He's been everywhere

Michael Sewell joined Monadelphous on the vacation program in 2017 and has never looked back. Over the past five years, he has had exposure across all the areas of our business, including with Perth ops, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and Roxby Downs.  

His first introduction to the world of engineering was through an elective at school, which sparked his interest. He would go home and talk about it all with his Dad, who is also in the industry. Michael now reflects on his time in the Southern Region and the highlights along the way.  

“I believe gaining experience on site is invaluable for any engineer. There is a lot of preplanning and effort that goes into these projects in the office, but to then be in the field and see it all come together really helps with building your knowledge,” said Michael.  

“There’s always a lot going on, with the trades and supervisors and if you aren’t on site to see it happen, you don’t understand and appreciate everything that happens behind the scenes.”  

Michael has focused on building good relationships – he explains he has met and worked with some great people over the years.  

“I think building quality relationships is important. It has helped me enjoy every project and team I’ve been a part of to date. I believe there is something you can learn from everyone; you can’t underestimate the knowledge you can gain from key people on site who have 20 to 30 years’ worth of industry experience that you can learn from,” Michael explains.  

Now that he has worked in a couple of areas across the business, Michael reflects on the support network he has around him.  

“If I ever need advice, I’ll reach out to my network around me who have an abundance of experience to leverage, there is sure to be someone you know who has the answer or information you’re after.”  

“Since signing off my graduate passport, I’ve been focused on moving more into an independent role and wanting to work on larger projects with variety. I’m now looking forward to mentoring and teaching the next wave of engineers,” he finishes.  

Outside of work, Michael enjoys the Australian Holy Trinity, in other words, camping, fishing and football. His favourite camping spot being thirty minutes out of Nannup in Western Australia, where he has been going twice a year for the past ten years with family and friends, claiming he knows the dirt bike tracks like the back of his hand.  

More recently, he has started to venture out into the realm of mountain bike riding, teaming up with some of our team in the south west to commit to the Cape to Cape in October. So, watch this space. 

As someone who has been exposed to every one of our branches, we finished by asking Michael which Southern Region branch was his favourite… You’ll have to ask him in person to find out! 

Thanks, Michael, for your service to the Southern Region – we look forward to seeing what you achieve next! 

Pictured left to right: Project Engineer, Mitchell Cavanagh, General Manager, Paul Franics, Project Engineer, Michael Sewell at the 50-years celebration in Roxby Downs last year.