Nothing stands in the way of success for Jayden Grigg – Graduate Engineer at Babcock Australasia. With a longstanding passion for working within the defence industry, and years of hard work under his belt, Jayden is thriving within his dream career.
As a Graduate Engineer, Jayden has surveyed assets to assist with product design and created fabrication drawings for products. He has also listed accompanying materials needed for fabrication and provided assistance to other engineering team members when electrical or electronic expertise is required.
“No two days are the same in my role – one day I am writing reports and formatting documentation for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and the next day I am testing the compliance of a device or determining how hot a radiator pipe will get,” Jayden describes.
“Engineering involves a high level of reading comprehension, detail discrimination, mathematics and focus, all in that order. A critical part of my role involves understanding the standards and then showing mathematically that we meet those standards, as well as managing stakeholders, including the ADF and manufacturing industry.”
“Project management skills are also required to ensure outcomes are validated, verified and delivered on-time.”
Jayden has always had strong family ties to the defence industry, with his parents having served within the ADF. Combining this passion with his love for mathematics, problem-solving, and making a difference, Jayden pursued a career in engineering at university.
“I was set on joining the Defence Force, specifically the Navy as it was where I saw that I could provide the greatest value. Because of this I studied the various ranks, assets and locations of the ADF. This general knowledge of Defence serves me well in my current role at Babcock,” Jayden says.
“Additionally, I completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics) (Honours) at Flinders University and finished at the end of 2019.”
Whilst completing his final year of university, Jayden undertook a six month exchange with multidisciplinary engineering school and research centre, ENSTA Bretagne, in Brest, France. That same year in France, Jayden completed an internship with Thales, where he worked on the Autonomous Surface Vessel program, among various other projects.
“My project at Thales was specifically to create a small drone that would be able to operate in the open ocean autonomously for one year. This drone would operate through the use of a basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that controlled the various systems of the drone,” Jayden explains.
“By using basic AI, we were able to specify the direction of the drone via the navigation subsystem and using the sensors and propellers on-board. My role was mainly firmware, but I was also involved in the creation of the AI and the mission management tool.”
Jayden is proud of his achievements, and says the investment Babcock puts into its staff will allow his success to continue.
“Here at Babcock I love the camaraderie and personal investment. Babcock is big on the development of engineering skills, even after education. I am encouraged to continue my engineering development, to the point where Babcock is willing to provide me with training external to the company,” Jayden says.
“I am being provided opportunities, both in and out of projects, to take the raw skills that I learned in university and to forge them into accurate and precise tools that make me an engineering force to be reckoned with.”
“The challenges I have seen my manager face and the engineering prowess I have seen him demonstrate leaves me excited about building my engineering career with Babcock.”
Jayden’s advice for budding engineers and those chasing a career dream within the defence industry revolves around tackling your fears and stepping outside of your comfort zone.
“The problems and challenges in the Defence Industry are similar to those you will face in other industries, but the difference is that every system is absolutely mission critical every time,” Jayden says.
“This gives me a love for my job, where I can impose the beauty of mathematics on a difficult problem and see my solution become reality.”