Ben takes advantage of student opportunities at Logan Water

Ben Vickers graduates university at the end of this year – and by then, he’ll already have almost 2 years of work experience with Logan City Council under his belt. 

Ben, who studies Civil Engineering and Business at QUT, also works 2 days a week at Logan Water as an Undergraduate Engineer. Prior to joining the Logan Water team a month ago, he worked with Council’s Development Assessment Branch, for around a year. 

Ben, from Shailer Park, says he found out about the student program at uni and the idea of working in his local community appealed to him. 

‘I thought it would be good to learn on the job and see how it all works here and make even a little difference in my own community,’ he says. 

‘It’s a great experience, really valuable and very community focused. I came in thinking it would be business-driven, but have found that it is very community-driven here. The questions I was asked at my interviews were about how I wanted to help the community, and that really appealed to me – it always comes back to the outcomes.’ 

Ben’s role, as an undergraduate engineer in development assessment, allows him to experience how development applications related to water and wastewater are processed at Logan Water. As well as directly complementing his studies, the placement, offers Ben guidance and mentoring from senior engineers, and provides him with an opportunity to get hands-on experience of the real world jobs that are available to him after he graduates. 

‘I’m learning the processes and learning as much as I can so that I can ease everyone’s workload and take on some of the smaller projects,’ he says. 

‘It’s really good to be in the real world doing rather than being at university (full time) – a job is a lot about people and communication, things that you might not learn in a classroom, so I am getting that exposure. 

Ben says he recommends the work placement program to other students. 

‘It’s a great place to start because it is very supportive and the way you learn to think and approach things is going to be invaluable throughout your career,’ he says. 

‘There’s always something new to investigate, and there always seems to be opportunities to try new things, and everyone is so supportive and happy to help and answer any questions I have.’ 

Council’s work placement program offers opportunities to undergraduates to gain real-world experience in jobs related to their areas of study.