and you need them because they know the local communities, the terrain, the area. And you need to know, understand all those things to be able to design the right solution. And I spoke a lot about, how there was a lot of exciting things happening in Sydney, but there are equally exciting things happening in our region. If you think of big infrastructure programs and projects, there's the Coffs Harbour Bypass and the Milton Bypass, which is down the South coast, its got that next, funding for its next stage. There's also that huge network that's out there. There's also the regional trains as well. And New South Wales train link and coach services out that way. So, and often too, you need some very creative solutions out in our regions because you don't have access to the things you have in Sydney. So what I would say is yes, there is a regional workforce, a large regional workforce in Transport. So if that does interest you, there are opportunities for you out there. Definitely. So thank you for that question.

Oh, John, we have a question for you. Over to you in the hot seat. So we have someone who's really interested in AI and enjoys using tools such as Educhat. So Educhat is a tool for students, that was developed by the Department of Education, to support her school work. Are there career opportunities or pathways related to AI, that you can get some training or micro skills and things for it in the TAFE pathway.

John

Yes. Good question. So there is AI micro skills, and credentials available now, AI is evolving within, I think the construction sector in general. So if whether they’re covering electrical trades and the broader construction area. So we are looking at AI in construction and digital in construction as well. So there are opportunities coming our way. And there are current micro schools and credentials that we could look at in the interest of applied technology. Digital have a lot of AI courses as well, and digital skills that they could explore. And like I said, the micro skills are for free. So you could explore that opportunity and see what's available and grow knowledge in that space. But it is a growing sector. We are working with a number of organisations that has been Department of Education, the Building Commission office, and looking at where AI is fitting in this space and how we could start growing that and embedding that into training, not necessarily the training package as we speak, but in short skills and training, as we are doing now.

Anthea

Yeah, amazing. And the technology is moving so fast. Right? So it's narrowing up the technology, moving fast and then being able to train to use it safely and ethically and in the right manner for the industry are going into.

John

There is AI in building design that we're currently exploring with industry. So apparently there's a few architects that actually have a AI design group. And that's their speciality. So they exploring that opportunity now to seeing how that fits in. But obviously we're going to make it work with our standards and compliant. So it's not just AI. We use it. There is national construction code. There are Australian standards. We've got to be compliant with our design, will go to work and fit with that and see how AI actually takes that on board and explores that.

Anthea

Absolutely. So yeah, lots of opportunities, but also need some parameters. Yes. So that we can use this technology in. Staying on technology obviously, Anisha I know this is a space you've really worked in and you've worked on some projects in this space, including a really cool program called the Digital Accelerator, like everything that's called the Digital Accelerator, is, you know, exciting stuff is happening there. Do you want to talk to us a little bit about that sort of tech and innovation space that you've worked in?

Anisha

Yes, sure. So right now, I’m in the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships team, and we're in a very unique space because we get to collaborate with industry to test and trial technology that comes through, and deliver really good outcomes for our customers. So just a few examples of what we do is we test the technology that the industry provides against Transport, real life scenarios, and to see what can we do to really improve our customers’ experience. So a few examples include, what you actually mentioned earlier is a project I worked on, which is, we’re collaborating with Google to capture Google Street View imagery for our stations. So that really helps with navigation and wayfinding for our customers. We also do a lot with artificial intelligence to capture real time information of our road network or many other Transport use case scenarios. And we also create digital tools to help with with accessibility and with wayfinding. So there's so many different options, and different ways in which we use technology and we work with industry to really make things better for our Transport users.

Anthea

Yeah. Amazing. And just to note, wayfinding, because I must admit someone said that to me first, I didn't know what it was. It's essentially...

Anisha

Oh, sorry. Just, wayfinding, I would probably, best describe it as just navigating through the network, through the Transport network. So any tools that can help you with direction throughout, it would probably be the best way to describe.

Anthea

If you’re trying to get under the thousands of people home from a Taytay concert, like, it becomes very, very important where all those people go and you direct them into the right place and the right stations and the right platform. So very, very important.

All right. I’m taking a quick look here. I'm actually brought back to you. We just had an a practical question here around the pre apprenticeship program. Like is there a fee as part of this program? And do you have to be a school leaver to apply?

Brad

Yeah. Great questions. So there's no cost involved in that pre-apprenticeship programs. So we have run two midweek sessions this year that are full and we have a couple of weekend workshops still coming up in July this year, where basically it's a try trade or a bit of a taster into what they can actually do at Sydney Trains. And what of those ten disciplines, what it actually looks like on a day to day going out into the network. So, those are coming up.

Anthea

Yeah. Great. Amazing. I think try trades are really great idea. Because, also too, as we were talking about before, sometimes it's working out what you don't want to do is half the battle I’m seeing a lot of nods here, like, I've gone through that too, you know, it sounds great. You think it ticks all the boxes, and then you start and you're like, oh, actually, no. I don't know if I can handle frosted fingers, or actually, I love the frosted fingers, I want more of that. So it can really depend right, on what you do. So I think that's certainly defined my career, on working what I don't like as much as what I do like.

So, Mel, over to you. Is there anything you sort of wish you'd known before you started your apprenticeship? Like, if you sort of look back, hindsight is a wonderful thing. When you started that, was there anything you sort of wish you'd known a little bit more about, sort of entering into an apprenticeship?

Melinda Svanberg

Honestly, I wish I knew about it at school. I would have applied for it so much earlier. I would have done it from the get go. I think there's quite a bit of study involved, the, what I'm doing in rail signalling. I need to get the Cert III in Electrotech, and I also need to do the Cert IV in rail signalling. So there's quite a bit of study. And it's just been shuffling my life to, make sure I can get the study in and, yeah, pass.

Anthea

Absolutely. I’m sure, flying colours coming your way. Yes, I'm sure you will. Thanks. That's some really, really good advice there.

All right. I've got one maybe for you, Brad. Sorry. Back to you. Around how are you getting into more driver and guard roles in, like, the train sort of operation space?

Brad

Yeah, sure. So, look, that's not my speciality, but I'm happy to talk to what I do know. So our driver and train a guard program is a 12 month traineeship. I believe they advertise sporadically throughout the year when there is a demand or need for it. So all those roles are advertised on iworkfor.nsw.gov.au. So when the cohorts do come up, you can apply through that. And if you are successful, they'll put you through a 12 month traineeship, predominantly based out of one of our training centres at Petersham.

Anthea

Yeah. Amazing. No, that's really good to know. And thank you for answering that, I know it’s not your speciality, but, yeah, as I said, there's always that demand, right. And we need those, we need you, and I hope we're inspiring you today to explore some of these opportunities because, as I said, there's so many different ones and it's really, really diverse. All right. Let me have a quick look. Keep the questions coming through. Probably have time for maybe we're gonna sneak one more in. Maybe I can do this. So let's have a look. So Kaushanah, what has been the sort of favourite part of your job today? What's something you're really, really proud of that you've done, in your journey at Transport so far?

Kaushanah

I think during my cadetship, I was very fortunate to be placed at the Sydney Harbour Bridge precinct. It's a very major asset, very complex and just seeing how many people, work behind the scenes to make it running and reliable and safe for everyone. And I think that was really exciting to see because you just, everyone sees it every day. People drive on the Harbour Bridge or, they go on the train past it and you don't really appreciate as much of what goes behind the scenes. And that was probably my favourite part. Understanding how many people it takes to make it run and work and being part of it myself in maybe a small way. Yeah.

Anthea

Absolutely. As I said, it's pretty, it is pretty amazing. I've done some work on the cycle paths and things in the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which opened recently, and it's. Yeah, it's, it's it's extraordinary. Even down to the tow trucks that are there on standby on the bridge. Because essentially if a car breaks down on the bridge, you need to clear that ASAP. And it's deployed within seconds, as soon as an incident is, happening. Because as you can imagine, as I said, do the live crosses on the TV one, a moment of slow traffic can lead to, you know, congestion in the city, and that impacts people's days. And we don't want that. Right. We want people to to keep moving around the state.

We did have a question here around, roles that suit people with a disability. So I might just open this to anyone who would be happy to answer this. I'm happy to also talk to this as well, as someone who is part of that sort of neurodiverse community. What I would say, and I'll touch on this as well in a minute, that there are like Transport has plans and accessibility and adjustments that you can request that you can work with your leader and your manager on to get. They very much lean into this. They are very comfortable for disclosure. So that means it's like if you because sometimes that can be the really hard thing, and that was for me for quite some time, telling people I was dyslexic was the hard part. So what I would say is encourage you to talk about that. They do ask you that as part of the application process, and it is to better understand how they can make adjustments for you. There are lots of different roles, and I think don't discount yourself in the role. And I've done a bit of that in my career where I've sort of signed myself off because it's like, well, I can't do that because I'm dyslexic. I think go for it. And I think that was an amazing, piece of advice. Go for it. Tell them about you and your whole self. You bring your whole self to work, tell them all about you, and Transport will make those adjustments for you. You are the right person for the right job. They will do that for you.

John, did you want to jump in on this too?

John

Yeah, I was just going to say, with your studies at TAFE NSW, we offer support. So there is a support system for our students to come in. Once you enrol, have a chat with your teacher if you need support. Like, we've got LLND, language, literacy, numeracy, digital support, or if there's other support, you got to let your teacher know. And we could see what support is available to help you through your course of studies and hope you successfully complete on that journey.

Melinda

I was just going to say as well, I'm part of the neurodiverse community, and I must say, I get so much support from the apprenticeship unit, all my leaders. It's a really inclusive environment. And if you've got any wants to join the industry, just roll your sleeves up and have a go.

Anthea

And like even as a testament today right. We're up here very happily talking about this because we feel really comfortable. It's just who we are. And that's really okay. You can be totally who you are and there is a place for you at Transport.

All right, thank you so much, my wonderful panellists. It was great to get to know you a bit more of a T and for you to share those experiences with us. Really valuable. As I said, I hope we're still inspiring as we go along today. I'm shamelessly, you know, shamelessly trying to recruit people into the Transport industry here.

I'm just going to talk about a couple of things. So, firstly, what I'd like to talk to you, and we've touched a little bit on that with that last question, is sort of the things that are available at Transport to help support you. So Transport is very much about making sure our workforce reflects the community we serve. We need diversity. We need geographical diversity, age diversity, skill set diversity because that's, we are delivering for the community. So we need to be representative of that community. So as you can see here, there's quite a few things that Transport does really deliberately to make sure that happens. So we have this really, really great things happening in the Aboriginal inclusion space. We have a reconciliation action plan. So essentially that means there is a plan in place to deliver specific initiatives to really help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, whether it's employment or social outcomes. And again, that's done in a plan format. So we actually make sure we deliver those things and we do that with our community.

We have disability inclusion, which we just touched on today, just before. Also gender, and many as you can see, very well represented up here. Actually we probably should have got a few more males, actually. I think we’re over represented in the female, but as you can see, you know, there is a job for you in any field. And the video touched on that as well. So again, please don't discount yourself in this. go for it and you'll, you know, you'll be really surprised sometimes. As I said in my time, you know, that has really shifted. And I actually think the senior leadership at Transport at the moment is just ticked over as more women than men. So it’s at all levels, too. So if you have aspirations in that career and business side, there are obviously opportunities for you as well.

We also have support for the LGBTIQA+ community. And what I would just like to say here, if I can indulge me for a minute, is that one of my greatest experiences at Transport is I got to be part of the Mardi Gras Transport float two times. I was very lucky. And I was part of that to support my colleagues, and my friends who've now become my friends at Transport, who are part of that community and like, who doesn't want to go dance down the street in sparkly shorts with their colleagues? It was just such a wonderful experience to do that with Transport. And I got to meet so many amazing people as part of that process. So, and that is really celebrated. And we talk about this and, you know, it's one really, really important you know, thing on the calendar. So there's literally something for you if you're considering Transport.

We also have our regional apprentices and traineeship programs. So there's a link here. And we do have more information on this. So this is really practical advice about opportunities and pathways right now. So these are things like if you want to get into bridge design and construction, it shows you the pathway on how to do that. If you want to be a project manager, there's some really practical advice in there. It shows you what training you need to do and what pathway to start, and also how much you're going to earn, which is also very important, especially if you need a car at the moment because it ain't cheap. So yes, please, have a look at this material if you're interested, because there's a lot there. And again, I just want to reiterate that, yes, Transport is a very, very inclusive place to work.

Alright, we're going to move on now to the STEMC event. So this is a wonderful event that Transport hosts. And if you are interested in the STEMC, which we have touched on a bit today, this event is on the 10th of June at the Rosehill Gardens Race Course. If you're interested, tap your teacher on the shoulder. Because they will be able to provide you some information on how to attend. Every year we get more and more interested students coming along. And you just get to see the best of the best of what's on offer in this space. I'm pretty sure on the picture that's metro, but there's driverless buses. There's all sorts of things, that you can explore here. So if this is something of interest to you, please also fill in the survey as well, which we’ll put a link to and the QR code here because we can then connect you with the information if this is something you want to come along to.

Alright. Up next we have... The, as Brad spoke to, I'll just give it another plug because I have no doubt we've inspired a few people today. Come on, I know there's a few of you out there that are came to be in the next intake. So as Brad mentioned, the 2027 intake is opening very shortly. So hopefully next month. and you'll go through that expression of interest process. There's some really great information packs as Brad spoke to. So again, even if you're just maybe even just a little bit interested in want to find out more as Mel spoke to like doing that research, finding out more is a really critical part of what deciding what the next step you want to take. So come on down. Sydney Trains needs you.

All right. I think that brings us to the end. Sadly, I would very happily sit here all day and talk about Transport. I love it, I'm passionate about it. I'm proud to say that I've spent a huge part of my career in this industry. I hope today we have inspired you to start your journey at Transport. Thank you so much for joining us.

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