How to write a career episode
Each of your three CDR career episodes follows the same four-part structure. Here is how to write one that clearly demonstrates your personal engineering competency.
The four-part structure
- 1
Introduction
A short paragraph: dates, duration, location, the organisation, and your title. Keep it to a few sentences.
- 2
Background
Set the context — the nature of the project, its objectives, your area of work, and an organisational chart of your position and responsibilities.
- 3
Personal Engineering Activity
The core, in the first person ("I designed", "I calculated"). Describe what YOU did: tasks, technical problems, analyses, standards applied, decisions, teamwork, and how you solved problems.
- 4
Summary
A brief paragraph summarising your role and the outcome, and how your contribution met the project objectives.
What assessors want to see, sentence by sentence
The single biggest difference between a career episode that works and one that does not is grammatical: whether the engineering is attributed to you or to the project. These paired examples show the same work written both ways.
Weak
The team designed the foundation system for the tower using industry best practice.
Stronger
I analysed three foundation options against the geotechnical report, compared settlement predictions for each, and recommended a piled raft. I sized the piles to AS 2159 and verified group settlement against the consultant's parameters.
Weak
We faced several challenges during commissioning which were resolved successfully.
Stronger
During commissioning I traced an intermittent trip to a CT saturation issue under inrush. I recalculated the knee-point voltage requirement, specified a replacement CT class, and revised the protection setting to restore discrimination.
Weak
I was responsible for the HVAC design of the building.
Stronger
I calculated the peak cooling load room by room, selected chilled-water AHUs against the resulting sensible and latent split, and sized the distribution to keep index-run pressure drop within the fan's available static.
Weak
The project was completed on schedule and met all requirements.
Stronger
My revised sequencing removed a two-week clash between the structural and services trades, which allowed the level-three pour to proceed on the original date without additional propping.
The test to apply to every paragraph. Ask: could a colleague who worked on the same project have written this exact sentence about themselves? If yes, it demonstrates the project, not you. Rewrite it around a decision you made, a calculation you performed, or a standard you applied.
Which projects make strong career episodes
An episode does not need a famous project. It needs a problem that required engineering judgement and a role where you personally exercised it. In practice these sources work best:
Design work you personally performed
The strongest source. Calculations, option studies, sizing, specification, and the reasoning behind a chosen solution map directly onto the engineering application competencies.
A problem you diagnosed and solved
Failure investigations, commissioning faults, and performance shortfalls demonstrate problem-solving under real constraints, which is difficult to fake and easy to evidence.
A project you coordinated technically
Work where you managed interfaces, resolved clashes, or led a technical decision covers the project-management and team competencies that pure design episodes often miss.
A final-year or postgraduate project
Acceptable when you have limited industry experience, provided the engineering is substantial and you describe your own contribution. Prefer workplace projects where you have them.
Work under a supervisor
Junior roles are fine. What matters is that you identify which parts of the work were yours, including the analysis you ran and the recommendations you made, even if someone else approved them.
Projects you can still evidence
Before committing to an episode, confirm you can obtain a reference covering those dates and duties. Unverifiable episodes weaken an otherwise strong file.
Tips for a strong episode
Focus on YOUR contribution, not the team
Show engineering knowledge applied to real problems
Reference standards, codes, and methods you used
Include analysis, calculations, or design decisions
Number paragraphs for summary-statement mapping
Keep it roughly 1,000–2,500 words
Career episode — FAQs
Should I write "we" or "I"?
Why number the paragraphs?
Can a career episode be an academic project?
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