Q&A with Graeme Jardine
NAME
Graeme Jardine
TITLE
APAC Technical Director, Global Subject Matter Expert Engineering Geology, Senior Principal at Jacobs
QUALIFICATIONS
BSc (Hons) Geography Geology, MSc Engineering Geology
Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked APAC Technical Director, Global Subject Matter Expert Engineering Geology, Senior Principal at Jacobs, Graeme Jardine the hard questions.
What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
The prospect of having a better day than the one before or a great day where I know I can make a difference.
Why did you choose your current career and how did you get to your current position?
From a young boy I was interested in the country and the bush, in fossils, digging holes and making camps. I was drawn to different landscapes and was always excited about travelling to new places, especially as I grew older. I took a few years out between the end of high school and doing my undergraduate course in Geology and Geography, which enhanced my love of travel but also enforced my decision to go into a ground engineering career. I then did a Masters Degree in Engineering Geology in the UK and started working for Soil Mechanics Associates in 1990.
Four years of design consulting and investigation contracting works (with a prolonged stint in Indonesia) was followed by 12 years working for Mott MacDonald, initially in the UK, then Uzbekistan, Turkey, and a long stint in Hong Kong and Asia. I came to Australia fulltime with my family in 2007, initially joining GHD and then, for the past eight years, I have been with Jacobs in Brisbane.
I think like many other professional people, in terms of the development of their careers and the associated responsibilities that go with promotions, it is a mix of luck, being in the right place at the right time and taking chances or risks - including moving jobs where the opportunity arises.
If you are not willing to put your hand up and take a risk, it’s a lot more difficult to progress in a technical ground engineering career, especially in the commercial side of the business. I was extremely lucky through the initial stages of my career as I worked with a range of senior individuals who provided me the mentoring that I needed.
What is your favourite part of your job?
I have a few favourites and not a single part of my job that I love. These include getting to work with a diverse set of internal and external individuals, getting to travel and work in places I never dreamt I would visit, experiencing different cultures and landscapes, making a difference to a project, and seeing less experienced staff grow into the next generation of senior professionals.
Although I have a vaulted title within my present company, I am still the guy who loves doing fieldwork and getting “dirty” - and the more remote the location the better!
What do you find most challenging about your role?
The politics that get in the way of reaching the right technical solution by doing the right approach. Also working in multiple time zones can be challenging, especially being so far ahead of most places in the world. And saying “no” to work requests is often very difficult when you know you can make a difference.
What is one thing you would like to change about the mining and geotechnics/rock engineering industry?
Getting recognition for engineering geologists as well as the industry/regulatory authorities recognising the importance of the discipline.
What areas of the industry or trends do you think will become more important in coming years?
Probably optimisation of designs, thereby reducing associated time and costs. How do we do this is the question – there is no doubt that innovation through the development of new technologies and automation of tasks will play a role, however the fundamentals of the right approach and the ‘judgement call’ by suitably experienced professionals will still be critical. Reading the ground and its potential behaviour still is, and will always be, about the “grey-hair” - whatever computer code strings are developed.
If you could invite three people, alive or dead, to dinner – who would they be and why?
England’s cricket captain Douglas Jardine, because I would love to ask him his perspective of the Body Line series. Ramesses the Great, because I want to know how he managed to build all his monuments and his burial chamber with just bronze handheld tools. And some appropriate person from the US Airforce to ask if Roswell actually happened and what did they find!
What moment of your life would you want to relive – and would you change anything?
Nothing really, as I work on the premise of fate and ‘it is what it is’. Don’t look back and muse on what you should have done but learn from the mishaps or problems that occur and try use the outcomes to do something better moving forward.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
You always have to risk something to get something really worthwhile. And don’t ever put two poor bowlers on at different ends at the same time during a cricket match as it’ll end in tears. Something I have applied in both my social and working life.
What advice would you give to someone considering geotechnical or rock engineering as a career?
It’s a really rewarding career. Not every day is a good one, but there are far more better ones than bad ones. Expect to travel, though sometimes this is not going to fit in with your social life. Seek out the right senior mentors in your early career as this will pay huge dividends as you progress. Look at a problem or an issue from different viewpoints and use your judgement carefully. Never step outside your level of experience when you are pushed for an answer and always seek appropriate, more senior, support – there are very few old and bold engineering geologists.