Judy Eid

What was your experience of the application and interview process?

I initially applied to Tony Gee during my masters at Imperial College (Soil Mechanics and Environmental Geotechnics). Tarryn Chalmers (Associate Specialist Director, Geotechnics) came to our university to give us a presentation about a project Tony Gee worked on. Based on the project, I was really interested in Tony Gee, so after the presentation I applied for a graduate position.

Of course, whenever you go for an interview, you find it scary, I was anxious at the time. However, my interview was more of a discussion about technical aspects rather than answering technical questions like an exam. This was really interesting because you’d see how the person thinks, or how they would approach the problem.

The day after the interview I received a job offer and was invited to come to the office to meet the geotechnical team and see how they operate here in Esher. It was brilliant because I actually saw people solving problems by hand, doing engineering.

Now, whenever my friends tell me they’re going through the process of interviewing for different jobs I always tell them if they get a chance to visit the office, take it. It’s a great way to see what the people are like and what the culture is like.

What do you enjoy about being in the geotechnics team?

This is the interesting thing about geotechnics, you’re working with different sectors (rail, marine etc). So because you’re working with different site conditions, you’re working with different soils, so you will not encounter the same properties everywhere. You need to have a different interpretation. You’ll have different soil properties and different problems associated with the soil. I like that geotechnical engineering is not monotonous, it’s different every time.

I have gained a lot of experience in just one year because the projects are very interesting. They know how to choose the projects, we don’t go just for anything, we go for interesting projects that would make a difference.

What actions from your colleagues have made you feel the most supported in you daily work and career?

Everyone is very helpful. So what I like about the geotechnical team is that everyone is willing to help you and everyone has something special in their skill set. Lets say I’m good at slope stability models and someone is good at something else, so we always help each other.

We work properly as a team and we always have discussions in the office, everyone is willing to engage in discussions. This is the important bit because this is how you grow in your field. You cannot just say that “I know everything” or “I’m the best in everything”. The way you see how other people would approach certain problem might be different to the way you approach it and their way might be better than your way.

This is the very nice thing about the geotechnical team here at Tony Gee, everyone is willing to help, and everyone is willing to engage in discussion.

I have recently been working with the power team for Sizewell, which is also something interesting because structural engineers think differently to geotechnical engineers. This made me realise that the way I understand things as a geotechnical engineer does not mean that another person would understand them the same way. So, the way you need to transmit the information is a bit different.

When I first joined, I was directly assigned to a delegated engineer, so I can develop myself towards chartership, which is an important bit to start early. Even in terms of getting chartered, everyone is willing to help and everyone is there whenever you need them. Tony Gee is a place to grow on a personal and professional level.

Is there anything, other than project work, that you enjoy about being at Tony Gee?

I really like that they are always organising social events. The company always has something going on, even if it’s not a big social event, just bringing cake to the meeting room, you’ll go there and meet a lot of people.

Another thing that is really nice about working at Tony Gee is the interest in volunteering and giving back to the community. I participated in one of the volunteering activities, which was gardening work back in January. It was just after I started, so it was a good opportunity to just spend a day giving back to the community and at the same time meet people from around the office.