About

Hello! I'm Lucas. You've probably reached this page from my cover letter or resume.

Portfolio

You can go to the home page to see everything, or click through here:

Background

I started my tertiary study in mechatronics engineering at Deakin University, but started struggling in my third year due to then-undiagnosed mental health issues. I took a break from study and worked full time at Bowens, a construction supply company, for about a year while I sorted out treatment. In 2025 I returned to university to study software engineering, but it didn't click and so this year (2026) I've graduated with a Diploma of Science at Technology and begun looking for work again.

Bowens was an excellent introduction to the workforce. As a yardsperson at the Belmont branch, my role was split between typical warehouse things (filling orders, moving stock, judging when an order needs further attention because of an issue) and customer service. Bowens serves both trade and retail customers, so sometimes that involved working quickly to serve an experienced customer and sometimes involved advising a less experienced customer about suitable products. Because the branch was fairly small, there was good contact between the warehouse floor, the sales staff, and the delivery staff, and I had the chance to learn a bit of everything.

In the meantime, I also did engineering work for my family's company. My father is a veterinarian and we developed an illuminating laryngoscope for intubating cats more easily and with less risk of injury than the alternatives available at the time. I took his requirements, decided how to parameterize the part, designed it in CAD for additive manufacture, 3D printed prototypes across several testing cycles, and produced all the technical drawings for the patent (WO2023081972, available online here).

Strengths

I've had a little bit of experience in many different disciplines, and done a little research into many more. I've worked with microcontrollers, timber, CNC, software design, game design, acrylic paint, control systems modelling, finite element analysis, stock management software, getting heavy things off of a truck, report writing, creative writing, etcetera. I've learned a bit about optics, traffic engineering, architecture, organic chemistry, voting systems, sailing, aerospace engineering, sensor integration, pharmacokinetics, photography, power grids, railways, etcetera.

Because of that, I tend to pick up new domains, tools, and software quickly, and have a good idea of what I do and don't understand yet. I can learn from a conversation with any expert and have practice doing research and explaining technical topics to laypersons.

My other major strength is my writing. I have a lot of practice writing for a variety of audiences in a variety of styles, from stories and game rules to instructional manuals, reports, and literature reviews.

Weaknesses

I have very little practice with applying social pressure - telling someone to change their behaviour, managing a conversation with someone who is arguing in bad faith, that sort of thing. If there aren't formal rules I can point at or official channels to follow, I struggle to confront people even when that's wise.

I have ADHD, and my current treatments are largely effective and it didn't cause me any problems at Bowens. It is most likely to have an impact when I have tasks with long, uncertain timelines and/or unclear requirements, so I do my best to nail down dates and scopes when the context permits.