Peter’s Career Journey

Why did you join ResMed?

I joined ResMed straight out of university as my first full-time job, having studied a Bachelor of Mechanical/Master of Biomedical Engineering at UNSW. I took up Engineering because I always had a keen interest in health care, physiology, maths, and sciences so the opportunity to work for an Australian company in the medical device space offered a great intersection of these passions.

I think the main reason for me joining was the profound impact that ResMed has on the betterment of society and the opportunity to contribute to that impact. During my years at university, my grandfather whom I was extremely close with, had suffered with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) eventually losing his battle with it a couple of years prior to my graduation. I had been exposed to ResMed quite often throughout my degree and I knew that they were a global leader in their industry and developed some amazing products, so I was inspired to do what I could to help millions of people like my Pop who struggled to breathe every day.

Tell us about your journey at ResMed so far.

I joined ResMed in 2018 as a Graduate Engineer as part of the Graduate Rotation Program. I spent 2 years working across roles in Respiratory Care Product Development, Global Product Management, Masks Research & Technology and Manufacturing. This was a fantastic experience as I was given the opportunity to experience first-hand such a varied range of projects and phases of the product life cycle from front end innovation in humidification technology to the development of an oxygen product for the treatment of COPD, validating manufacturing lines of our AirFit F30i mask, and even user experience testing on the other side of the world!

I then joined our Devices Product Development Team permanently as a Mechanical Engineer in late 2019. I have since worked on a number of ventilation and sleep device projects. This included my favourite project to date working on the hardware design of a ventilation device, a period of ‘all hands on deck’ efforts to ramp up our supply of ventilators during COVID, and assisting with the verification and ramp up activities of our newest CPAP device.

More recently I have had the opportunity to lead a team of brilliant engineers in the design and development of our airway delivery tubing products. In this time, I’ve been given more and more opportunities to broaden my impact and continually stretch and grow myself and my team. This is one of my favourite things about working at ResMed – everyone is entrusted with a level of responsibility and autonomy to take their career by the horns and steer it in the direction that works for them.

Tell us about your recent accomplishment in your role at ResMed.

A recent accomplishment in my role would be the way in which we have broken down the invisible barriers between departments on one of our ongoing projects to form a unified project team with engineers from both Masks and Devices Teams. It has been really rewarding seeing how we have been able to bring engineers together from diverse backgrounds and subject matter expertise to complement each other and work towards a common goal. Every day we are seeing the benefits of having people with complementary skillsets and knowledge domains bouncing ideas off each other and offering varied perspectives. In some situations the processes and structures we put in place to build efficiency can actually be detrimental so I’ve been really proud of how our teams have approached the project pragmatically and with an openness to learn and be challenged with the priority of finding the best solution for our customers at front of mind at all times.

What makes ResMed different from other workplaces?

There are not many places where you get to work at the forefront of innovation and technology with an altruistic purpose. I get a real kick out of the knowledge that what I work on contributes to the ultimate goal of helping people live healthier, happier lives.

This is coupled with the awesome culture that ResMed has. I am constantly surrounded by some of the most talented, high performing people in their field who push me to be better at what I do. The energy around the place to develop best-in-class solutions is infectious! There is also an emphasis on providing opportunities for ‘owning your development’, which is great for people like me who derive a lot of motivation from continuously improving and stretching outside of their comfort zone to reach their goals. On top of that, there is always a push to have fun while we’re at it.

Most importantly for me though, I think is the ‘people first’ mindset of ResMed at all levels. I have always felt supported both personally and professionally by my colleagues and managers and that they genuinely want to see me succeed and be happy. A heavy priority is placed on work-life balance and being trusted with the flexibility to work in a way that works best for everyone which I’m really grateful for.

Also, did someone say free barista coffee + onsite pool and gym?