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What are your top tips for a 12–14-year-old girl interested in a career in engineering?

STEM projects! Most schools or local areas have them in some form or another. If there are any opportunities to get any hands-on experience, taking part in practicals, learning more about the subject, then please join in! It will give you the chance to see if you like it and, (in my opinion), it’s the most fun way to learn! I know it’s hard sometimes to be brave enough to reach out to people, but if you can speak to anyone who has a career in engineering, they will almost always be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

In your experience, what unique perspective or qualities do you think females bring to the field of engineering?

Every woman in STEM is different. However, some positives from my experience are that I don’t tend to go very ‘gung-ho’ into things. I take my time and have a methodical approach. We tend to have a lot of what my mentor calls ‘mechanical sympathy,’ which means we care and are quite gentle with the equipment, meaning there’s less accidental damage. Some small studies say women overall have good attention to detail. This certainly feels true for me, and it has helped me numerous times in my role to spot small issues and outliers, which have helped me to diagnose faults more effectively (though I would say attention to detail is a great quality to have as an engineer in general!).

Can you share a specific moment in your career that made you realise the impact you could have as a female engineer, especially in encouraging young girls to consider engineering?

I was lucky enough recently to take part in a marketing campaign for my company and I was really overwhelmed by the response. I had multiple people reach out to me and talk about how the video made them feel and how it made them hopeful for the future of young girls coming up and into engineering roles. It made me realise that sometimes, it is as simple as actually seeing an example and has encouraged me to keep doing things like this blog, various volunteer days and using social media to try being present. I’m so proud to be able to have platforms like these! I’m so proud to be able to have platforms like these! If anyone is interested, you can view the full video here.

What top 3 skills would you say you need to succeed?

• Ability to learn
• Adaptability
• Friendliness

Could you share your insight into a day at GE HealthCare?

One great thing about my job is that every day is different. I travel to various hospitals across the north of England and Wales. Typically, I will either be ensuring equipment is safe for use (routine servicing), repairing equipment, or installing new equipment for our customers. Some days I work alone, and some days I work with my team, which is a nice balance. It’s always nice to go home at the end of the day knowing you have helped patients by ensuring the equipment used on them is safe and well cared for – this came across particularly strongly when an incubator I had serviced was used the next week by my friend’s baby who arrived early, it gives a lot of perspective!