Hey, what’s going on?

I’m Tanvir Islam and I’m a Consultant at 4Pillars Environmental Consulting. Woah, I’ve always wanted to say that to someone, type that to someone…?

I’m a Graduate Ecologist, which means I studied a Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology at the University of New South Wales. However prior to my green shoes I started off my university journey studying 3 years of Petroleum Engineering. Why the change you ask? Why such a drastic change? I realised while coming to the end of my engineering degree that I loved learning about the environment, so while driving to university one morning I closed my eyes and walked straight into the student office to change worlds – to go from a petroleum engineering world to the world of environmental science.

While studying, I mainly spent my time with my animals (30+fish, 1 dragon, 1 skink, 1 cat). However alongside this I’ve worked at 3 different companies, learning skills necessary to be an environmental consultant, but more importantly building great friendships with people in the industry. I volunteered throughout my university life with a variety of different professors across scientific disciplines. From participating in night time studies looking for fluorescent fungi, to travelling to Bourke in a helicopter and jumping on an amphibious vehicle to monitor wetland birds; I love the outdoors.

I also worked at a geotechnical soils company after finishing university classes in the morning. Honestly, what I’ve learnt is – put in the hard yards and you will receive. Embrace the grind, love the grind.

When I looked for full-time jobs, I didn’t just look for the largest company or the highest paying job. What I looked for instead was a mentor, and at 4Pillars that’s exactly what I received, and honestly it was far greater than my expectations. James Hammond is the real deal (no he didn’t sneakily place this line in). I’m a huge fan of pushing limits and acting outside of your comfort zone. At 4Pillars we’ve been taught that impossible is not a word and that it actually stands for “I’m possible in time.” I love to be taught and here at 4Pillars I’ll be reading a set of guidelines in the morning and then applying them in the afternoon. What do I like about working here? It doesn’t feel like a job at all, feels like I’m a man on a mission and I’m just learning bits of new information as I go along, day by day. Game on.

While working at 4Pillars, I’ve come to realise that waste management is actually a huge issue for the Australian community. With the recent China National Sword saga, the whole arena of waste disposal has changed. I’m really excited to see what will happen in the decades to come, but one challenge each and every citizen definitely faces is – to reduce, reuse or recycle? We as a national community have to stand together regarding waste. As they say – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

I surround myself with powerful and intelligent individuals. I love to be challenged and I don’t like to back away from difficult objectives. If that means I need to take the hit, then I’ll take the hit. Which leads me to my list of my favourite book, movie & podcast. The BFG by Roald Dahl, is there anything more to be said here? Massive fan of Terminator 2  (fun fact: I wrote an 8000 word dissertation on the notion of humanity in Terminator 2). Also a huge fan of the podcast Impact Theory (please have me on as a guest in the future) definitely will recommend to as many people as possible.

Ahh lastly, what do I do in my spare time? Brownboybodybuiling – follow me on Instagram. I also like fishing. Correction love*** fishing. Saying that, I’ll catch ya later!

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