Building transport links

Oliver Jefferies from Mott MacDonald is an engineer on a mission to build transport links.

Name: Oliver Jefferies
Job: Civil engineer
Company: Mott MacDonald

Hi, I'm Oliver Jefferies, I'm a civil engineer working for Mott MacDonald and I'm on a mission to build transport links.

So I first got inspired to do engineering when I watched a TV show presented by Richard Hammond. It was on Taipei 101 and it was about how they've put this massive pendulum in the top of the building to resist the wind forces to stop the building moving, and I was really interested to see how they used what I was learning in school in a real practical environment.

From there I went and studied civil engineering at university and I did two summer placements, and on the back of my second summer placement I got offered a job which really took the stress out of applying for jobs in the final year of uni.

So one of the most interesting things I've worked on was providing an access road to a new hospital. So I got to use lots of different new software and come up with a 3D model of the access road and bridges along it. I can then use virtual reality to view this model which is really fun to play with.

For me the best thing about engineering is how diverse it is. It covers such a wide spectrum, such as flooding, transport, energy, so you can really have an impact on the everyday lives of people.

I often get asked about my job and I really would recommend it to anyone. You do something different every day, it's really enjoyable and you get to go out on site, it's secure, the pay's good, there's loads of jobs available, it just is a fantastic career.