Gaston Kausa is an Engineering Institute of Technology graduate from Zambia who earned his Advanced Diploma in Civil and Structural Engineering. He felt an instant connection to engineering when in high school he was introduced to the technical drawing subject.
“I fell in love with the subject,” he said. “From then on, my mind was made up that my career was going to be in the engineering industry.
What followed was a lifetime of acquiring skills and qualifications to validate his love for engineering and transform him into the professional he is today. Today, he is a member of the Engineering Institute of Zambia.
Gaston’s working life began with a job as a surveyor at Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines in 1985.
Throughout his career, he has worked as Chief Surveyor at many infrastructure projects in Zambia and Namibia.
Since 1990, he has worked on a total of 15 separate projects filling roles such as land survey assistant, surveyor (sometimes being the senior on-site), chief draughtsman, chief surveyor, site manager, sub-contractor, and project surveyor.
He has operated as a surveyor for key industries from Namibian and Zambian mines, to railways, main roadways, parking lots, and bridge projects.
He recently chose to do the Advanced Diploma course through EIT because he had his eyes set on practising as a Civil Engineer.
“As a surveyor, I have been working closely with civil engineers for a long time,” he said.
“Over the years, I have acquired a lot of civil engineering knowledge through practical experience. This course enables me to practice as a civil engineer and utilize the knowledge I have acquired over the years. It has advanced my understanding of the best industry practice and enabled me to perform more complex tasks in design and construction.”
He is currently working in the construction industry, employed as a surveyor engineer for consultancy services. In this role, he oversees the design, tender documentation, and supervision of the construction of the Kazungula Bridge Project.
Upon completion, the bridge will form a 923-meter-long link between Kazungula in Zambia and Kasane in Botswana. It is to be completed in the last quarter of 2020.
Adding to the arsenal of skills Gaston already possessed, studying through EIT further augmented his understanding of the civil engineering industry.
Gaston had already amassed considerable geological draughting and mine surveying qualifications from the Zambia Institute of Technology and the Copperbelt University respectively between 1983 and 1998. In 2008, as automation really began creeping into industry, Gaston studied a certificate in AutoCAD at Intec College in Cape Town, South Africa.
“Technological advancement has been the most fascinating development in the construction industry. From Computer-Aided Design software to drone technology, the industry has seen massive transformation in terms of efficiency and speed of delivery of projects.”
While he would like to continue his education in the future, he is absolutely happy with the progress that he has made so far in his studies.
“Things are looking bright. I am beginning to appreciate my job more and hope to be a practising civil engineer after registration with the relevant authorities. I expect a big leap in my career when I combine my vast experience with my new qualifications from my new qualification from EIT.”
Gaston says that in five years, he would love to be in a more senior construction management role and be a construction industry expert that can implement successful end-to-end project management.