I wrote this blog to encourage all engineers, especially those just starting their careers, to reflect on their journeys. Engineering can achieve incredible things, but it can be tough to find the right fit. It’s worth holding out for the space where your passion and skills truly align.

By sharing my story, I hope to show that your unique perspective is a strength. Embrace the challenges, celebrate the victories, and know that your contributions are vital for a more inclusive and innovative future in engineering.

I wanted to be a Doctor

The year is 2009. I'm standing outside Stevenage Cineworld with a blue crayon clamped between my teeth like a faux cigar and a blazer that's two sizes too big for me. Clearly, my decision-making skills were still in development.

At that time, I wanted to be a doctor. I had a knack for remembering obscure information, solving puzzles, and passing exams. These skills, combined with my admiration for my biology teacher and the perceived respect the profession held for a 12-year-old, 6-stone nerd, made it seem like an easy fit.

However, I was also excelling in IT, Physics, Control Systems, and Mathematics classes, and my teachers urged me to consider engineering. Following this path a little, I managed to snag an Arkwright Scholarship which was a brilliant experience.

The real decider, though, came with teenage hormones.

I wanted to get out of the House

It's 2012, I've come to the decision that people suck. Partly due to being sequestered into bins by my testosterone fuelled classmates, a rather cliché father son relationship and multiple poor girlfriend choices.

Along with this decision came the realisation that doctors had to deal with... well, real people. Real people with real ailments, real complaints, and real bodily fluids. 

In stark contrast, engineering promised something different. Machines didn't have bodily fluids, computers accurately reported their symptoms and had yet to reach the capability to stuff me in a locker.

So, I pivoted, I took the obvious next step and signed up for Military Boarding School. The Defence Engineering and Science Group scholarship offered me a way out and away. Though the ethics or sensibility of signing a 15 year old to a 10 year contract could be debated, it ultimately did me well.

Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College was tough. 7am parades, school on a Saturday and a *lot* of running. But all with a very narrow aim to get students into a Russell group university on an Engineering course.

I even managed to utilise my Arkwright Scholarship funds whilst at college to build my own Hex copter. Which did ultimately set itself and a table on fire In Front of the vice principal pastoral.

It was during this time I realised that I couldn't get my brain to invest in any mathematics that were purely hypothetical. I could calculate the mechanics of a boulder rolling down a hill, but I could not do context free calculus.

So I decided to do Mechanical Engineering.

I wanted to change the world.

It's 2015. I'm here, I'm Queer and I'm going to harness my engineering prowess and liberal idealism to change the very fabric of society.

I didn't.

But I tried. I took every elective module on sustainable engineering that I could. I ran an Enactus project turning banana fibres into sanitary products for women working on rural banana plantations in Africa. I later ran the Newcastle Enactus team and won the most improved team nationally. 

I also drank a lot of white wine and flirted with the Marxist society girl.

I don't think I achieved much in all these endeavours, but importantly I think I formed opinions. One opinion that formed is that Engineering cannot be done outside of ethics, morality or social responsibility. This led to my first step into thinking about Engineering from a utilitarian point of view and formed the foundation of my interest in responsible design. 

I also rediscovered my love of people. My dad and I walked coast to coast, my relationships were full of joy and ended, mostly, amicably and I was then bigger than most of the available lockers. I joined 12 societies, was on the committee of 8, created 2 and was course and then department representative.

During my Summers I worked at the MoD. I worked in some incredible teams ranging from naval architecture to explosives policy and guidance. I learnt a lot about what Engineering looks like in practice and started to figure out what I wanted my career to look like post university and graduate scheme.

My initial guess was space travel. A way for engineering to unite humanity against a single infinite foe and learn more about the bigger questions that face us all.

So my thesis in 2018 was titled “Challenges facing construction on the lunar surface”. During this time I fell in love with rapid prototyping and the idea of Autonomous Systems taking us out of orbit and to the great beyond. 

So I followed this path and undertook my Masters in Mechatronics. My project during this was along the lines of “Redesigning the Rover Bogey system such that it can be 3D printed in transit to Mars”. Unfortunately my year was inundated with mental health issues and through hard work I managed to salvage a respectable Postgraduate Diploma.

And then I entered the professional world.

I wanted to do something interesting 

It's 2019. I'm doing my graduate programme at DE&S, moving between Teams every 4-6 months. I am surrounded solely by men that have 20 years more experience than me and in which I have nothing in common.

I desperately try to claw my way out of Maritime teams, but to no avail. With my Mechatronics PG in my pocket I have become a “general” asset, and so am at the bottom of the list when assigning graduates to teams. With maritime projects in DE&S often lasting decades, I barely scrape the surface of any project I'm in.

Whenever I break the surface, I take a big gulp of Robotics and Autonomous Systems. I managed to sneak myself into the Robotics Platoon Vehicles team and work on UGVs. I slide into the Defence Science & Technology policy Team and support the release of an AI governance notice that is civil service wide. Both were fantastic. The work I do matches the joy I feel producing it. 

Which goes to show that Engineering is a large enough space that you can find no joy in one aspect and a lot in another.

But mostly I work in safety engineering. Mostly because no other grad wants to. And after 5 years of being a safety engineer, I really cannot blame them. That being said I realised that I fall quite naturally into it and have found contentment therein. 

Alongside that contentment also came an awareness that to wear neutral or pastel nail varnish was to be taken seriously and to avoid people mistaking me for someone who would enjoy Queerphobic or Misogynistic jokes. This brought me into the world of D&I boards, which I have made sure to engage with whenever the opportunity arises. They are a fantastic way to see the world from other perspectives and gain the knowledge to create the best working environments for everyone. 

Safety engineering is often overlooked as a career choice within the Engineering sector and  widely disdained by all whom project it touches. And yes, I will admit, we do put up barriers to innovation, tight deadlines and fun. But we also make sure that things are safe… well at least As Least As Reasonably Practicable. One of the reasons I’ve found that I fill this role as naturally as I do, is down to a genuine interest in system interaction. Whether that is between intra or inter system components, or more interestingly, between system and human.

I get the opportunity to write a short publication for the Army in regards to Human-Robot Interaction and stumbled across a Parliament Science and Technology Committee Paper on the Effects of Trust in Autonomous Systems. One of the Authors in Alan Winfield and I enthusiastically make my way through anything he has authored or co authored in his time as a Roboethicist.

And that is when I realise that where my interest truly lies, is the grand safety system of ethical and effective governance. Mechanics have been left far behind, and robotics is a side passion. What I really want to do is get my hands on the fascinating world of regulation, legislation and policy. 

So I did.

I am a Maritime & Autonomous Systems Safety Engineer and a Robotics & Autonomous Systems PhD Candidate.

It's 2024. I think I’ve found my Ikigai, and I am enjoying progressing my work on all sides. My professional life is split into three parts.

1) Work as a central Safety Engineer for Thales, being moved wherever I am needed and doing the safety engineering processes that I have earnt the experience and knowledge to do with confidence.

2) Alongside this role, I am building the scope to work within their RTSI department and high level strategy for Autonomous Systems. Looking at building trust, developing verification and validation techniques and generally inputting into the AS community.

3) Study within the FARSCOPE CDT, split between time at UWE and UoB. Focusing my studies on Ethical and Effective governance as a member of the Ethical and Sustainable Research Group.

I supplement this all with work on the IET AI Technical Network committee, workshopping and developing games and new approaches to thinking about ubiquitous Autonomous Systems with colleagues in the Digital Futures Institute and developing my own incredibly complex, narrative led board games that never quite reach fruition.

Yes, my partner complains that they haven't seen me since Christmas.

Engineering has lead me on a rollercoaster of a path. I have tried environmental, mechanical, robotic, electronic, safety, disposal and a ream of other engineering fields. But I feel like I have found the fields in which I will base my career on, and find contentment and fulfilment. 

I like to think that my work and study both lend themselves to an ethical and sustainable future.

I hope to make a difference

It's 2031. I've got my doctorate, and I've scaled the walls of corporate engineering to a pinnacle position. My work is published internationally and I frequent conferences as both an excitable speaker and eager attendee.

I've worked hard and my output has been, and is being, used to create a better society for everyone.

Now to decide whether to start my own business, keep the rudder steady, or to write Sci FI books upon the Wye on a self driving barge.

#careerjourney