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Bharath Reddy Yarava

Bharath Reddy Yarava

Master’s student, Coventry University

Expertise

Design, Structural, Construction

Location

United Kingdom
My highlights

Obtaining ICE Technician membership

Becoming star performer ward while working at Atkins 

Studying my master’s degree at a globally recognised university

A day in my life

As an international student in the UK, I find that every day is new and interesting as I learn more about different cultures. I’m finding it a pleasant and educational experience.

So I thought I’d talk about a particular day in my life: the day of my first lecture.

I sat with all the new students, who had varied backgrounds and a range of professional experience.

I watched how they approached ideas and participated in group conversations. The way they expressed their opinions that day inspired me.

Even I ended up openly sharing my ideas about our group project.

Construction is the footprint that our civilisation leaves in human history. 

Which individual project or person inspired you to become a civil engineer?

When I was in school, I used to watch Mega Structures, the TV show on the National Geographic channel.

On it, I learned about the foundation and elevation design of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the planet. This inspired me to become a civil engineer.

I was personally motivated by Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, an Indian civil engineer I learned about while I was studying for my bachelor’s degree.

He was one of the finest engineers in the 19th century. We even celebrate Engineers’ Day on his birthday in India!

We asked Bharath…

I would recommend a career in civil engineering because…

I would recommend a career in civil engineering because it’s a vast industry full of opportunities. There are so many doors open for civil engineers.

Complete this phrase: I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also…

I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also an agriculturist. I feel farming is a very essential skill to everybody.

I love to cultivate rice, vegetables, and pulses on my own land.

I especially thank my grandfather and mother who taught me the importance of farming and how to do it. My grandfather taught me more about sustainable agriculture, and I still farm following those principles.

What about being a civil engineer gets you out of bed each morning?

As civil engineers, we have so much room to expose our creativity and innovation.

In my daily work, I can resolve the issues in my team with my creative thinking, and I can invent and simplify the tools we use.

What’s one great thing that you love about civil engineering that you didn’t know until you started working in the industry?

How many interesting and easy ways there are to apply structural construction methods in the real world. I love to see my design work on site as it is in real elevation.

Which civil engineering project (past or present) do you wish you’d worked on?

Sizewell C, in the UK. 

Name one civil engineering myth you’d like to bust.

In our society, a few people still believe that women can’t work on construction sites.

But I feel when it comes to the real world, it’s a myth.

So many women are working and leading their roles at the construction site successfully.

Has civil engineering helped you overcome any personal hurdles/difficulties?

While working on HN batch-02, we received new standards for section presentations from the client.

Adding to the complications of changing requirements, I had many new starters in my team.

To deal with both issues, I held regular team meetings on standards so that the new joiners could produce good quality work.

Initially, errors creeped in, but I took proactive steps, such as organising lessons-learnt exercises and providing instant feedback.

So I took this method as a personal challenge to have a structured solution when any issues arise.

What’s the biggest/most complex thing you’ve made out of Lego? How long did it take you?

Frankly, I’m not familiar with Legos, but I do enjoy playing with models of buildings.

For example, I used to create Indian temple models and learn how they were constructed by placing the blocks one at a time. And I used to construct little structures, bridges, and houses.

I decided to pursue a profession in construction because of that fascination.

When I observe new structures or shapes, my enthusiasm for them grows even more as I play with nearby small objects and parts to analyse them.

Using wood pieces and strings, I constructed a model of a suspension bridge!

Anything else?

I have a habit of going on bike rides to visit historical places. I developed this hobby during my bachelor’s degree.

I think education is the best way to achieve our goals. Schooling exposes us to many different careers and when we come to a certain age, we can choose that desired career, alongside more education!

Bharath's career path

I started my professional career as a junior engineer at Ananth technologies in Hyderabad, India working on commercial metal company projects in the USA.

Here I worked as a rebar detailer, checker and team lead for projects like fire stations, school buildings, hospitals, water treatment plants and warehouses.

After 2.8 years working on USA projects, I joined Atkins as a graduate engineer. There I worked on one of the biggest projects in the UK, Hinkley Point C (a new generation nuclear power plant).

Here, I worked as a building lead for one of the complex buildings, adjacent to operation support to the nuclear reactor.

Currently, I’m pursuing my master’s degree at Coventry University to achieve my future goals.