Inside job: Derek Chinn

I describe my role to non-engineers as…
designing and implementing unusual things in difficult, remote places.

The part of my job that always surprises people is…
the subtlety and underlying complexity involved in design. There are so many interrelated, sometimes competing, requirements. Frequently we have to develop designs for structures that can be prefabricated in modules “Ikea style”, then transported by helicopter and assembled rapidly in a remote location. Yet the structure needs to resist wind, snow, freezing and still be serviceable and durable.

The best thing I’ve introduced at my workplace is…
humour! Workplaces just take themselves too seriously sometimes. Work should be fun, that’s why we do it. I try to make our work thorough, correct but also fun. I have just looked at an earlier drawing I prepared of a structure in a remote site in Fiordland. The drawing has pterodactyls cut and pasted flying in the background. This doesn’t detract from the design and it makes the drawing more interesting.

In my role, I always challenge…
preconceived notions. I try to ask: “Why are we building this? How could we achieve the same outcome, and what outcome do we want?” It’s too easy to implement something we have done before rather than looking at the bigger picture.

At work, I’ve never been afraid to…
question the project objectives.

In the past year, I’ve pushed boundaries by…
questioning what our clients have first asked for. Often clients will bring a preconceived solution that they want us to implement. Sometimes there are better ways to achieve the result, and blindly following instructions can lead to a perilous path.

I admire engineers who…
are able to develop simple, elegant solutions to complex multifactorial problems. This may be as simple as an effective snow-proof door latch, but it also extends to the most effective bridge type in a difficult location.

At school, teachers always described me as…
questioning. I recall hating getting an incomplete or insufficient answer.

My luckiest break was…
being able to move to Queenstown and consequently chase engineering work in the surrounding alpine environments.

The bravest thing I’ve done to get where I am today…
was moving around a lot to accumulate a variety of experience. I spent a year at a site in the Papua New Guinea highlands which had no access by road, followed by work in the middle of Hong Kong.

Best career advice I’ve received was…
learn to write succinctly and clearly.

I’d advise other people interested in my type of role to…
be passionate about all facets of the job. I need to be passionate about, and understand, the alpine environment, but also enthusiastic about working with our team, working with the client’s team and understanding the client’s business. Also, you need to be keen on the technical aspects of the project such as problem solving, drawing, numerical analysis and writing.

3 things I love about my job: 

• I have the most interesting job I can imagine
• we have variety and are involved with structures like chairlifts, mountain huts and remote bridges.
• Our work locations are magnificent. I work on jobs literally on the tops of mountains, at ski areas or other inaccessible back country sites. Some days I ski as part of work, other days I helicopter to remote mountain sites. What could be better? — The issues to solve are always multifactorial, complex and subtle. It’s fulfilling to see the solutions that you have developed, finally implemented. Every day we deal with challenges like: “How do I detail this building to resist 300km/h wind, keep out wind-driven snow, resist cyclic freeze thaw conditions but also be able to be modularised and transportable by helicopter, and meet user requirements?”

2 reasons why I chose to study engineering: 

• As a kid I was always building things and taking machines apart. There was never any doubt that I was going to do engineering.
• I love subtlety of design. Developing tricky details, novel approaches and incorporation of the solutions into a single, simple (and sometimes elegant…) solution.

1 thing I wouldn’t change about my workday:

Variety! I have a constant flow of highly varied and really interesting things to deal with.

This article was first published in the June 2025 issue of EG magazine.