Is engineering a good career?

We speak to Applications Engineering Manager, Laura Maybury to find out…

Our Festival of British Engineering & Manufacturing (FOBEM) was created to signpost the multiple career paths available in engineering and manufacturing. Championing an industry that offers so much opportunity has inspired others to step forward to talk about their experiences.

In this blog we speak to Laura Maybury, Applications Engineering Manager at Theta Technologies Ltd about her experiences as she’s progressed through her career…

Hi Laura, please could you give us a bit of background about you and your role at Theta Technologies?

My background is in Systems Engineering within the Defence industry where I focused on validation and verification of customer requirements. My current role at Theta Technologies now specialises in nonlinear acoustic, non-destructive testing. Day to day I work directly with customers to establish their requirements for rapid non-destructive testing whilst ensuring the test programmes, services and systems are designed to meet their requirements.

Why engineering?

From the age of 17 I knew engineering was for me! I was writing my personal statement in sixth form and drawing upon childhood experiences and then it dawned on me – all of those things that I did with my dad, fixed, designed or solved; they all fell under ‘engineering’.

I chose to do a BEng mechanical engineering with a placement year as I felt that it would give me a broad but applicable skill set. The only thing standing in my way were my exam results which always suffered due to nerves. However, on exam results day all my worries disappeared: I had got into my first choice university. Unbeknown to me, this was just the beginning of my academic career!

As part of my BEng I did a placement year at Lockheed Martin UK which I can only describe as priceless; it gave me all of the foundations I needed for an engineering environment, and I look back on it very fondly. When I returned to uni I knew I wanted to graduate with a 2:1, so I was delighted when I received my final grading and discovered I was going to be graduating with first class honours.

After graduating I started work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). I loved the work and it challenged me, but I missed my family and friends. My manager at the time could tell I wasn’t happy, and he spent a lot of time with me working on my CV and helping me find jobs closer to home – a completely selfless act that I will forever be grateful for.

Soon after I moved to MBDA and within the same week embarked on a home learning MEng through the Open University. I suddenly found myself working full time, studying in the evenings and funding a degree on my own. The MEng was a two-year undertaking but it gave me a wider perspective, especially talking to other people on the course who had their own careers and were often older than me.

As the MEng was coming to an end, I started to toy with the idea of doing a PhD – I was working in a research and development department so I could see how we would all benefit.

I contacted an old lecturer (it definitely is who you know) and enquired about the universities’ PhD policy. He asked me to give him two weeks and sure enough two weeks later he had sent me a job description for a new post where your time was divided between being a lecturer and completing your PhD.

Within the first year alone I found myself completing a PGCE degree, lecturing and working towards my PhD. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to approach my PhD like I would have done a customer project – I needed a customer with a requirement that I could work towards. My end customer was Renault Sport Racing Formula One Team!

Five years is a long time to be working towards one goal and without doubt it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Submission of the PhD was pure relief!

I knew right from the beginning of my PhD that I was always going to return to industry, and in the run up to my submission I began looking at roles which would allow me to use the expertise I had developed during my PhD – this led me to Theta Technologies, where I joined as an Applications Engineer, a perfect mix of non-destructive testing engineering and customer requirements development. I was promoted to Applications Engineering Manager within two years, which is where you will find me today!

Why is championing the next generation of engineers so important to you?

Championing the next generation is hugely important to me. I have had several people through my engineering career who have helped me enormously and I wouldn’t be where I am now without them. I want to be able to offer the same level of advice to the next generation coming through. But most importantly I want people to come into engineering with the full picture – the drop out rate of engineering is high, and I believe this to be due to the ’selling of engineering’ in the wrong way. Engineering is a great career, but it’s not easy.

A nugget of advice for those pursuing a career in engineering & manufacturing?

Never forget anyone that helped you on your way, you might need each other again.

How do you see the future of engineering?

I would really love the future of engineering to be devoid of the term ‘female engineer’. You never hear the term ‘male engineer’ and by pointing out the fact an engineer is female the prejudice has already been created. In an industry sense, I see a lot more focus on sustainability, both in terms of a company’s footprint and the problems which need to be solved.

Thanks for sharing your fascinating career progression with us Laura and let’s hope your dedication and hard work helps to inspire the next generation of engineering.

If engineering sounds like the career for you, please get in touch.

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