My Journey to Ireland and PMCE Consultants – by Antonis Papadakis
I left Greece and came to Ireland on a midsummer’s day three months ago, seeking to make the leap from Construction to the Transportation sector, which I am most interested in, to broaden my horizons in an international environment, gain valuable knowledge, and to challenge myself through working with PMCE in its Dublin Office.
From the outset, the city of Dublin demonstrated its hospitality in what I regard as a wonderfully colorful and multicultural society. You don’t really have to make a real effort to communicate here, as the Irish have an extroverted and friendly culture – I find it quite sincere, not a contrived or overly PC approach to life. You can’t take yourself too seriously, as the sarcastic and often self-deprecating humour is everywhere, which is great fun, and in my opinion is a nice element which breaks communication boundaries very effectively. The city is vibrant and cheerful with a plethora of choices from entertainment, nightlife, sports events and clubs to scientific lectures and a very active business sector.
When I joined PMCE as a Civil Engineer, my main motivation was to develop my engineering skills and engage in the discipline of Traffic, Highways and Transportation Engineering, which I specialised in during my studies. I quickly found myself in a dynamic, collaborative and friendly environment, where even in my first few days began to gain significant knowledge, engage in projects and integrate seemingly effortlessly to the team. This was down to a huge effort made by all team members, which I really do appreciate and I’m thankful for since joining earlier this year. From the very first moment I felt that my fellow team members encouraged me through careful instruction and constant collaboration to quickly integrate into the team, and become self-dependent and resourceful, which has allowed me to contribute to goal setting, and to the projects delivered by the team and I.
Anyone would easily acknowledge the everyday elements of professionalism at PMCE, yet the team dynamic is quite family oriented, whilst rich experience and a passion for the job we do can also be identified even in routine operations. Every project that I have been involved with up to now has been interesting, challenging and rewarding, including traffic and transportation assessments, road safety audits, feasibility reports, collision analysis and engineering designs, where each one of them holds different obstacles, uniqueness and scale.
Overall my experience has already given me so many ideas to develop and work on, which is supported through PMCE’s internal performance review process. Contributing to projects is undoubtedly very fulfilling and challenging, and therefore I am very curious and, dare I say, thrilled about where the future will indeed take me.
