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Arcadis Philippines

  • 500 - 1,000 employees

Liezel Convento

Improve your interpersonal skills as much as you as you are studying. Hone those skills as it is important as much as what is in your head. Knowing something is half of the game, you must be able to deliver those thoughts in a way that will not result in antagonizing the receiver.

What's your job about?

Arcadis Philippines Inc. is a design and consultancy firm and currently, I am under its Water Department In our team, we do general engineering works depending on the project requirement. We are exposed to various scope of works – from the feasibility study to construction management, and even technical due diligence services. That’s why sometimes you may find me roaming around in a shipyard, hangar, or in a commercial building as a structural engineer, or just sitting on the corner of our bay doing quantity take-off as cost estimator or maybe I’m in outdoors doing some dirty works like trekking or boating as a field engineer for water quality sampling. But most of the time, I am wearing the hat of a hydraulic engineer.

For the past five years, as a hydraulic engineer, I’ve worked on various types of hydraulic simulation which has a common objective of delivering water or wastewater to household or treatment facilities, respectively. We do the design, assessment, troubleshooting and calibration of hydraulic components of new and/or existing water systems. I was involved in modelling small pipe to very large pipe at approx. diameter of 3.5meters. We fundamentally work on a network that transports water via pipelines, tunnels, aqueducts, and even submarine pipes.

For me, it is a great opportunity to be in this field where our impact echoes on the wider community. Just like the name of our team – we blend, we make ways, we adjust, we flow –  to improve the quality of life.

What's your background?

I was born and raised in San Juan province of Batangas. I am the class valedictorian in elementary, with honors and an awardee of the Malacañan Palace for the outstanding community service in high school, and I finished my undergraduate studies in PUP-Sta. Mesa.

This is my first job. I didn’t even know the company back then. I am more focused on finding a job on the general contractor side and not on the consultancy type of work.

Back in 2016 during my job hunting, my college friend recommended I apply in Arcadis since she is already for the final interview. So, I tried to apply, took the exam, passed and unexpectedly proceeded immediately for the final interview. Ironically, my friend who introduced the company to me didn’t pass the final interview.

Now, I am working in the company for more than five (5) years. I started as a Trainee Quantity Surveyor and now I am an Associate Engineer – Water.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, anyone with a different background can do my job. The work is highly technical so an engineering background is necessary. As for the characteristics - it is really important to be open to different approaches in solving the problems, can handle talking with different stakeholders (like end-user, subcontractor, client's representative), willing to step up for the tasks and can work with minimal supervision. For the skills, it is really important to - use technical softwares like AutoCAD, STaad, WaterGEMS, MS Project - use text compilers like LaTex and R - has a basic understanding of hydraulics - can work within office settings and offsite

What's the coolest thing about your job?

Ability to travel into different areas to perform different types of works - we had visited multiple locations of WWTP, a shipyard, a hangar. a tunnel in Mindanao, a city in Visayas, multiple hotels and commercial buildings around Luzon. A plethora of opportunities to learn different skills like project management, technical due diligence, hydraulic modelling, scheduling, text-compiling automation and many more. - Utilization of different technology and programs to accomplish our works - we have increased our technical skills by the usage of these programs and understanding the concept behind

What are the limitations of your job?

Since we have won extremely big projects, everyone in our team is expected to be exposed to different kinds of challenges every day. All of us have the opportunity to step up and be proactive to take bearable loads. At the same time, our manager and Team Leads give different kind of yoke depending on the role you have. We are one team, and we always keep an eye to each other. As much as possible, we maintain and promote the work-life balance. We always target to deliver works within the office hours. Working overtime and/or during weekends is not exercised in our team, unless really urgent.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

  1. Improve your interpersonal skills as much as you as you are studying. Hone those skills as it is important as much as what is in your head. Knowing something is half of the game, you must be able to deliver those thoughts in a way that will not result in antagonizing the receiver.
  2. Try as much experience as possible (as long as it is within legal and ethical bounds). Your student life will only happen once, don't have to pour all your hours into studying (as long as you don't fail too much and caused financial burdens to those that support you).
  3. Don't let grades dictate who will you be in the future.