From intern to design engineer: Kayla on building a water career in Texas

Kayla, an Engineer II in the Water group based in Austin, on designing the infrastructure that brings clean water to communities, and the team that's helped her grow from intern to design engineer in four and a half years.

Kayla joined AtkinsRéalis as an intern in her senior year of college and never left. Four and a half years on, she's an Engineer II in the Water group in Austin, designing the pipelines, storage facilities and treatment plants that keep clean water flowing to communities across Texas. 

"Water is one of the most important resources in the world," she says. "Being able to design and understand the infrastructure it goes through, from raw water all the way to treated water coming out at the tap, is one of the best things to see."

Work that reaches the community

For Kayla, the appeal of water engineering is how directly it matters. Her team designs the systems that store, treat and transport clean drinking water, the kind of infrastructure people rely on every day without ever thinking about it.

"I believe my work has a real impact on communities," she says. "We design the infrastructure to store, treat, and transport clean drinking water to individuals and communities." It's work you can point to, and increasingly, work she gets to stand next to.

Seeing projects come to life

One of the things Kayla values most is watching a project travel from a drawing to something real. She has followed a pipeline from its very beginning through to active construction, and is now supporting the construction services on it.

She's also had the chance to get out into the field. She has visited a reservoir site, a 42-inch water pipeline, and a 24-inch pipeline being installed by trenchless jack-and-bore construction, and toured a manufacturing facility to see how fiberglass-reinforced pipe is made, tested and stored before it reaches the client.

"I'm not just doing water pipeline design," she says. "I'm also working on booster pump stations, water treatment facilities, and sewer rehabilitation projects." That range has stretched her technically, and lately she's been drawn into the proposal process too, seeing the effort that goes into winning a project long before design begins.

What helps her do her best work

Ask Kayla what makes the difference, and she doesn't start with the projects. She starts with the people.

"I do my best work because I'm surrounded by a great team," she says. "My boss, my coworkers, and the project managers are always open to a conversation and will set aside time to answer my questions or teach me a concept I might not fully be grasping." Collaborating across teams has become one of her favorite ways to learn, picking up knowledge she can carry into future designs.

The flexibility matters too. "I don't feel pigeon-holed into the corporate nine-to-five," she says. "I can collaborate in the office with the team, but also get focused, productive time at home when I need it."

Four and a half years in, that mix of real responsibility, variety, and a team that invests in her is what's kept her here, and kept her growing.

We're growing our Water team across the US.