Meet Daniel Esposito
How a love for water paved the path to an engineering career
Daniel Esposito is a new recruit to the WMS Engineering team in Brisbane and it’s a role he’s relishing. It’s obvious that Daniel has a zest for life, applying his analytical mind and management skills to a range of pursuits both in and outside the office.
An affinity for water
Daniel doesn’t hesitate when asked what led him to pursue a career in engineering, and in particular water engineering. He says, “I’ve always had a bit of an affinity for water. I was a swimmer back in the day, so have always been fascinated by it. During my time at university, the water (engineering) courses stood out.” Daniel’s assertion that he was “a swimmer back in the day” is a bit of an understatement. As a teenager he competed in Nationals, and then went on to compete for his college at university. Although these days he hasn’t got time to pursue his love of swimming, his fascination for water continues through his work.
Water engineering career
Before joining the WMS team, Daniel did undergraduate work in the public sector before moving into the private sector. He worked at both Stantec and Colliers Engineering and Design. This is where he honed his skills in water engineering, working on linear infrastructure, dams, and residential developments. He has worked on some of the biggest dam infrastructure projects in Queensland and he looks forward to applying the skills developed in that field in his new position with WMS.
The impact of water engineering
Climate change is impacting all areas of water engineering and it’s an area that Daniel sees as important. Recent adverse and severe weather events have highlighted the importance of the type of work Daniel is doing at WMS. Daniel says “there’s obviously a greater need for people within the space. Recent floods have served as a reminder that our solutions need to be future-proof. There’s going to be increased volatility and rainfall events, especially with climate change.”
Daniel says, “It’s about interpreting and analysing data to develop practical and achievable design frameworks to help us solve problems. It’s easy to get lost in the models, but it’s also about trying to provide the best outcome.”
Diversity and innovation at WMS
A big attraction of working for WMS from Daniel’s perspective is the diversity of clients they service. He says, “We serve everyone from ASX top five (companies) through to mum and dad developers. It enables us to be a multifaceted engineering firm in terms of approach and handling. It demonstrates an eagerness to work with anybody.”
Regardless of the client though, every project is centred on getting the best outcome for stakeholders. Daniel explains it by saying, “We take on a universal approach in terms of not only how this looks from a flooding perspective, but a constructability and a cost perspective. It’s about going the extra mile to at least achieve a huge value add for the client.”
Daniel also appreciates that the younger team he works with has a “propensity to establish or utilise new methods and learning. We’re always keen to push the needle in terms of applying AI (artificial intelligence) and computer programming to optimise our work systems.” At the moment that sees them streamlining scripting and writing up of code so that efficiency is heightened.
Away from engineering
While Daniel doesn’t get much swimming in these days, he does believe in a work life balance. You might find him pounding the pavement in non-competitive (for now) runs, or tutoring high school students in mathematics. Pursuits you might expect of an engineer. But breaking away from the stereotypical engineer, Daniel also runs a music events business focusing on electronic house music with some former uni mates. While this might appear worlds away from water engineering, it’s actually developing skills he uses in his day job. These include communicating and collaborating with a variety of people, attention to detail and even negotiation. Daniel likes challenging people’s preconceived ideas. He says, “I think people look at water modellers and think oh, they just live on their computers.” But Daniel demonstrates how life away from the screen also enriches his water engineering work.
