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Lisa Miles
2 minute read time.
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ is something that we’re all asked when we’re young. But how many of us are true to our answer back then? How many of us know what we really want to do at such an early stage in life and have actually stuck to that plan? 


What if we made a mistake? What if we missed our true calling? What if…?

 

I have to confess that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was young. I went through phases of wanting to work with animals, wanting to travel, wanting to be a translator for the European Parliament (bizarre I know!). However, I’ve had a lot of interesting roles during my working life, learning and experiencing a great deal, and come into contact with some amazing and inspirational people. If I’m honest, I wouldn’t change that for the world! 


But every now and again I do wonder what I’d be doing if I wasn’t working as the online community manager for the IET?


Sometimes I wish I had become an Architect as, when I was very young, I used to love drawing floorplans for houses, layouts for shopping centres, factories and planning towns! The Technical Drawing teacher at school gave me a lot of praise for my classwork but I was never encouraged to pursue it further as it wasn’t something that ‘girls’ did… In fact it was something I was strongly advised against taking up as an option in secondary school as I was told I would be the ‘only girl’ in the class. Looking back, I wish I had listened to my heart and not everyone else. If I had, who knows where I would be and what I'd be doing right now...!


Occasionally I also wish I had got into video directing/editing and creating amazing content like this:




I don’t think anyone would disagree with me when I say that the Top Gear video production team are excellent at what they do and I would love to spend an afternoon with their video/sound editing team! wink Although maybe not so much now that Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May are no longer involved… sad


I often wonder how many of us have qualifications in one subject but end up doing something completely unrelated...


Did you always want to be an Engineer? Was there something else you always wanted to be? Something you wished you’d done instead? Do you still see yourself as an Engineer in 5,10,15 years from now?  Share your own thoughts in the comments below and take part in our short survey.

 
8e074d438a96bbc614866cdfeb447798-mediumsquare-lisa2017.jpgA self-confessed Geek and a HUGE James Bond fan, Lisa is the Online Community Manager for the IET's Engineering Communities online community platform. In her spare time she likes to spend more time behind a video camera than she does in front of it…wink

 

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I studied Architecture for 4 years Undergrad and 2 years MSc.  I then worked under supervision for 2 years, designing and overseeing building construction. I loved seeing my bubbles turn to designs, then detailed designs (I used AutoCAD). I did 3D models using ArchiCAD, and processed the drawings from a Building approval from the Federal Housing Authority. The best feeling was setting out the building, there was always a mini party on setting out day + little bonuses.
    However, all of these couldn’t keep me from the frustrations I faced on building sites, the stubborn construction workers who wouldn’t follow simple safety rules, tricky building material suppliers, dodgy sub-contractors, and worst of all the sunshine, 35 deg C or worse in Abuja Nigeria.

     
    I was young and restless, so I signed up for another MSc in Offshore technology and majored in Risk and reliability. Soon after, I worked as a Reliability Engineer and now currently a Functional Safety Engineer. I have missed Architecture, the joys of watching your design come to life brick by brick, but I think I have found my niche in Functional Safety, I should include however of my recent interest in Systems Engineering, it is analogous to Architecture especially Model Based System’s Engineering. Also it doesn’t help that recently, my LM made everyone in the team get a training in Enterprise Architect, so once more my restlessness is creeping in…

     
    I guess I am a drifter J
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I think that I fell into engineering because it was what my father did (he's mechanical engineering, I'm software, so that didn't quite work out) and I started being able to get into computing at the right time alongside a couple of my friends.  On my way through though, I went via:

    > Artist (probably concept/ sketch) - this never worked out because I never practised enough

    > Writer (fiction) - this is still a possibility, but slow going with everything else

    > Astronaut - manifest from, and left me with, a basic knowledge of astronomy and outer space, but nothing more

    > Games Designer - this is actually happening, for tabletop games at least (still in playtesting)


    The one that I still kick myself for was a job that I was offered building levels for computer games that I never chased up properly so nothing came of it.  Not that much probably would have; there were three requirements:

    > Like games/ building games - no problem

    > Live locally in California - I was/ am in the UK, but remote working..?

    > Be over 18 - I was 13 or 14 at the time...

    I regret not chasing that up properly...  It might not have gone anywhere, but it would have been fun to try.
  • Gabriel Kessler‍ I remember crystal sets! But again they were a 'boys' toy so wasn't allowed one.... :o(
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    At secondary school I got to building crystal sets and thus thought of electrical engineering but when I found out how mathmatically involved it was I reverted to mechanical engineering in which I had been interested since a 3 year old on my tricicle. I enjoyed my project engineering career in various industries and am now retired at 81.
  • I'm not an engineer, I wish I had more understanding about the roles that there are in engineering as I may have pursued this, but I do get to spend my days working with some excellent engineers and helping others gain professional registration in engineering so hopefully I'm able to make others dreams come true and help them to inspire the next generation (not only because it's a great job but because we need more engineers).


    If I weren't at the IET and hadn't followed this path, I'd probably be teaching English abroad, but I don't think I'd be so motivated by my day job as I am now :)

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