#Gradstories Meet Virginia Karimi Njagi, a Graduate Engineer at Uisce Éireann

My name is Virginia Njagi. I work for Uisce Éireann which is also known as Irish Water. I’m a Graduate Engineer in Asset Management and Sustainability.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Well, the days vary but I’d say the busiest one would be Wednesdays. That would involve a team meeting between around 10am/11am to review how the previous week went as well as a review of a few documents for key stakeholders. Then I do some more document review and look at data because I’m currently working in Social Sustainability. We’re looking to educate about 1 million people by 2030 on the value of water. So, we’re just looking at how different departments in the company feed into that.

What advice would you have for a student or graduate looking to purse this career?

I would advise them to be very open-minded. The graduate programme has 3 rotations, each of them being 8 months. So essentially within those 3 rotations, you’re in 3 different teams, usually in 3 different departments. Because of this, you get a feel of the business in all aspects. In my first rotation, I did a bit of data analysis. The second one was more of planning and this last one is document review and looking into social sustainability as well as different aspects of sustainability such as waste to energy.

What do you love most about your job?

What I love most about my job is that there’s room for growth within the company. They allow you to take certain learning programs and you get discounts on post degree learning through the job. I got to take on the Lean Six Sigma – the white belt and the yellow belt and there’s also room to take on the green belt. They allow you to build on different areas within your career and provide a gateway into Engineers Ireland which helps engineers grow.