Tenacious, bold and curious - this engineering graduate is thriving.

Less than a year ago Nadiah joined the team at Bradken’s foundry in Merlimau, Malaysia as a Graduate Trainee, having just completed a Bachelor’s degree in Mineral Resources Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia. As it is for many new graduates, crossing the threshold from student life into the realm of the working world has been a challenging time for her as she’s adapted to the intricacies of the fast-paced foundry environment. But her smile says it all – this bright and ambitious young professional is exactly where she wants to be and is ready to make her mark and carve out her path toward success in this new chapter of her life.

Failing Forward

Nadiah’s advice for peers looking to take their first steps into a career in a graduate role is to “be teachable” and resilient. Most importantly, she says to remember that being wrong sometimes isn’t a bad thing. “My experience is that it’s better to try and be wrong than to not try at all. Growth and innovation requires us to experience and respect failure so don’t be discouraged by making a mistake, I look at it as an opportunity to learn. That way, we can improve for the better, one step at a time.”

For young women looking to take on non-traditional careers, particularly in Malaysia where the mining and manufacturing industries are heavily male dominated, she says to remember that “we [women] are far more than what people assume of us. We are smart, intuitive and determined and can do and be anything we set our minds to.”