2 Sep 2026
Starting a new engineering career in Aotearoa comes with its own opportunities and challenges. For immigrant engineers, the Special Interest Group for Immigrant Engineers (SIGIE) provides a network of people, professional development and career support to help you build connections, find opportunities and settle into life and work in New Zealand.
Vital statistics
Your name: Ken Hu
Your role: Vice Chair
Your Group’s name: Special Interest Group for Immigrant Engineers (SIGIE)
Your Group’s field or special interest area: Immigrant engineer settlement, career integration, professional development and networking
Questions
What value or experiences do members gain from being part of your engineering Group?
SIGIE gives immigrant engineers something that is difficult to get from a website alone: context, connection and confidence. Members learn how the engineering sector works in Aotearoa, how to present overseas experience in a way local employers understand, and how to navigate CVs, interviews, workplace culture and professional development. Just as importantly, this helps internationally trained engineers become effective contributors sooner – working safely, communicating well, understanding local expectations and applying their skills where the country needs them most. Through workshops, webinars and networking, members build relationships that support both successful settlement and a stronger engineering profession.
What is your Group Committee most proud of, and why?
Jason Soong’s journey captures the answer to this question well. After missing our Auckland workshop in 2025, he drove to Hamilton to attend the next SIGIE session while still searching for an engineering role. We stayed connected and he later secured a professional role with WSP in Gisborne. What makes the story especially meaningful is that he now shares what he learned with others facing a similar transition. For us, that is the cycle we hope to create: support, contribution and then giving back.
How does your Group work with Engineering New Zealand and other organisations to advance your field or interest area?
SIGIE is an Engineering New Zealand Special Interest Group, so our work is closely connected with Te Ao Rangahau. Engineering New Zealand provides the professional platform, channels and support that help us reach members and deliver events. We also collaborate with universities, industry speakers, employers, recruiters, career specialists and settlement organisations. Recent Career Skills and Job Search workshops have been supported by Engineering New Zealand, University of Auckland (UoA) and Auckland University of Technology (AUT). These partnerships are important, not only for helping migrant engineers find work, but also for helping Aotearoa make better use of the engineering capability already in the country, while ensuring internationally trained engineers understand local standards, professional expectations and the communities they serve.
How does your Group’s mahi contribute to the lives of Kiwis?
Aotearoa benefits when skilled engineers who are already here can contribute at their full capability. By helping immigrant engineers understand the local professional environment, build networks and move into meaningful engineering work, SIGIE helps reduce the loss of valuable skills during settlement. Those engineers then contribute to the buildings, transport, water, infrastructure, resilience and communities that Kiwis rely on every day. Our aim is not simply to help people find jobs; it’s to help capable engineers become trusted, locally grounded professionals who add value safely and productively.
What’s a common misconception about your field or interest area that your Group would like to correct?
One misconception we would like to challenge is that an engineer without New Zealand experience is an inexperienced engineer. Many immigrant engineers arrive with significant technical, project and leadership experience gained on complex projects around the world. At the same time, overseas experience does not remove the need to learn the New Zealand context. Local standards, safety expectations, communication styles, cultural understanding and ways of working matter greatly. The goal is not to choose between overseas and local experience, but to connect the two, valuing proven capability while expecting engineers to adapt, learn and earn trust in Aotearoa.
What challenge do engineers in your Group’s field or interest area need to solve right now?
The immediate challenge is bridging the trust gap between international capability and local opportunity, especially in a competitive employment market. Immigrant engineers need to adapt to New Zealand standards, communication and workplace culture, while employers need confidence that overseas experience can transfer safely and effectively. From New Zealand’s perspective, the opportunity is to avoid wasting useful skills that are already here while maintaining high professional and safety standards. Better mentoring, local exposure, professional networks and fair assessment of competence can help engineers become productive sooner and strengthen the workforce available to deliver the country’s infrastructure and community needs.
What advice does your Group have for the next generation of engineers in Aotearoa?
Stay curious, stay connected and keep showing up. Technical competence matters, but engineering is also about communication, trust and people. Learn how Aotearoa works, understand the communities your work serves, and be willing to adapt while bringing the best of your own experience and perspective. For both locally trained and immigrant engineers, the goal should be bigger than individual career success: use engineering to make Aotearoa safer, more resilient, productive and liveable. Build relationships, keep learning, and when you have established yourself, help someone behind you. A strong profession grows when knowledge, responsibility and opportunity are passed on.
About the Special Interest Group for Immigrant Engineers (SIGIE)
SIGIE provides a strong network for immigrant engineers to meet new people and to share work opportunities. It provides professional development, employment and career counselling to support immigrant engineers to settle into life and work in Aotearoa.
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Our Spotlight On series is designed to showcase Engineering New Zealand’s Groups and their place in Aotearoa New Zealand’s engineering landscape.
