ot just a job but a passion! When the passion dies, let the young ones carry on. We must continue to provide the opportunities for education and pass on our experience.
It is the ultimate career in the plumbing and fire services industry for those who choose to walk the consulting path. The thrill of being the decision maker, the challenge of design and calculations, using experience to achieve the desired result and the pride in our accomplishments; for the dedicated it will never be "just a job".
Twenty five years, and longer for some, have provided the opportunity to be part of our changing cities, towns, governments and the building landscape. It has provided the opportunities to meet and mix with people we may not have otherwise met. The opportunity to sit in boardrooms, express our ideas, influence the outcome and be part of some of the most prestigious projects ever to be built. 
The excitement of calculating accurate water flows, pressures and frictional losses for high rise buildings, office towers, resorts, hospitals, parliaments and large projects, contributing to the pleasure the end user derives from using services that perform efficiently. A day at the races, the football or our favourite pastime and everyone flushed with success. The senior citizen standing at the ground floor sink of a 20 storey building and his drinking glass is not blasted from his hand by excess pressure, or the heart transplant patient who knows with confidence that the water will be sterile and at the right temperature while his/her new heart is kept cool. Hydraulic consultants have a responsibility for performance as well as health.
Hydraulic services consulting, the chosen career: with it comes a duty of care, a professional responsibility and an attitude that says it must be right the first time. There is a need to be well informed, to maintain our level of education with the ever changing rules, regulations, materials and know who is who in the industry. There must be a desire to know why, to understand how the particular hydraulic system works, not to just accept it happens, probe and challenge the results. For us to advance our industry, we must be logical in our approach, reasonable in debate and open to other view points, accepting changes but only when such ideas are better, never change simply for the sake of change; our governments are in all sorts of trouble because they have tried to fix things which never needed fixing. As consultants we must know why change is required and challenge it, if it is not in the interest of our industry.
As a hydraulic consultant do you feel the passion? When of a morning you wake is there a burning desire to sit in front of the computer and design, or to you is it just a job? We are privileged to have the opportunity to aquire knowledge and experience at an alarming rate compared to other sections of our industry. It was once accurately suggested that tradespeople work on a limited number of projects in their life time, while a consultant has the opportunity to build many new jobs in his/her career even though they may be in their heads or on the computer. The skills, ideas and experience are put to the test on a daily basis. The average consultant will learn more in five years than many learn in an entire lifetime due to continual exposure to rules and regulations.
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