Who do you want to be

Have you ever thought about what you want to be when you grow up?

Click on one of the links below to read about some of the great jobs we have in the New South Wales public service.

I want to be a :

• Policeman like John
• Zoomobile Officer like Nicki and Paul (Mags)
• Graphic Designer like Kelly
• Marine Mammologist in Antarctica like Tracey
  

Policeman like John

Hi I'm John, come and see what I do at work

Thursday 9:00pm

Today I am on night shift, so I am starting late at night and will work through to 6am. This is not always easy, because I really like sleeping…

I am a Crash Investigator for the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit in Sydney. This means that I investigate car accidents and try to work out what happened. I am usually only called to the scene of a car accident if someone is badly hurt or if a lot of cars are involved in the accident.

When I first get to work, I check my emails and messages to make sure that I have everything under control. Sometimes there might be a job for me on the General Station Pad, which is our telephone message system.

Thursday 10.00pm

I have just received a call out to a head-on collision that has occurred on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. My partner and I drive to the scene of the accident to find out what has happened. One of the first things I do when I get there is to identify the people involved in the crash and – if they are able to talk to us – I interview them to find out what happened at the accident.

Thursday 11:00pm – Friday 3:00am

When investigating an accident, I usually meet with witnesses and those involved in the accident to get their statements on what they think happened. Then I put together my own statement based on the evidence that I have collected. This includes the photographs that I have taken at the crime scene, marks on the road, and the position of the cars involved in the accident.

I use a lot of equipment to analyse an accident. My kit includes a digital camera, measuring equipment, lighting equipment, and a tool kit that is full of heaps of different gadgets that I use to record what happened at the scene.

Sometimes it can take up to six hours to record all of the details of an accident. Today it has taken me four hours. Now I have to drive back to the office and fill out all of the paperwork for my report on the accident.

Friday 4:00 am – 6:00am

Putting together the paperwork for a car accident is hard work. I have to make sure that all of the witness statements and evidence is accurate. Then I have to put together my own statement for what I think happened based on everything I have collected.

Zoomobile Officer like Nicki and Paul (Mags)

Hi, come and see what we do at work

7am – 9am

We've just picked up a bagel and a coffee and getting prepared for a fun day ahead. First off we rush around getting the animals together. They know the routine - they're pretty much used to traveling in the van and some of them really seem to enjoy meeting new people and being in new environments. Most of our education animals have been rescued and brought into the NRMA wildlife clinic to be hand reared. This is why they are so friendly.

The animals we're taking today are:

Big Spots the snake, Sludge the lizard, Pugsley the echidna, Petal the possum, Henry the Gang-Gang cockatoo, Freddo the frog, Muriel the long-nosed bandicoot (she honks when she's excited), Dorri the turtle, a salt water croc called Chopper,and a spiny leaf insect (because we love all creatures great and small!) We also pack some costumes for dress-ups and giveaways for the kids.

Now I'm heading off to Stewart house (Mags) and I'm going to Oatlands near Parramatta (Nicki)

MAGS….Col Hardy is coming with me today. He's an Aboriginal elder from Brewarrina and a bit of a Country legend – he picked up a golden guitar from Tamworth one year. Anyway Col and Henry – the Cockatoo – chat all the way – I'm talking like a real conversation. It's not so bad the first time but they have the same conversation every time – (it drives me mad, well just a little bit…)

9am – 1pm

MAGS….We've arrived at Stewart House. We unpacked the animals into a room and get the kids in a circle. Then I introduce the animals from a zoo perspective and Col talks about the animals from an Indigenous point of view. The theme of this show is Animal Dreaming. Col sings songs and everyone sings along. The boys play the didgeridoo and the girls play the clappers. He also has a big variety of amazing artifacts for people to see.

We play some fun games. I got the kids to stick out their feet so Pugsly (the echidna) could smell the stinkiest pair – then she gobbed someone with her sticky, drooling pink 11cm tongue – eew.

We ran another group for an hour and a half then we packed everything up and I dropped Col off on the way back to the Zoo.

Nikki….I've just arrived at Oatlands and I've unpacked the animals and put the kids in a circle. I show the animals and talk about why they're important – it's the first time a lot of kids get to see them up close. Some kids try and squeeze the snake…it's not like jelly….it did a poo in one of the sessions and boy, it really really stinks! Luckily snakes only do a poo about once a month!
My session is interactive and action packed. The kids like to get into the animal costumes and do animal things like reenactments or role plays – they jump like frogs, mimic sounds – they get so engrossed – they love it.

When I packed everything up and got back to the zoo I gave the animals a special treat when I put them back in their enclosure. Pugsley just loves maggots!

1pm – 4pm

We're back in the office now (after some lunch). We've got plenty of other educational projects to work on like running a banner competition and writing material for the new Backyard to Bush exhibit.

We're also planning a trip to the country. At least one of us tries to get out every term.

Finally, we neglected to mention, we're also raising two flying foxes. They need five feeds a day and lots of hugs (no kisses). Mine is called Finbar (Mags) and mine is Fonzie (Nikki).

We've done enough today, it's all been fun but now it's time to go home.

Graphic Designer like Kelly

Hi I'm Kelly, come and see what I do at work

9am – 12pm

I only live 15 minutes from the city, so I jump on the bus at 8:30am and then its a quick uphill walk to work (in my joggers because comfort first!) and I'm at my office.

When I get in to work I log onto my baby – my apple 'mac' – which I do all my work on and my other computer which is networked so I can check my email and search our Intranet. Then I pretty much get into it.

Today I'm working on a couple of projects: a website for kids (this one), an online magazine and a brochure.

To kick my brain into creative mode and to help me start coming up with ideas, I flick through some mags and check out the web for whats new and funky. Some of the kids sites that I think are fun are barbie.com, questacon.edu.au and yucky.com. Then I start drawing some sketches and everything starts to flow from there.

12 – 2pm

I like to grab a sandwich and a drink for lunch and get out and walk when I can. Sometimes I have to eat and work at the same time (you should see the crumbs in my keyboard!). After some fresh air I jump on my mac and start designing again. I'm trying to come up with a kids page that is fun and bright (oh yeah.. and educational)

2 – 6pm

I'm on a roll – I'm now fleshing out the design concepts. By 3pm I'm fighting hard not to go near the lolly bowl and by 4pm I want my music up loud. I have a quick meeting with my boss to talk about the designs as well as go over my ideas for the online magazine. We decide on some changes then I prepare the final version ready for approval. I've also managed to squeeze in a call to our printers to check on a brochure – great news we can expect it tomorrow.

6 – 8pm

I knock off around 6:30pm and then I'm heading off to the gym. I've also realised that I need to go to the supermarket and get some stuff for dinner, but I hate doing that so it might just have to be cheese on toast...again.

Marine Mammologist in Antarctica like Tracey

Hi I'm Tracey, come and see what I do at work

7am –2pm

The first thing we do is see if we can fly the helicopter. If it's cloudy or windy we're grounded. We have breakfast and discuss what we're going to do – we've decided it's a good day so we ring around and get everybody together - we're going to look for some leopard seals.

We get in the helicopter and do a 45 minute survey to get the seals position then we head back to the station.

The boats are already in the water (we put them there earlier) so we jump in and head out to the seals' position as quick as we can.

When we come up to the iceflow and park the boat, the seals are generally asleep and we try to keep them that way. The leopard seal is a solitary mammal and can be very dangerous so we need to be very careful. We pick which one we are studying for the day and then begin the process of tagging it (it doesn't hurt it) so we can track its movements when we're back in Sydney. We dart the seal, lay down on the ice and look away so when the seal looks around it doesn't notice us, it thinks it's been bitten by a nearby bird.

After 15minutes the seal is usually sound asleep so then we put a satellite package on its fur, tag between its flippers like an earring, take heaps of samples like hair and snot and write a name on its side in blonde hair dye. The boat driver usually gets to name the seal, this one is called Wally and it's a girl!

After 30 minutes work the seal wakes up and we move away and watch it. It doesn't remember or feel anything.

2pm - 6pm

We try and fit in another seal for the day because they go hunting by 6pm. We get back to the station around 5pm today but sometimes we get in as late as 10pm. We get to work on the samples. We have scientist that look at lots of things like what they eat – we can tell by looking at its poo and another looks at its hormones from its spit.

We've missed the station dinner so our team catches a quick bite together. On Saturday nights we have a formal dinner and we always try and make it back for that.

8pm – 10pm

We head out to the ice edge and record sounds. The leopard seals are the opera singers of the Antarctica – they sing for 13 hours a day, three minutes on and three minutes off for three months before mating. We put the hydrophone over the edge of the ice but you have to be careful. One guy got the fright of his life when a seal landed on top of him thinking he was a penguin.

The Antarctic sky is beautiful this time of year (Australian summer time) It doesn't get dark - the sky is pink, orange and purple

It's time to head back in and call it a day…then we do it all again tomorrow.

Dr Tracey Rogers is the Director of the Australian Marine Mammal Research Centre at Taronga Zoo.

She spends six months of the year, for three years in the Antarctica then two years back in New South Wales to publish her research findings.