Council Cadetship A Great Way To Learn

Friday, 10 January 2025, 9:54 pm
Article: Diane McCarthy - Local Democracy Reporter

Being able to study while getting practical on-the-job experience has made a cadetship at Whakatāne District Council a great choice for 19-year-old Dominic Bradbury.

“It’s been the best decision of my life,” said the former Whakatāne High School student.

One of three engineering cadets working at the council, the four-year term contract allows him to do block courses toward a diploma in civil engineering at Hamilton’s NZIHT (New Zealand Institute of Highway Technology) and do a job where he can make a difference to in his community.

“I love going away to study. I’ve done two semesters already last year and completed two courses each semester. I’m really enjoying it,” he said.

The best part was being able to put what he was learning into practice and take that practical experience through to inform his theoretical learning.

“It’s a really good way to learn,” he said.

While he had always been interested in engineering and had looked at studying software engineering at university, he had not considered a career in civil engineering until the cadetship was suggested to him.

“I was finishing up my last year of high school figuring out whether I wanted to go to uni or get straight into work and a family member told me that I could do both by working for the council. I tried my luck and so far, I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Being able to see a project through to completion while overcoming all the problem-solving challenges along the way was part of what drew him to engineering.

While getting out on the end of a shovel has made up part of the job, he has also had a chance to manage a project from start to finish – from identifying issues that need fixing, to planning a programme of work, putting it out to contract and overseeing it to completion.

“Last year, I managed the footpath renewal contract out in Murupara.Beginning with spending a full day walking the streets identifying cracks and trip lips (differences in pavement heights that can cause people to trip) to figuring out what needed doing and making sure everything was up to standard took up much of his year.

“And coming up this year I’m spending a lot of time helping out with a resurfacing contract.”

Another responsibility that keeps cadets busy is requests for service (RFS), when members of the public find things that need attention and report them to the council.

“We identify a lot of our faults through that. It’s a useful tool,” Mr Bradbury said.

One of the frustrations he found was that when work didn’t get done straight away there was a public perception that the request had been ignored.

“If you go and repair one piece of footpath here and one piece there, it’s going to cost way too much. It works out cheaper if it can be co-ordinated with another job.

“So, it won’t always get done straight away, but it gets identified and we will pull together a package of work. We go out and inspect every RFS that comes in. The information is getting logged and we decide, depending on the urgency, what needs to be done.”

Having grown up in Whakatāne, his hobbies include mountain biking – the Gunna Gotta track at Rotorua being a favourite – and snowboarding in winter.

Although it’s hard to know where life will have taken him by the end of the four years, he hopes his future will include spending some time overseas and perhaps going on to further study toward a masters in engineering.

“I’d like to spread my wings and have a look at what life has to offer.”

Meanwhile, he describes the council as “a cool environment”.

“It’s really nice working there. Everyone has such a passion to make the community a better place and it’s so cool seeing your efforts making a difference.

“Those values really shine through with all of the other workers there.”

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