Join us on the NewTechPeople Engineering Podcast as we sit down with Sonia James, a process engineer at InfraBuild. In this engaging conversation, Sonia shares her inspiring journey from India to Australia, discussing her educational background, career path, and the challenges she faced along the way. She offers valuable insights into the manufacturing industry, particularly in the steel sector, and provides advice for aspiring engineers, especially women in the field. Sonia also touches on her experience winning the Rising Star award and how it impacted her career. We explore the history and current projects at InfraBuild, including their innovative SENSE 600®product. Additionally, Sonia discusses the importance of mental health initiatives in the workplace and shares her thoughts on the future of manufacturing. This episode is packed with personal anecdotes, career advice, and industry insights that will inspire and inform listeners interested in engineering and manufacturing. Don’t miss this enlightening conversation with Sonia James!
Please note: this transcript has been auto-generated and may contain some errors.
Thanks for joining me on the NewyTechPeople engineering podcast. My name is Mel Sietsma and I’m the senior engineering consultant within the team here. Today I have the pleasure of being joined by Sonia James, who is a process engineer at InfraBuild. thank you, Mel.
Awesome. So today I guess I’d like to kick off by just learning a little bit more about your background and your career to date. So I am born and brought up in India and I always tell this to everyone, that I had no idea what to do in my life.
So going forward I figured out what I don’t like and then I figured out what I’m going to ultimately do in my life. So when I graduated, when I did my 12th grade, I. So belonging from a upper middle class family back from India, your preference is to get a job.
So that’s the most important aspect to make a decision as to what you’re going to choose as a career. So that’s when I decided probably engineering is the best field because. And I think a lot of contribution over there is from my parents as well, guiding me through the whole thing.
Yeah, because as I said, I didn’t know, you know, where I want to head towards. I was more inclined back then, I still remember, towards mechanical or chemical engineering. Yeah, this is around 2012 back in India.
A lot of women, probably you’ll have one women in the entire class and the class would be 60 people in a class. That’s how it goes in India. So very less ratio of women in there.
And by the end of graduation they would end up working in IT or computer sciences kind of job. They won’t even end up in heavy industry. So that’s the reason I decided.
I think I was not brave enough to make a decision for myself back then. Confidently, yeah, saying that this is what I want to do in my life. So I went ahead and chose electronics engineering.
I did my electronics and then I thought I want to do a master’s degree. So I decided I’m going to come to Australia to do my master’s. So I did my master’s in engineering science management in University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Yeah. And then I did my thesis in steels. So that was the first time I would sit for probably an hour or two.
And I’m just a restless person. I always say this, yeah, that was the first thing in my life which made me study and you know, let me read for a long time. So that’s when I made a decision that I want to be in steel industry.
But I was not sure doing what, what I’m going to do. I was not sure. I started applying looking up.
So I had a list of companies I want to be a part in. Yeah. So I knew major manufacturers of steel in Australia.
I started shortlisting people off from like just looking up different companies and then, you know, filtering people out, emailing them. I know no one is going to hire a graduate with no experience. So I just did a template up and just started sending people a message and I ended up finding a job in Newcastle and then I moved up at Hunter region and I was employed in a galvanizing plant.
Okay. So you were living up in Queensland to complete your studies and then relocated down and then I moved in here. That was Covid time.
So that was a terrible big move. I know. So it was a big change because you have set up, you have changed whole of your life.
You moved from India, you don’t have family, you don’t have friends. You have made a base up there in Brisbane. Then you’re moving again.
So that’s starting from the scratch. There was no one, you know, probably to support up here. Yeah.
So had to start all over again and yeah. Then I worked at Mollycop in steel making then now I am with infrabuild and in the rod mill. Okay.
Working as a process engineer. Wonderful. Yeah.
Long story. No, I think it’s really good because I think there’s influx of engineers moving to Australia. So it’s nice to hear that success story.
You know, someone who’s gone through all their steps to get here. Do you have advice? Maybe other people that are looking to relocate from overseas probably first figure out what you love doing. That’s the most important thing.
It’s not about. From my personal experience, I would say we talk about, you know, scope of getting a job. I understand that.
But if you’re good or if you love what you do, you’ll figure out you’ll. You’ll find a job at the end of the day and I think that you spend eight hours of a, you know, a day at work. So you, you want something that you, you know, look up to go to.
Like you, you, you want to go in there. So figure out what you love and then eventually everything will literally fall in place. And you mentioned earlier that your parents had quite an influence on you, I guess going to uni.
Do they have an engineering background or. Oh, guess what. I am the first female engineer from my whole family.
Oh, that’s so exciting. It’s a bit different. My mom is a nurse, so my mom didn’t wanted me to get into medical field, that was for sure.
Okay. She’s like, probably, maybe, I don’t know, whatever you want to do. She was.
But my father back in India is a. Used to be a professor, so he was in commerce. So he, he wanted me to probably shift towards technical line.
Yeah. And I think for reaching this far, I think they have played a crucial role in my life. Probably supporting me and being a big part of my growth.
Having both parents gone to unis. I’m assuming your mum went to uni to study nursing. Yes, yes, both of them did.
Yeah. And they both loved their job too. So they had all their recommendations and then, you know, families.
You have a big, you know, family back in India. Yeah. Uncles of uncles and, you know, so everyone had their own opinion.
But I think it’s all about, as I said, figuring out what I wanted to do. Yeah. It took me a while, probably a little bit.
It took me some more time than normal people to do what I wanted to do. Yeah. But I think ultimately I love what I do because I still remember when I was a kid I would look outside and from, you know, the trains and I would look at peak factories and like, wow, it’s so good.
I now realize, you know, I, I love being in a plant now, two, three years ago, I used to think, why would my dad, you know, my. Why my dad suggested that it’s not safe to work in a plant. That was one of his suggestions.
Yeah. I belong from a small city, so that’s Bhopal. There was a Bhopal gas tragedy back in my city, so this was 1984, so a lot of people actually died because of a methyl isocyanide was out in the air.
There was a safety incident and that was a big incident that actually hit the city I lived in. Yeah. Wow.
So probably they inferred that was their trauma, that plant is not a safe place to probably work in. And they were thinking of my safety or. Yeah, you know, I should do as a parent.
Yeah, yeah. So I think that was one of the factors that made him, you know, tell me. Probably, you know, it’s not safe and.
And then you followed your heart. Anyway, eventually I did. So they visited me after, I think five years.
Last year they did in December and I showed them the plant and they were really, you know, proud at looking, you know, how everything works and it’s so cool. And it is so cool. That’s awesome.
Yeah. So they were really proud of you. Know where I work and looking at all the processes and fascinated.
I’m probably saying that it’s perhaps reasonably safe after all. Yes, it is. Yeah.
And have you had any other key mentors in your life outside of your parents? I feel that for me, in different life phases, different people have played a crucial role and it has changed. And I think whoever I am around are my mentor at that point of time. So it’s very important.
Even it doesn’t matter if it’s an operator or manager or anyone. Everyone has something to offer. Yeah.
So I am probably absorbing, you know, positive aspects from people, learning, understanding. I’m a dancer too, so I think my dance teacher played quite a bit of a role in me being, you know, resilient. What style dancing do you do? Indian classical.
Lovely. Yeah. I’m trained Indian classical dancer.
And I think during those practice sessions, I think the way we have been molded is, you know, it doesn’t matter what goes on, you need to still show up and yeah. You know, if you work harder, you’re gonna reach somewhere. It doesn’t matter how much ever barriers you have, you’ll cross through and you’ll reach wherever you’re supposed to.
So my dance teacher, my managers, anyone who is around me, I think has molded me into something I am in today. Yeah. Yeah.
And I appreciate everyone for that. And do you think as a female engineer you need female mentors or is it just a mix of backgrounds as you just touched on? I’ve never, I think I’ve never had a. As a manager.
Yeah. Or just even someone, I guess, in the greater network of people that you work with. It’s good to look up to, you know, someone who is a female, who is a leader.
Yeah. You know, you, you can, I think it just drives a bit of, bit more of a motivation to look up to someone and go, yes, I can be. Yeah.
You know that. But I think even if you don’t have someone as female, I think it’s all about your. What’s going on in your head.
Yeah. Right. How you mold yourself.
I think it’s all about looking up from where you are right now and thinking that, you know, I want to go here, I want to reach there. Yeah. And that’s all, you know, that matters.
I think so. So we’re a sponsor of the Hannah Manufacturing Awards this year and also recently chatting with Jackie and she mentioned that was it in 2021, I think you won the Rising Star award. I, I all, I always get a bit, I think, shy on this topic.
Yes. In 2021 I did won the award and I was back then working at Amiga. My manager back then, Clive, he nominated me.
I think I was young little engineer, used to be a bit more bossy person. I think with time I’ve. My personality has changed a little bit more.
I think we all do that as we grow and it was a good experience back then to go through the process. I was pretty much confident that I am not going to win anything. I was happy being nominated because I was thinking that who, you know how immigrant is going to win this kind of award.
And plus I think I always downplay myself. I think it’s better to maybe downplay because it’s. It’s a good way to, you know, keep learning and thinking that I need more to do for myself.
But when I won the award I was myself shocked like how did I get through it? So I still remember that moment. It was great. And has that helped kind of some of the next path of your career journey and having that recognition? Yes it did.
Back then amigal made me redundant. I still remember and that networking path through HMA helped me a lot to get my next job into the steel plant and I, I made. I’ve met so many incredible people through hma.
I think I. I’ve been influenced by their experience and you know, the way they share their thought process and yeah, I think HMA really helped a lot. Yeah.
Yeah. So I guess as far as your current employer working for InfraBuild, what’s the massive organization with a big history in Newcastle. Did you want to share with us any of that history about the site that you’re working on? Yeah, so I work with Newcastle Rod Mill.
We make steel long products and we are. We supply steel for wire manufacturing. We make reinforcement bars of different sections and under with us is Conti Stretch as well.
So that’s like a further processing mill for the product that we make. And it’s quite. They say that intra builds history is like 100 years old.
It has been here for a while. Used to be BHP previously and here we are. It’s under InfraBuild umbrella there is steel manufacturing, steel recycling, wire Newcastle Distribution center where we store steel products and send it across to Australia in different areas.
So it’s. It’s here in Newcastle. If you talk just about Newcastle we have Newcastle Rod Mill, we have Conti Stretch under our umbrella.
As I said Newcastle Distribution center is here too. Yeah but I guess yeah knowing you know that history from moving from BHP to was it one still and then Infrabuild. Like it’s.
I think there’s kind of been generations of people with work on the site over the year. Yes, yes. We have like, we have people who have been working on that side for 25, 30 years.
Yeah. And now a lot of people from the batch back then are retiring. Yeah.
So heaps like years of experience we have on our side. And I think times have changed. I think now generation don’t stick on for, you know, longer time.
So we have a big chunk of operators, process engineers who have been working, you know, on the site and have so much knowledge around the whole plant. Yeah. And it’s great to work with them, learn from them because they have so much of precision and you know, that I think that sense of understanding the mill.
Yeah. As to. By looking at it, by hearing it, that’s a different kind of, you know, exposure you get through while working with these people.
Yeah. And all these, you know, skill sets take time to develop. Yeah.
It’s not a, you know, one year thing or two year thing that you develop instantly. It just takes time. So I’m grateful, you know, I’m able to see all these people and work with all of them on my side.
So it’s a like a process knowing that those people are probably coming up to retirement, that you’re kind of working through. I guess a bit of like a skills pipeline for the next up and comers. Or probably the best thing is to work with them.
We have a lot of procedures in place. Yeah. But one of the key aspects is to figure out those loopholes where, you know, we have left of information.
Like there might be like five processes and then we might have left a dark spot somewhere where we couldn’t take it off from experience and it’s. We couldn’t document it or something like that. There’s still, you know, every day is a new day.
We work on something new and we, you know, talk to them and try to take information of them on everything, take their opinion. When we build something or, you know, we are trying to improve a process. It depends.
Really. Yeah, yeah. Are there any kind of key projects or changes that you’re seeing on site at the moment? The key project that we recently worked on was sen 600.
We have worked on that product. So it’s a new project by InfraBuild. This reduces the weight of the steel by 16%.
Okay. So the main intention is if you have, you know, this much of a diameter of reinforcement bar, we have brought down the diameter of the enforcement bar without impacting. The strength of the steel itself.
So that’s a new project that we have worked on and the product is out in the market. Okay. Is that around environmental impact or what’s kind of driven that? So probably sustainable steel and.
And more towards environment side. Yeah. Because you’re reducing your footprint by, you know, obviously using less steel as compared to what you were supposed to.
That’s good. I think a lot of people forget to acknowledge the, the green steel kind of side of the heavy manufacturing businesses and all those initiatives that are taking place. So anything that goes out in the market requires lot of work.
So I’ve been a part of the project a bit later because it, it has been just one and a half year now in InfraBuild. Yeah. And when I see all the trials and when we do the product trials just we go through so many different cycles of, you know, trying to figure out how we can achieve our goals.
Yeah. And it’s a big contribution from you know, different teams across incremental when they come together to do a product. Yeah.
Starting off by like technical, you know, metallurgical aspect and production. Everyone plays a big role in, you know, working through the whole process and getting a new product done. Yeah.
So I guess thinking around tradesperson or an engineer that’s looking for a new career path, why might they choose to work at InfraBuild? I would talk first from an engineering perspective. We have a lot of graduate roles that come up and it’s in different, you know, areas of specialisation. You could be in electrical team, mechanical or production.
You could be anywhere you want to. So if it’s a new engineer who’s coming over to working with intra build, you’ll be having, I think it’s a two year graduate program that we usually have and you’ll be put around different areas to learn different aspects of the mill. So that’s a good exposure for engineer to, you know, apply their knowledge or learn in different areas across the whole mill.
So they’re part of like a multi disciplined engineering team. Yes. Because that’s how it usually works as even if you go and then you can choose where you know what you like to do, which team you want to work at into or how you want to do things.
That depends on you. So. Okay.
It gives you an opportunity to figure out what you would like to do. Yeah. Yeah.
Awesome. So that’s good for trade person. Probably it’s a good workplace to work with.
You get good training and I think one of the aspects I really like about InfraBuild is the focus on mental health. Okay. So we do have trainings on mental health.
I think in two weeks I have another training. Okay. So that’s the first time I’m going to go in into a mental health training.
So you can put up your name and go in. Okay. Is there a particular course that they run? I.
It’s, it’s a two or three day course. So you can be someone, they want someone to be aware of if there is a problem, you know, to look out for people. Yeah.
Different ways to approach them or so you can get that training done and you can be a representative to be on site. It could be anyone, it could be an operator, it could be an engineer. You know, such an important step on sites and especially I think dealing with, you know, these predominantly male dominated workforces who aren’t always as good as expressing how they’re feeling.
Obviously mental health can affect anyone but yeah, it’s such a good initiative. Yes, I agree to that. I think it’s hard for them to talk out how they feel and I think it’s just rooted from society, isn’t it that you know, men should keep the pain to themselves and it’s, you know, be strong, be bold.
Yeah. I think it has to change with time. I think it’s slowly changing but it’s going to take a while I guess and I guess quite important in an environment there too where this older generation that probably struggle with that conversation even more.
They do, they do other people. So. Yeah, I agree.
So earlier you spoke, I guess some, some new projects that you’re working on. I guess if we think of, you know, today’s environment as far as manufacturing innovations are really critical part of that as far as staying ahead. Can you share any other initiatives that’s happening at Infrabuild at the moment? So I think the most important thing whenever we are running a project is let people talk and reading the energy of the room because sometimes a quieter person could have a good idea in their head and they might not be able to talk it out or speak about it.
So sometimes it’s about I know everyone knows better. Keeping that mentality aside as to I know better than anyone else, it’s about, it’s okay, you know, let the other person speak up what they are thinking in their head. Yeah.
And giving a chance to them to speak up and probably motivate them or you know, just give them a feedback, you know, I love your idea or I didn’t like your idea. So I think it depends from manager to Manager as well, how they deal with their team themselves. So our manager is pretty good with that aspect if I’m working with him.
So he loves to take feedback or he’s open always to listen to, you know, what we want to tell him or if you have an idea, if he can make it work or yeah, he’ll be up for it and contribute towards it. So that’s a good thing. Yeah.
As you said, I think it definitely helps with the motivation piece. Yeah. And then everyone tells you each other, no question is a stupid question.
I think that helps me a lot and I tell this to everyone else too. So ask whatever you want to, discuss whatever you want to. And I think conversations can lead to innovations.
Just normally conversation building up, you know, just one after the other. Ideas together, stacking up together. Yeah.
Lead to a big, you know, innovation. Yeah. It’s a good idea, like good concept, like.
Yeah. Fresh ideas. Yeah.
Instead of just doing it the same old, same old. Motivation is important. Yeah, absolutely.
That whole kind of, I think empowering your team to be heard. Yeah. And what about manufacturing in general? Do you.
Where do you think the industry might be in say 5, 10 years time? For us it’s very good. I think we are growing and everything is good. But one of the things that I think bothers me a little bit is a bar, electric like bar prices.
That’s one of the things that I feel could impact our industry on long term basis. So probably something needs to be done about it and more support needs to be given to the manufacturing industry going forward. But for sure there’s a bright future.
Yeah. So looking at alternative. Yeah, hydrogen or you know, everyone is having a thought about it but probably going forward it’s yeah.
Environmental engineers, they work in this particular area as to trying to figure out, you know, alternative ways and obviously you shared your own story earlier about, you know, relocating to the Hunter for your first role in Australia. What do you think some main benefits of working in the manufacturing industry in the Hunter? I think there’s so much of different options up at Hunter. Like there’s no, you know, lack of opportunity up here.
Specifically in manufacturing space, steel, mining like you ask for. You have everything up here like so many options and I think it’s, it’s booming. Specifically Hunter.
Hunter region is doing very well and it’s going to grow more. Yeah. Lots of talent in the region.
Yes, it is. A lot of people are coming over for jobs in this area too. So.
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of opportunities for people who are going to come up here in this region and as far as, I guess, you know, other females in the industry, obviously it can be, you know, tough being a female engineer.
Could you share with us maybe some advice that you provide to other female engineers? Advice? When I talk about advice, probably I always thought it’s not the workplace. I think it’s the home. Home is where you know, our confidence is built up from.
I was reading this article somewhere that said that women only apply for a job if, you know, all the skills match 100%. Yeah. While men apply if they.
Even if they are, you know, at 60% mark, that’s the risk taking factor that comes into the picture. So I think we downplay a lot of times, you know, so if you are up for something, just go ahead and be confident and do it. And there are good people who would even support you when you know, they know you have this potential.
Yeah. To support you through the whole process. But I think it just comes from inside.
And I myself, a lot of times I, I panic. I’m. Because I, I have figured out this call it, I don’t know, is it quality or a bad quality.
I keep on, you know, pulling myself down. So I always tell myself, sonia, be confident. I talk to myself inside and I’m like, be confident.
You’re better than this. Yeah. I try to push myself.
But the most important thing is if you love it, just be confident and go ahead and working with men is really cool. I enjoy. They take care of you and it’s good to work with them.
They are not going to. You know, I’ve never figured out a situation or felt a situation where, you know, they are talking to me in a bad, disrespectful way or anything of that sort. That’s really good.
So I enjoyed working with all of them. But I think some way or the other, you just need to be confident, positive inner voice. Yes.
That’s all we need. Very good. I guess getting to know you a little bit better and you’ve already shared one of your interests outside of work.
What else do you do to kind of balance that mental health in the workplace? So once work is done, I go and play badminton. I love playing badminton. So I go to Wickham to play badminton.
Yeah. And I’m a dancer too, so I love dancing. I’m not that much active now, dancing space, but back in Brisbane, I used to do a lot of dancing.
Okay. I think I need to go back in to dancing again. Sounds like it really enjoyed it last time.
Yeah, I did. I do love dancing. I’m a happy person while dancing.
Yeah. And Pilates as well. Just, you know, to keep going.
I think that’s good to go through life and. Yeah, that’s all I do. Awesome.
Well, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been great chatting with you and your journey and. Yeah, I guess if anyone wants to reach out to Sonia, this is somewhere we can find you on social media or probably LinkedIn.
LinkedIn. I’m there on LinkedIn. Thank you, Mel.
Awesome. Cool. Thank you.
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