Meet Our Alumni - Jordan

Hi, my name is Jordan and I am a founding IEA Alumni member from 2011. I graduated from Sheffield in 2013 with a BEng in Aerospace Engineering. I decided that an MEng was not for me and left Sheffield after three happy years with a big smile on my face. A few months after graduation, I moved back to my hometown, Perth, Australia. After living overseas for the previous 9 years, I happily settled back into everyday Australian life.

Once I was in Perth my sole focus was on finding a job where I could use my recently acquired degree. Unfortunately, I arrived in Perth just as its mining boom was taking a dive, which made finding graduate work quite tough. I was lucky to get a retail job to support myself whilst job-hunting which, looking back, helped me gain a lot of skills that university just can’t teach you. I met a lot of people working there and made some good friends too. I put a lot of value on social circles outside of the university or professional “bubbles” we often find ourselves in.

Aside from retail work and job-hunting, I was able to do some travelling both domestically and internationally. I’d have to say that Cape Tribulation, Queensland, was my favourite destination over the last few years. The isolation and undisturbed beauty of Australia’s rainforests is something that has to be experienced first hand.

After a couple of years of job-hunting (yes it can take quite a while!) I found a job with Australia’s Department of Defence. I work as an engineer assisting with Capabilities Development and Acquisitions. It is not a job I had imagined doing when I was a student at Sheffield but it’s great. I get to work on really cool projects with some awesome (and very smart) people. It’s funny how a job you were never aware of pops up out of the blue and seems to be such a perfect match for your interests and skills. I’m hoping to stay here for quite a while and see where it takes me. I think my student self would have been happy knowing where I’ve ended up today.

Sheffield will always have a place in my heart and I do my best to visit the city on my very occasional trips back to the UK. Nothing beats a British pub or fish and chips!