From Iran to Australia - Reinventing a Career with Ati Hezarian

Andrea Ciaffi

Hi, Amy. Welcome to the Digital Construction Podcast.

Ati Hezarian

Thanks, Andrea. Thanks for having me.

Andrea Ciaffi

Today, we speak with Adi Adzarian, one of Australia's most dynamic digital delivery leaders. We will learn more about her international journey, leadership in women in BIM, her multidisciplinary industry experience, and her passion for innovation, automation, and the future of digital construction in general.

Andrea Ciaffi

But before we start, Adi, I have a question for you. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received in your career?

Ati Hezarian

That's a good one for a start. There are a lot actually, but one of the best and the one it still stayed with me is Never stop learning. Be curious and never stop learning, and I remember at early my career someone told me.

Ati Hezarian

Don't stick to a tool or title or a software or technology. They keep changing constantly. And if you want to build your career around the industry, especially in Australia, you need to be relevant to all of those topics. so that can avoid you to fall and you stay relevant to the industry.

Ati Hezarian

And that made my journey more meaningful. So I'm still learning.

Andrea Ciaffi

That's, yeah, that's very, very, very valid. And Ati,

Ati Hezarian

Never stop.

Andrea Ciaffi

when we organised this episode, we planned it before the change in political situation in Iran, and you come from Iran and you've been

Ati Hezarian

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

migrating from Iran to Australia. You've been navigating cultural differences across the different countries and the construction standards. You have been rebuilding a professional network in a new country, which is hard, I know, because I did the same from coming from Italy.

Ati Hezarian

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

You've been also adapting to digital engineering expectations that may be different, but How did you transition from Iran to Australia? How did this transition from Iran to Australia shape your professional identity?

Ati Hezarian

That's a very nice question, Andrea, and thanks for mentioning that. Yes, I migrant. I came from Iran years back. It's been around 10 years and it was not easy and it's not for many, many other people across the nation who migrant from their countries and moved to Australia.

Ati Hezarian

I had experience in beam and construction for sure, like many other peoples with years of experience. But when we move and I moved to Australia, I found that differentiate between the context, standards, frameworks, how they collaborate, how they do the teamwork, how they model the delivery of a project, not, I mean, the 3D model, I mean, the type of delivery.

Ati Hezarian

So translating that, translating all the standards and frameworks was a huge difference between where I live and... where I moved. And I changed the scenario from I already know that to okay, I'm here to learn this again. And it made me more, you know, passion and keep me curious about learning and reframing things, we learn Uh, standards, so where I am now, all the adjustment happened.

Andrea Ciaffi

And I think, yeah, lots of different things happen, but what are the, if any, what are the biggest surprises that you find in the standard, in the culture, on the workflow? What actually surprised you that was different?

Ati Hezarian

Actually, there are a lot, but one of the biggest can be the teamwork here, the team for culture in Australia, and how they are open to challenge themselves with innovation and driving new technologies with AI and any other new technologies here. They are the biggest surprise and I guess for many, many other people.

Ati Hezarian

We keep getting surprised with all those new technologies, but the approach and how they deal with those challenges, how they are open is the thing that surprised me because that was different. With the culture, I live there, so that's a good thing. Actually, that's a positive approach, and I love it.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely, no, I agree. I definitely experienced the same in Australia coming from Italy. And still, when I speak with my friends and colleagues in Italy, they still think that Australia is miles ahead of Europe, which is nice to see. And sometimes, yeah,

Ati Hezarian

Wonderful.

Andrea Ciaffi

when you move from another country, there are also challenges that you need to overcome and what do you think, what are the challenges that you think were the hardest to overcome and how did you approach them?

Ati Hezarian

One of the ones was. rebuilding a network from scratch. And when we move and we travel from Iran to Australia, specifically for me, I lost my network. So that's hard. When you moved, when you move, you not.

Ati Hezarian

automatically carry on the network and connexions with you, all the history, all the colleagues, all the reputation you've made in your land, they will not automatically come with you and move with you.

Ati Hezarian

So found that as an issue and challenge, and I had to rebuild the connexion started to be actively connecting on LinkedIn and with the community, plus women in being a community, which plays a key role in the industry to help. And I kept attending the venues, the events, and networking, and started with communication across the industry.

Ati Hezarian

And that helped me to overcome that challenge.

Andrea Ciaffi

And when you think about your younger self, think about that person that came to Australia many years ago, what advice would you give to somebody like you or a young professional starting their career in a new country?

Ati Hezarian

Ohh, that's a nice one, and I got a few of one of those can be. Don't wait for the time. to store things, you just store it. And that time never comes to facilitate and provide with everything you want to store. And that's hard, that's challenging when you move, you face with a new context of the culture.

Ati Hezarian

Keep. Keep open your arms with accepting the new culture and adjustment and understand translating the context of what you've done before and now you're facing. And again, one of the most Maybe useful advice would be, again, start from where point you stand and don't wait for the time to come.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, very, very good one. Very good one. Sometimes analysis prizes or people just don't get started thinking, just waiting for the optimum time to

Ati Hezarian

Exactly, yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

start something and then time just flies. And you realize, yeah, yeah.

Ati Hezarian

It never comes that time to the perfect time. Yeah, that's right.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, it will never be, it will never be the right time to do

Ati Hezarian

Correct, yeah, that's right.

Andrea Ciaffi

something, yeah. And you also, as a digital leader, you also have a big role in Women in BIM. You've been helping that community, trying to create new inclusive environment for digital roles and providing mentorship as well. for career developments for women. But just to start from the beginning, what challenges do women in the digital construction still face today?

Ati Hezarian

I've seen many progress in this area. From my eyes, from the day I started as a woman to be part of this industry in construction and digital architecture, the built environment, let's call it. I've seen many progress in this area, but There are still a lot to go.

Ati Hezarian

From what I see, the visibility of having more women in leadership roles is one of those challenges and issues within that community we have in Australia. Again, we had many improvements in this area and the space to support women in the industry in the construction.

Ati Hezarian

But the fact is, The construction industry we lead is a combination of the technology and construction. And historically, they have less visibility of having a woman present in those two industries. So we need to support Young generation and woman to show up and be present.

Ati Hezarian

In the leadership roles, and... that can be maybe even more, you know, advantage strategically for the business, not just, you know, advocating the diversity in the industry. That's what I'm observing and witnessing as a woman in digital construction industry.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely. And you are the New South Wilkes regional lead for women in BIM, and definitely you are trying to make an impact in this space. And you mentioned companies and different firms that can support women, but from your point of view, how can companies better support women when they try to step into these digital roles?

Andrea Ciaffi

How can they make that happen?

Ati Hezarian

It's not easy and we're not expecting to happen, you know, suddenly, you know, in day one. That takes time and it's like a marathon, but the good thing is, as I mentioned, there are rooms and they are open. industry and the firms, we have many of those in the Australian market.

Ati Hezarian

They're open to make a balance for women and men in the leadership roles. So mentorship, supporting them and help them to make more comfortable when, you know, they show up and make them visible and present in the leadership roles and train them, educate them.

Ati Hezarian

They all could be, you know, the metrics that can help the woman to be more present in those part of the industry. Uh, that that's a strategy from what I'm seeing, and not just, you know, again, make a balance in diversity.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely. And I know you're also very passionate about building and supporting community, providing mentorship.

Ati Hezarian

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

And coming from Iran, you have founded the Ibasa Network, which is IBASA network. Can you tell us a little bit more about

Ati Hezarian

Yep.

Andrea Ciaffi

what it is and Why did you decide to establish it, and what gaps did you see in the community?

Ati Hezarian

That's coming really from my personal experience, Andrea. When I move, I found.. . As an immigrant, as someone who moved from a different land to this beautiful green land, Australia, I found myself as, you know, a second language person who was technical and had experience, not confident and not understanding all the frameworks and standards.

Ati Hezarian

And that was lacked to find a guide or right network or connexions to, you know, find my broad map and level up.

Ati Hezarian

When I found myself, I could, you know, map that pathway and role for myself and many other people around myself, I realised that's a good opportunity to run a community and help people to find themselves and of a skill, help them to translate the context and help each other with the mentorship and all those things and introducing the Women in BIM community as well.

Ati Hezarian

And when I'm attending and I'm having many girls and ladies around myself and see they living thinking, oh, I can, you know, do better in this industry in the future. So I, you know, talk to myself, okay, I made that and that happened.

Ati Hezarian

That's meaningful and the mission is complete.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, that's very good. And so important to support the community. This podcast also tried to do something similar. So we just try to share knowledge and make sure that everybody can access this

Ati Hezarian

Of course.

Andrea Ciaffi

information and give people an opportunity to speak with digital leaders

Ati Hezarian

Amazing.

Andrea Ciaffi

like you and also people like you that have a different experience, even from other countries and see the problems from different point of view and the position of the women in this industry. And but not only that, you've also been working across architecture, consulting, engineering, contracting.

Andrea Ciaffi

You've seen it all basically. But what are the biggest differences in

Ati Hezarian

Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

how each one of these sees the digital delivery.

Ati Hezarian

That's a nice one and a hot topic, actually. Academically, I'm coming from both engineering and architectural background, and that helped me to sit in the intersection of engineering, architecture, and construction to understand the holistic and the big picture of all the project delivery here.

Ati Hezarian

The global experience, actually international experience, plus the Australian experience and You know, looking after all those projects, from architecture to consultant experience and construction expertise, helped me to understand and... realise how we can connect things together, how we can translate and confluence that information from the architecture and the earliest stage up to engineering and consultancy and the procurement and get to the construction stage.

Ati Hezarian

And operations, so. connecting them and merging them together and not, you know, keep them in the silos and isolated, maybe that can make all the transformation appear in the industry soon. That's my, you know, approach. understanding of connecting all those disciplines together. And that's my pleasure.

Ati Hezarian

And I'm so grateful to be in the intersection of that as a built environment, you know, as we understand all of them to, you know, have a holistic imaginary.

Andrea Ciaffi

And you really had multiple careers, multiple paths.

Ati Hezarian

Okay.

Andrea Ciaffi

And do you think that having worked in these different paths and careers have shaped your leadership in a different way, your style may have changed if, for example, compared if you just stayed in one place only? You think that would change something for you?

Ati Hezarian

Yeah, of course. And as I mentioned at front, the advice I got from someone in my early career who was not just staying on one line and that's very in line with my personality as well to have the information and awareness of the technical and strategic thinking, having an understanding of the construction architecture and consultancy firms.

Ati Hezarian

And that's the need of a successful leader in digital environment, from my understanding, to have a hand on all of those disciplines, not just architecture or engineering side or construction. I know, you know, having the experience in an architectural practise Studio can help with the hands-on and execution on the Revit management or all the other design and visualization.

Ati Hezarian

Again, moving to consultancy and engineering helps with coordination, collaboration, procurement, and move to the construction. to understand and work closely with the operation phase and looking after the project and life cycle as a whole picture for you.

Ati Hezarian

I love that too, you know, I love the journey to, you know, go through all those disciplines and not limited to just one that helped me as a, you know, puzzle of pieces of puzzle to, you know, collect them all together and make a digital view for myself.

Andrea Ciaffi

That's great. And another aspect of your career is your

Ati Hezarian

The.

Andrea Ciaffi

role at University of Sydney, because you've also been working there and teaching students concepts like building execution plans or ISO 19650. When you think about this experience and your relationship with the students, what do you think students struggle with the most? the most when it comes down to these topics in the digital construction.

Ati Hezarian

I experienced that already last year when I've been invited as a flow industry at the UTS to help tutoring digital construction and ISO. And I found the students, they've been very disconnected from the real world project environment and they had no idea of the case studies and how they can manage the information.

Ati Hezarian

The key lesson for students at university is is the understanding of a project is not limited to just modelling itself or documenting itself. That's managing the information, that's understanding the scope of the job and board and ensured that modelling the documentation, the information, they are all integrated together and they're not limited to just a model-centric delivery.

Ati Hezarian

I found students, maybe they need more industry help, having more industry flow to go. and help them to understand a real forward project delivery environment and share the expose project information with them to help them understanding what's happening in the real life when they graduate.

Ati Hezarian

Not just, you know, limited to the... to the subjects they learning at a school. This is not enough. And we all live that life. In the past, we learned things and then we moved to the work environment. We found ourselves, oh, there are a lot to learn now.

Ati Hezarian

What was that and what is this? So The best approach and practise is make an ongoing dialogue between industry and academia to help the students and share the case studies from the real four projects with them.

Andrea Ciaffi

And do you think that these students, when they are still at university, have a view of what the real world will look like when they finish that's probably not necessarily aligned with the reality? Or what are any other misconceptions that this early career professional have about standards or processes?

Ati Hezarian

I guess from what I understood, I guess... You know, the misconfusion and misconception of having... frameworks and standards at front. Make them scared. I mean, those people, they not, they not experience the live project or real world project delivery environment. And when you introduce them, hey, this is the ISO 9 to 650 and you need to be compliant with that, they're getting and I was scared.

Ati Hezarian

And they going to be panicked. This is the misconception. They need to understand this is a fundamental and this is a basic, you know, information for them to understand rather than to go through building a a project without those information to be populated and established from scratch.

Ati Hezarian

So the essence of understanding the frameworks and those requirements, standards is the one they being confused and panic, but the reality is this is the opposite way. And they understand those frameworks that makes their life easier for sure in the future.

Andrea Ciaffi

And slightly changing gear, I know that you sometimes describe yourself as an automation accelerator. You are passionate about emerging technology, automation, all of these new, yeah, emerging trends and technology. But what does automation accelerator means from your point of view and practice?

Ati Hezarian

Did I? Did I mention? I'm the automation next slide.

Andrea Ciaffi

Hey, I found it, I found it somewhere, I found it somewhere.

Ati Hezarian

Where you found that? You're a Scott.

Andrea Ciaffi

I've been researching for this episode.

Ati Hezarian

Oh, good on you. Good on you. You know what I meant? I meant, you know, I can define and, you know, identify the repetitive folks and if there are things to do the automation rather than going through the manual process with the risk of human error.

Ati Hezarian

So. I would not go through the automation. So I have that talent, actually, to be honest, but I didn't, you know, show off, but I'm the one who can understand where we need the automation here and which tool or a script can help us to make that.

Ati Hezarian

quality or delivery, fast track and with a better, you know, at a better and efficient way. from what I'm, you know, doing on a day-to-day basis and over the journey, avoiding the repetitive work can help everyone to make their life easier and grabbing the coffee and, you know, save the time and cost of the project for sure.

Ati Hezarian

automation. And Arm is still, you know, accelerating that to help the people contributing with all those conversations as well to ensure that's happening across the industry.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, it's an interesting title and I wonder if probably somebody else may steal this name and this title and use it in their own personal career when they have a performance review with their manager

Ati Hezarian

Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

saying I'm an automation accelerator because of the role that they do. So it could be something that could steal.

Ati Hezarian

Yeah, I see. Yeah.

Andrea Ciaffi

Another, so now you just give them an explanation so they can share it with their managers.

Ati Hezarian

That's nice. I'm glad.

Andrea Ciaffi

Very good, thanks. And another aspect, it's not necessarily an emerging technology, but something that is still probably not fully consolidated, is the role of the digital twins. From your point of view, I know that you are also a digital twin advocate, and from your point of view, where do Digital twins currently deliver the most value and where on the other side is just hype.

Ati Hezarian

That's A tricky one, Andrea. And again, comes from all the realities across the digital transformation happening in the industry. The gap between design and construction stages, the gap between the information being created and populated at schematic design up to develop up to construction and operation and reformatting them to ensure that digital twin is shape is the, you know, the double up of the efforts of we do.

Ati Hezarian

But digital twin itself is just not a modelling and dashboard to reflect a digital 3D model of a project and a building or whatever we deliver. It's how we structure and manage those information and merge and evolve the model centric. shape of the delivery to a digital asset and having all the data.

Ati Hezarian

enriched with those models and change the reality of the model to a digital twin. We got a lot to go in that marathon again in Australia, to be honest. A bit behind in that too, you know, driving and embed that into all the frameworks as a mandatory, but it will be in the future of the digital construction.

Ati Hezarian

it will be mandatory and essential, but currently what we experiencing and observing, it's, you know, a Troy, an effort to help. emerging the model driven and centric to a data-driven and asset digital to shape a format and help all the project deliverables from the earliest stage to the operation phase, having that ecosystem enrich and mature by the daughter.

Andrea Ciaffi

And we also, we can't record an episode of this podcast at the beginning of 2026 without mentioning artificial intelligence.

Ati Hezarian

All, that's right.

Andrea Ciaffi

It's a tax. It's a tax. It's a tax we need to pay to the gods of

Ati Hezarian

On the person, yeah, on video.

Andrea Ciaffi

artificial intelligence. Yeah. And how do you see artificial intelligence AI reshipping routine tasks? In this industry, or in general, how can AI help us?

Ati Hezarian

As you promoted me as automation accelerator,

Andrea Ciaffi

Accelerators.

Ati Hezarian

I'll come up with something to promote AI for sure, which is not optional anymore. Fortunate or unfortunate, this is part of our life and everyone for all. a kid, five years old kid to an old man or all professionals in the industry that they have to use it.

Ati Hezarian

So AI will be like, you know, from what I see in the future, in the next phase of the digital construction and how we shape that with AI. I don't see there is a shortcut. I don't see there is a, you know, you know, any other way around to go through something with all the coordination, clash detection and data management without AI.

Ati Hezarian

How AI can help us with predicting how we can reduce the risk and mitigate the risk over the delivery. you know, enforce the project and industry and all the professionals to adopt that. So this is nothing, you know, to just ignore or say, oh, okay, no, that's a rework or needs human engagement on the top of that.

Ati Hezarian

Of course, it needs, but you know, over all the fast-paced technology, and as we move forward with the technology improvement, it all will be essential and part of, like, you know, like a standard, like, you know, default in the industry to run. having AI tool for coordination, having AI tool for clash detection, and there is no other barrier out.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, I agree. And I agree, it's not optional anymore.

Ati Hezarian

Now.

Andrea Ciaffi

If you can think about it from the other, from another point of view, think about if everybody else is adopting and you are not, then you will really be too slow for the industry,

Ati Hezarian

Mhm.

Andrea Ciaffi

which will feel like the people that when BIM emerged or computers emerged,

Ati Hezarian

Correct.

Andrea Ciaffi

they were against it and they didn't want to adopt it. And I think the risk that these people have now with AI is that if they're going to adjust quickly, they will be too slow in the future in comparison with their peers.

Ati Hezarian

Yep. Exactly. I remember that time back then when we, you know, waited hours to be connected to internet with a dialogue connection. We couldn't imagine we live in an AI era and now Believing that arrow, and this is not optional anymore,

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah.

Ati Hezarian

how quick was this transformation, and there are pros and cons, but yeah. Challenge is accepted.

Andrea Ciaffi

Pete. Definitely, definitely. And you are across many technologies, but when you think about all of these technologies, which one excites you the most right now and why?

Ati Hezarian

Which one? All of them, all of them excite me, and... From a digital SME, I look at from the big picture. For me, digital construction and transformation is like a puzzle again, and I, you know, try to find the right piece to put that in the right place.

Ati Hezarian

For me, integration of all those tools and software we already have and in develop is what excites me. I shared that last thing in this Digital Build Summit as well.

Ati Hezarian

We might don't need extra tools for digital We just need to ensure how we can integrate them, how they can talk to each other on the same language, and instead of working against the other applications and software, try to find those ways to integrate.

Ati Hezarian

enhance the interoperability between the tools. Every single, every single tool can help with automation, coordination and collaboration can make me excited. But again, As A one-word integration always excites me, not the tool only itself.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah. Definitely. And when we think about the future, it's always hard to predict the future, but if you think about the next 10 years, what major shift do you predict in the digital construction industry over the next, yeah, let's say 10 years or so?

Ati Hezarian

Who knows? But yeah, there are a lot happening at this stage

Andrea Ciaffi

Who knows? Yeah.

Ati Hezarian

and we expect more, even more. But what we expect is how we can establish the transformation and place it in our delivery. at the best practice. In the next 5 or 10 years, let's say, that's a good timing to fork on how we can connect tools together, how we can connect people, how we can educate them.

Ati Hezarian

So For me, focusing on connecting people and tools, integrate them and connecting the stages of the projects instead of reformatting and reshaping the project stage to the one life cycle as an asset for a project. And. de-risking all those reworking down the road.

Ati Hezarian

They all can be, you know, part of a... a logo, like a Lego, sorry, a Lego to help with the transformation. When design, construction, operation, people and tools can connect and, you know, a structure in one ecosystem, the transformation can happen and up here for sure.

Ati Hezarian

Soon. Hundred person.

Andrea Ciaffi

you can think that the next generation of leaders will need this in terms of skills for the future.

Ati Hezarian

Ohh, I love that question. I always, you know, exploring things around that, and from... My eyes, a good and successful leader needs to have a combination of a technical and fairness and strategic thinking. Be a good people manager and a hands-on execution. and implementation.

Ati Hezarian

A future of leadership and where we go and merge the digital roles in the future is all about the leadership skills and how we can manage that, how we can do the change management across the industry. And ensure. Good leaders are looking after our industry.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, definitely. And very close to the end, I just have one more question. What, if you think about the different parts of the industry, it's quite broad. What part of the industry is the most in need of reinvention or changes?

Ati Hezarian

Um... From... the misconnection and disconnection or maybe if I can and if I could reinvent something or a process in the industry is again having one information ecosystem to drive the project from the earliest stage to operation in aharrisbielbycomau and stayed there forever.

Ati Hezarian

If I could reinvent something again or redesign, that could be the one to establish and initiate a platform. ecosystem and ensure everyone is on the same page in that ecosystem, a structured information and not just, you know, a stretching hand and grabbing the other framework and guideline, all on the same ecosystem and a structured information.

Andrea Ciaffi

Yeah, thanks Sadi. We are at the end of the episode. If people want to reach out to you, where can they find you?

Ati Hezarian

Oh, um... Always welcome. The easy place to reach me is LinkedIn. I'm quite active there, as you know. So more than happy to be connected. And if anyone needs any guidance or connect, just drop me a line on LinkedIn and I'll be there.

Andrea Ciaffi

Adi, thanks for the great episode and thanks for joining us on the Digital Construction Podcast today.

Ati Hezarian

Pleasure. Thanks, Andrea, for having me. Thank you.