06 Aug Employee spotlight – Laura O’Sullivan
Laura O’Sullivan has recently moved from a role in document control, which she started at MiCiM in 2022, to become an assistant commissioning manager. Laura shared with us the story of how she became interested in commissioning, and how MiCiM is supporting her career aspirations.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be a document controller at MiCiM.
“I graduated from university with a degree in History with English in 2019 and, like most people in the industry, I just fell into construction. An opportunity came up to work as a document controller on a contract basis at an architectural glazing subcontractor company. Although I come from a family where most my relatives work in construction, this job was where I really gained an insight on how projects are run on the design side of things. I was later offered a permanent role, but unfortunately COVID hit, so this didn’t work out and I had to take another job at a water treatment company for just over a year.
I was ready to move on from this role and return to construction when I applied to MiCiM in early 2022. I had enjoyed my time as a document controller for a subcontractor, but I was interested to see what it was like working for a main contractor. I felt this would be a good challenge for me and MiCiM seemed like the right fit.”
Why did you decide to move into commissioning?
“I had worked as a document controller on multiple projects within my first couple of years at MiCiM and there came a point where I felt I had fully understood the role. I had also learnt a lot about how construction projects are run from start to finish, as document control is at the epicentre of the documentation and approval processes on a project.
One thing that particularly sparked my interest was commissioning. At one stage I was on a particularly challenging project where this was the main type of documentation I was dealing with. I was still relatively new to the world of data centres at the time, so I had no idea what all the terminology meant on the documents I was interacting with daily. Over time (and after many questions to my other project team members) I developed a better picture of what it all meant and could eventually translate it to the installation and testing that took place on site.”
How did MiCiM support your aspirations?
“From day one at MiCiM (probably within the first few hours actually), I had a director say to me that I could pursue any kind of career that I wanted within the company. So from the very start I knew MiCiM would be supportive of me if I put the work in and could show I was capable.
When I was ready, I made it clear to my manager and mentor that commissioning was a route I wanted to go down and they provided very helpful suggestions to get the ball rolling. Some of this was as simple as asking questions to my project team and doing site walk-arounds every time I was visiting the projects to build my knowledge, which was easy for me to fit in with my existing day-to-day work. In time, an opportunity came up act as commissioning support on a project in Ireland which I was put forward for.”
What are the next steps now that you’ve become an assistant commissioning manager, and what are your goals?
“I’m excited to see where this role takes me and intend to make the most of this opportunity. I’m keen to have a more hands on approach to commissioning – not just seeing it all in the form of documentation on my computer screen! I still have a while to go to really develop my knowledge, as there is so much to learn, but I am confident I will get there.
My goal currently is just to experience the commissioning on a project to a successful handover and see where it will take me from there.”
