Vaishali Haria

6.30 AM

I like to kickstart my day with a swim or a walk. I’m very lucky to live close to the bay so on some days, I go for a swim there, and on other days, I swim at the pool. I find starting my morning with some exercise gets me ready to smash out my work for the day! 

8.30 AM

After some exercise, I refuel with some breakfast, and turn my work laptop on. I typically use the first 30 minutes of my day to go over my task list, prioritise my tasks, and note down any questions I have before a meeting with the project team. 

9.00 AM

I jump into the first meeting for the day with our project team where we go through the list of tasks we need to action. I use these meetings to ask questions, be it technical, project or process related, that will help me with my tasks and my overall understanding of the project. 

9.30 AM

Moving from one meeting to the next. My meeting at 9.30 is with the wider Melbourne overhead wiring team. We always start a meeting with a safety or cultural moment. Today, we spoke about the recent shark attack that happened in NSW and reminded ourselves how important it is to consider and respect Australian wildlife.

Then, we go over what each member of the team is working on, lessons learnt in the past week, and also spend some time casually chatting. 

11.00 AM

After my meetings are done. I start working on some of the tasks on my list. Sometimes, it’s admin related, but it mostly involves design tasks on Inventor, Revit and/or AutoCAD. Since I have a submission due tomorrow, most of my time today is spent in making changes on AutoCAD and Inventor. 

12.30 PM 

For lunch, I aim to get away from my desk. If the weather permits, I go out for a walk and catch-up with a friend or colleague. Today, I caught up with a work colleague virtually. 

1.30 PM

After lunch, I like to spend time working on my task list for Limelight, our network for emerging professionals. As part of the Limelight committee, specifically as the Health and Safety pillar lead, my team and I plan and organise events for emerging professionals at Aurecon – from social events, wellbeing events and events related to environmental sustainability. Today, we are planning our first social event of the year, which is really exciting!  

2.30 PM 

After an hour, I go back to working on my design project which takes up most of my afternoon. I’m currently working on some comments and feedback I received on my design from my design checker and I am aiming to finish it before the end of the day so we’re on track for client delivery tomorrow. 

5.30 PM

The time I log off work varies. But since we have a submission tomorrow, I finish up slightly later than usual to give myself time to work on the project and ensure I am happy with the drawings and the reports that we will issue. 

To cap off my day, I like to spend my evenings catching up with friends, whether it’s cooking a meal for them or going out for dinner. Homemade pizzas are on the menu for tonight – yum!