Engineering

[Groovy guitar music playing and a camera shot of someone's feet walking on a road.]

[Karina Kaufusi is standing in an office in front of a computer.]

[Karina say's a greeting in a Pacific language and introduces herself.]

I went to Epsom Girls Grammar and I'm a structural engineer. 

[Words on screen: "Why do you love your job?"]

I love my job because I get to design structures, like bridges and walls that help our friends and families travel all around New Zealand. 

One of the best things about my job is that I get to create something on my computer and then watch it come to life when it gets built. 

[Camera shot to a complicated looking design on Karina's computer screen.]

[Words on screen: " What unique skills do Pasifika people bring to this career pathway?"]

The structures we build are for our communities. If we have more voices like mine and yours, to have a say on what these structures could look like, or how they could have an impact on our communities, then we can come up with the best solution for everyone. 

[Words on screen: "What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?"]

The subjects that helped me the most in my journey and are still critical in my day to day job, are maths and science. Maths and science are all about understanding how things work, and that's the foundation of engineering. 

So STEM subjects are exciting because they help us understand how things work. If we understand how things work, then we can have things like roads, electricity to like your house, clean water, for you to drink, medical equipment for your doctors to use and [indistinct words] Tiktok videos. 

STEM subjects give us the knowledge to help innovate, to improve people's lives all around the world. 

Imagine how cool it would be if you were a part of that. 

[Groovy guitar music plays and the camera pans across a desk with a blue water bottle sitting on it, a laptop and computer screens.]

Kia ora koutou kātoa [indistinct Māori]. My name is Enjie. I went to Wellington East Girls College and I'm a software developer here at TradeMe. 

[Words on screen: "Why do you love your job?"]

I love the fact that I get to come in every day and learn and I get to problem solve using code. I get to build technology for one of New Zealand's biggest tech companies that I think more so, yes, the learning and the problems solving. 

[Words on screen: "What unique skills do Pasifika people bring to this career pathway?"]

I think back to our tīpuna and remember that we were the navigators of the sea. And I think we bring that natural sense of curiosity and ingenuity to tech, and it's needed. The way we think the way we brought up, all of that contributes to that. So we need more of us in there. 

[Words on screen: " What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?"]

Key subjects, mathematics, absolutely, and I think the sciences as well. Any of them, physics, chemistry, biology just having exposure to that analytical way of thinking. But also computer studies, computer science and computer programming if you have it offered to you. 

If you find these subjects hard, that's normal. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. 

What I want to say is push yourself and persevere. If you love learning. If you love problem solving, give it a go!

And if you struggle, try it again, and keep trying. And I promise it will get easier. 

It did for me!