Knowing that one day there is a community of people who will benefit from the end product brings Senior Associate Engineer Thanujah Haran joy and keeps her motivated at work.

What does it take to love what you do on a daily basis? For me, it's part workplace culture, part impact. I love my job because I know that I am contributing to a community. But it’s also Woods’ culture. From the way the company is set up to the tone they set – it's amazing. If I'd had known how amazing the culture was way before I joined, I would have loved to have been involved much sooner.

Since joining Woods in 2014, I’ve worked extensively on land development infrastructure projects. The majority of the time I’m at the front-end of the projects preparing master plans, liaising with the client, consulting with stakeholders, and preparing how the development will be rolled out. Depending on the day, I’m also involved in the design side of things and collaborating with the contractors to execute the build.

Our projects have such a massive scale that sometimes a project could be rolled out over five or six years or more like thirty years. There is nothing better than working on a project, handing it over, and then driving past the development five or six years later and seeing people living there. There is just a massive impact on the community.

That’s the joy of my job - being able to use my knowledge to provide housing for people. It brings me so much joy knowing that one day there is a community that I’m servicing or serving or creating. It keeps me motivated too.

One of the great things about working at Woods is the variety of projects and opportunities available. They’re always recognizing your skills and giving you new opportunities and you are able to grow as part of that. The opportunities that I have had have been so amazing and contributed to my growth.

If I was to describe my work life to a friend, I would explain how amazing it is to be able to build something and then get the satisfaction of driving past it and saying, “Wow, I built that,” or “I was part of the team who built that.” The fact I'm actually contributing to a community brings me so much joy and satisfaction.

Thanujah Haran - Senior Associate Engineer, Technical Specialist LD LEAD Alliance