July 31 2024
It’s unusual to hear about an elite athlete pivoting to start a career in engineering, but Horizon Power’s Graduate Engineer Amie Thompson has done just that.
Amie, who represented Australia at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics in artistic swimming, balanced her training with an Engineering degree graduating at the top of her class, with Honours at Murdoch University.
In 2023, Amie took the plunge and made the switch from the pool, joining Horizon Power’s graduate engineering program.
Since then, she has been working in the Engineering & Project Delivery Division, gaining experience on a variety of technical projects.
Now in her second year with WA’s regional energy provider, Amie is loving being part of a team which is working on transforming the state’s power system to one that is more renewable and sustainable.
With the Paris Olympics underway, we had a chat to Amie to find out more about her non-traditional career path, and why she chose to step out of the pool and take a dive into the world of electrical engineering.
What sparked your interest in engineering?
I was always a maths girl growing up. My nanna remembers when I was four years old, she would walk downstairs in the morning and see me already on the couch doing my homework. I was always interested in numbers, and good at it.
Later, while travelling the world competing in artistic swimming, I began my studies at Murdoch University. In 2023 I graduated from Murdoch with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), with a double major in renewable engineering and environmental engineering.
What does your role at Horizon Power involve?
I'm in the graduate program and we rotate departments every six months. So far, I’ve worked on a variety of projects including front-end engineering and design advice, writing asset class strategies for overhead and underground power equipment and BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) acceptance tests.
What do you love about your job?
I love being a part of a bigger plan to transform the WA power system to one that is more renewable and sustainable, plus Horizon Power’s focus on serving their customers. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to help others, but also work in a technical industry.
Horizon Power is the best of both worlds - no matter what department you are in, you are contributing to delivering reliable and safe power to the consumer, whilst finding innovative ways to deliver power in the most sustainable manner.
Another aspect I love about Horizon Power is the workplace culture - an environment where intellect is in abundance, as is high work ethic, diversity, kindness and a willingness to share knowledge.
As an elite athlete, you had resilience, dedication, and discipline. What can you apply from your sporting background to your current role?
As an athlete training between four to nine hours a day since I was 15 years old, I learnt great time management skills, which helps me prioritise my tasks and deliver high quality work on time.
Communication - I have worked with over 20 coaches from a variety of countries and have learnt a lot in the way of communicating with different people, from team members to coaches, CEOs and even with billionaires!
Teamwork - In a team sport, teamwork is one of the most important skills to learn and master. It helps me in my job now as so much of the work is collaborative.
Competing in a high-pressure environment, I have also learnt resilience. I’ve applied this to my current job as the goal posts are often moving in the project world!
Are you tuning in to watch the Olympics? What’s your favourite sport to watch?
Absolutely! I love watching all the technical sports such as gymnastics, trampolining and diving. Of course, I’ll watch the artistic swimming. I'm excited to watch the current Aussie team compete and see what the other countries bring to the table! I am now competing in amateur triathlons, so I will also be watching the tri races.
