An Associate’s life at Hexa: Tom O’Loingsigh
Our associate Tom O’Loingsigh gives insight into his life at Hexa Consulting since joining us 18 months ago, including his favourite aspects of work, his daily activities and the importance of a great workplace culture.
Getting started
The start of my day centres around doing all I can to get myself set up to have as good a day as possible. From actioning important emails, to creating my own to-do lists, without that small amount of life admin and having the time do this, my productivity would massively slip.
Through the flexibility of my role, I’m able to tailor my days to suit my needs as an associate as well as my life outside of work. Whether I’m working from home or in the office, each day is different depending on what site locations I may need to visit or what meetings I need to attend. I really enjoy that my daily priorities are not stagnant. I’m always doing different tasks, making my work more fulfilling and allowing me to grow and development in the role.
Daily details
My work largely centres around the area of the industry that I’m passionate about the most; education. Since starting at Hexa 18 months ago, I’ve been able to work on many different education-based projects, covering primary, secondary, academy and SEN schools. Acting as a project lead on the structural engineering side, I’m able to oversee the whole duration of a project’s lifespan, from the tender stages and costings to planning permission and the design of essential foundations and steel frames. Being a part of the process that makes a building what it is at its core is incredibly rewarding.
More broadly, working on education sector projects means being involved in the beginning of what is going to be a catalyst for the growth and learning of the next generation, which is one of the reasons I enjoy operating in the sector so much.
Other areas of my role include acting as a problem solver for any issues that may arise, whether it is in the design stages or in the construction stage. It’s my responsibility to be on hand to support our clients in assuring timescales are kept to, while also supporting our project partners across the various disciplines that collaborate to complete a stellar scheme. Seeing a project through to completion after all the hard work is definitely satisfying and just makes me want to get started on the next.
In terms of my own growth, I’ve been able to mould my role in line with my interests, allowing me to have autonomy over my career and really shape my own future within Hexa and the sector.
For anyone looking to either start their career in the industry or looking for ways to develop within their roles, my main piece of advice would be to carve your work and career, the same way you would the rest of your life. Finding out what you don’t enjoy and what you do and focusing on building on the latter.
Culture is key
I’ve never worked in such a positive and thriving environment before. I’ve realised that collaboration - whether through the drop in set up of our office or the great relationships I’ve grown since starting - is key to our success.
Our team has such vast experience and having known a few of them for a long time, it’s been really easy for me to grow my knowledge and learn from others. Growth is so important at Hexa, both individually and as a team, and we have multiple training initiatives available to support this, which I aim to take full advantage of during my Hexa journey.
