To write career episodes for an Engineers Australia (EA) CDR, you write three separate essays in the first person, each about a real piece of engineering work you did, with every paragraph numbered. EA's current guide says each episode should be between 1000 and 2500 words and should focus on the engineering activity you personally carried out. Together, the three episodes must show all 16 competency elements for your occupational category at least once.
This post explains how to choose the three episodes, how to structure each one, how to number paragraphs, and how to show your own role. It ends with a short example paragraph from a fictional Nepali road project. For the overall application, fees and documents, see our Engineers Australia CDR guide for Nepali engineers.
Choosing your three career episodes
Each episode should cover a different project or a clearly different period of work. Pick work where you made engineering decisions, not just routine supervision or data entry. Good sources for Nepali engineers are:
| Source | What it shows well | What to include |
|---|---|---|
| Final year project (for example, a building design or a water supply scheme) | Theory, analysis, design process, research | Supervisor's name and email, subject name and code, your part in the group |
| Internship or site training | Site practice, testing, communication, safety | Organisation, dates, your supervisor, what you were allowed to decide |
| Job project with a consultant, contractor or government office | Problem solving, project management, ethics, teamwork | Employer reference letter with your duties, dates and title |
| Second job project in a different role | Leadership, cost control, client dealings | Separate reference letter if from a different employer |
Before writing, list the 16 competency elements and tick which ones each project could show. If one element, such as research directions or ethics, is not covered by any project, plan where it will appear. If an episode is based on employment, EA requires an employer reference that supports it, so check you can get one before you build the episode around that job.
Career episode structure
EA's current guide (June 2025) describes four parts: career episode details, project outline, project details and project summary. EA's earlier booklet used the names introduction, background, personal engineering activity and summary, with suggested word ranges. The flow is the same in both, and many applicants still use the older headings.
| Part | Suggested length (earlier EA booklet) | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | About 150 words | Project title, start and end dates, location, organisation, your position |
| Background | 200 to 500 words | Nature and objectives of the project, an organisation chart showing your position, your duties |
| Personal engineering activity | 600 to 1500 words | What you did and how you did it: problems, methods, calculations, standards, decisions and results |
| Summary | 50 to 150 words | How your work helped the project and what you learnt |
Check these numbers against EA's current guide before you finalise. Count words with our word and character counter; paste each episode separately.
Introduction
Keep it factual. Give the project name, dates in AD, the district or municipality, the organisation and your job title. If your experience letter uses BS dates, convert them with the Nepali date converter so that they match your CV and reference letter.
Background
Explain why the project existed, its size and its objectives. Show where you sat in the team, for example under a team leader and above two sub-engineers and a surveyor. Then list your duties briefly. This section sets the scene; do not spend half the episode here.
Personal engineering activity
This is the main part and where most competency elements are shown. EA wants details of the problems you investigated, how you used your engineering knowledge, and what you learnt. Include methods, design codes and standards (for example NBC 105 for seismic design or the Nepal Road Standard for road geometry), calculations, software, tests, site problems and how you solved them. EA's guide also asks for engineering evidence such as diagrams, calculations, designs and data where they support the story.
Summary
State in a few sentences what your work achieved and what you would do differently now. Avoid generic lines such as "this project improved my skills".
First person and numbered paragraphs
EA asks for essay format in English, written in the first person. Use "I designed", "I calculated", "I proposed". Use "we" only when describing what the team did, and then say what your share was.
Number every paragraph: CE 1.1, CE 1.2 and so on for the first episode, CE 2.1 onwards for the second and CE 3.1 onwards for the third. The summary statement uses these numbers to point the assessor to the exact paragraph where each competency element is shown, as explained in our post on the CDR summary statement and CPD. Keep one main idea per paragraph so the reference is clear.
Show your own role, not the team's
Assessors assess you, not the company. Compare these sentences:
| Weak | Better |
|---|---|
| The design of the retaining wall was done as per standards. | I checked the 3.5 m retaining wall for overturning and sliding and found the sliding factor of safety below 1.5, so I widened the base slab. |
| Quality control was carried out on site. | I organised slump tests for every truck and rejected two loads that exceeded the specified slump. |
| We prepared the cost estimate. | I prepared the quantity take-off for the earthwork and drainage items, which the team leader combined into the final estimate. |
Example paragraph from a fictional Nepali road project
This is an illustration of style only. The project, place and numbers are fictional. Do not copy it into your CDR; your episodes must describe your own work in your own words.
CE 2.9 In March 2024 the team leader asked me to check the roadside drainage between chainage 1+200 and 1+800 of the 4.2 km rural road upgrade. I marked the uphill catchment on the 1:25,000 topographic map, checked its boundary against our survey data and measured a catchment area of 2.4 ha. I used the rational method, Q = CiA/360, with a runoff coefficient of 0.5 for the cultivated terraces and a design rainfall intensity of 80 mm/h from the project hydrology report. This gave a peak flow of 0.5 × 80 × 2.4 / 360 = 0.27 m³/s. Using Manning's equation, I estimated that the existing earthen drain could carry only about 0.15 m³/s, which explained the scour we had seen after the monsoon. I therefore proposed a 0.6 m × 0.6 m stone masonry drain and an extra cross drain at chainage 1+650, and presented the calculation sheet to the team leader, who approved it after checking the rainfall data.
Notice what this paragraph does: it states the task, shows the method and the numbers, explains a decision, and says who approved it. An assessor could map it to problem solving (PE2.1) and design (PE2.3). One strong paragraph like this is worth more than a page of general description.
Mistakes to avoid
- Copying text from project reports, DPRs, textbooks, websites or someone else's CDR. EA checks for plagiarism.
- Writing the same project three times with small changes.
- Describing what the company or consultant did without saying what you did.
- Listing duties instead of explaining one or two technical problems in depth.
- Claiming design responsibility that your reference letter does not support.
- Dates or job titles that differ from your CV and reference letters.
- Paragraphs without numbers, or very long paragraphs that cover many elements at once.
- Exaggerating your role. If the assessor asks for details and you cannot provide them, the whole application suffers.
Write it yourself and stay honest
EA requires applicants to write their own CDR. If a CDR is written by someone else or contains copied material, the application is rejected and the applicant can be barred from applying for 12, 24 or 36 months. Do not buy career episodes or templates. Your real project files, site diaries, calculation sheets and drawings are the best source for writing, and they also help if the assessor asks questions. If you worked in Nepal, keep your NEC registration certificate with these records, since EA asks for any registration certificate that applies to you.
Frequently asked questions
Can all three career episodes come from one job?
They can, if they describe clearly different projects or tasks within that job. Each episode still needs its own dates, location and your role, and the employer reference should cover the duties you describe.
Can I use my final year group project?
Yes. EA allows recent graduates to use study experience. Explain exactly which part you did, and give your supervisor's name and email with the subject name and code.
Should I add drawings and calculations?
EA's guide encourages engineering evidence such as diagrams, calculations, designs and data. Include only material you produced or worked on, and refer to it in the text.
How many paragraphs should each episode have?
There is no fixed number. With paragraphs of about 80 to 100 words, an episode of 1000 to 2500 words ends up with roughly 10 to 30 paragraphs. Keep one idea per paragraph rather than aiming for a count.
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