Batchfire Cadetship Champions: Q&A with Mackinlay 

We sit down with Mackinlay Marxsen, one of our Cadetship Champions for 2025, to find out how he is enjoying his time on-site so far as a Cadet Engineer. 

Thanks for taking time out of your day for a chat, Mackinlay. How did you hear about the Batchfire’s Cadetship Program? 

So, I decided I wanted to do something in the engineering space at high school. I was getting it all organised with university, doing my preferences. Then the surveying cadetship opened up and it went down to me and one other applicant. Because I had the engineering interest, they basically created an engineering cadetship for me! 

That’s fantastic. We bet you’re glad you applied, then? 

Absolutely. I was very lucky. It started with work experience, so that allowed me to introduce myself, be open and friendly with everyone and they’re all so great here that it was pretty easy to do! I’m extremely happy because engineering was what I was originally interested in, so to be given this engineering cadetship is such a blessing. I thought I didn’t have anything, but then it was even better than what I originally applied for! 

You’re about a month into the role, so what have you been working on so far? 

The first week was just getting to know everyone, seeing the sort of general routine of the engineers and so on. This week I’ve been sent out with the production side of the department. I was out with the dragline supervisor, looking at the dragline and dozers. The plan is to get me around and give me experience in every area of the mine before university starts. 

You’re about to commence your studies at university, you must be excited! 

I’m really looking forward to digging into the engineering role once I’ve looked around at the different parts of production. Then I’ve also got the uni that will be starting at same time, so it’ll be a very busy time. I’m looking forward to the challenge and learning the foundations to what I’m doing on-site. 

The Cadetship obviously eases the financial burden of studying too, right? 

Yeah, it’s a really awesome opportunity, just because you don’t really have to worry about the cost of all the units and the classes, and then you get to work full-time and get paid full-time. It’s just such a better outcome for me than going straight into uni, getting through that, then having my HECS debt to deal with. Basically, I’ll pay for the units every semester and then when I pass them Batchfire will reimburse me for the units I complete. It’s a pretty fair deal! 

Before we let you get back to work, what advice would you give to other students considering a career at Batchfire? 

Well, I’ll just say that so far my experience has been really awesome. Everyone here just gets along really well, and everyone’s communication is good, so you know they’re keeping you safe. From my time here, it seems like pretty good place to be, it’s just a great community. In terms of getting an opportunity like this, I’d say that young people should be doing some kind of leadership or public speaking, learning to meet new people so they can transition into the workplace. You will use those skills, so I think it’s very important to try and put yourself out there and get uncomfortable. 

Fantastic advice, Mackinlay. We have no doubt you’ll do great things at Callide Mine! 

Batchfire actively encourages and supports new entrants to the resources industry through apprentice, cadetship, traineeship, scholarship, work experience and vacation employment opportunities. 

To find out more about Batchfire you can connect with us on LinkedIn or contact us here.