A love of electricals and a passion for practical work drew her into becoming an apprentice engineer. Now, during the third year of that apprenticeship, she’s already looking to add to her knowledge and experience, with plans for her future.  Meet Erin Lowe, an IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Finalist.

Who I am

My name is Erin Lowe, and I work at Yamazaki Mazak UK Limited as a level three electrical
apprentice.

What inspired you to get into engineering?

When I was younger, I always liked putting together the electrical kits you could buy off Amazon. I got a soldering iron for Christmas, and I was into woodwork, so I went to a free group at B&Q, where we made planters and everything.

Whilst I enjoyed Design Technology (DT) at college, it wasn't electrical. In Year 10, I had the chance to do a weekly work experience at Mazak and did the one-week cadetship programme. I thought, 'This is something I want for my career.'

How did you get to where you are now?

This is the third and final year of my apprenticeship. We spent the first year at the training centre five days a week. For the second year, one day was at college, and the other four were at the factory, rotating through different areas of the facility. In both years of my college work, I got 33 out of 34 distinctions - the highest in my class.

What difference do you think this kind of award can make to women engineers?

It can make a huge difference. Not even 16% of the workforce are women yet, and these awards raise awareness for women in engineering, giving younger women and girls incredible role models to look up to in the industry. It's not about being in a dirty environment surrounded by sexist people. It's not like that. Everyone's really welcoming. If we can show the truth of the workforce itself, it gives women a reason to believe they can do it. There's no reason why they can't. 

What can the IET and wider society do to get more women into the sector?

Just continuing efforts like these, just showing that there are women there and they succeed, there's no reason why they can't. It isn't bad; it just takes a bit of getting used to; if we can show there are other women, they'll want to join themselves. We need to make sure people see they're not going to be alone.

What do you think wider society can do to improve matters?

There are still a lot of outdated views. A lot of people go into engineering and stay in engineering all of their lives. Many in the workforce are older and don't seem to want to let go of the outdated ideals of 'women can't do that; it's a men's job.' I think people need to grow up. If they actually think about it, there's no reason why women can't. Just get rid of those outdated views.

What are you working on at the moment, and why is it important?

My main job now is working on the actual CV-5 line itself. I'm doing the electrical work, assembling the electrical wires, components and so on. I test its emergency systems, so if something goes wrong on the machine, we can easily make emergency stops. If you don't use the machine correctly, then you need to be able to stop it. I'm also on a coolant pump project, calculating greenhouse gas emissions from the pumps we have in the factory.

What's next in your career?

I hope to finish by September so I can start the next stage of my education. I didn't think university was for me; I wanted a more physical job. I do still think education can be important for some people, and it is something I want to progress further. I'm hoping to at least start a Level 4 apprenticeship or degree.

After that, I want to go down the more technical route because jumping the line can be quite repetitive. I want to do design engineering, which interested me when I was younger, but is less physical, while there is still that opportunity to go out and see things being made.

I want to finish my apprenticeship and have a degree by then. Being a Design Engineer is what I would like at that point in my life. Hopefully, I would be a supervisor, maybe running the design department, still working in electrical. But that's quite far in the future. We have to see what happens.

What kind of breakthroughs would you like to see in your field?

To get rid of that stigma. I'd like to see at least a 50-50 split between the two genders in the workforce because there's no reason there shouldn't be. And then there will be no barrier between them. If we get to that stage, I think we'll have made significant progress. But it's about getting rid of that stigma.

Where do you see yourself in the next decade or so?

To get rid of that stigma. I'd like to see at least a 50-50 split between the two genders in the workforce because there's no reason there shouldn't be. And then there will be no barrier between them. If we get to that stage, I think we'll have made significant progress. But it's about getting rid of that stigma.

What is the best part of working in your area of engineering?

It's extraordinary how someone can turn pieces of metal into something that's moving and can make other things. If you looked at it, it's just a bunch of different metals with some plastic put together in some way that somebody thought of one night. Suddenly, it turns into this great machine that we can actually sell, and people want to buy.

When you think about it like that, it's really different to, 'yeah, that's just how it works.' It's the mechanisms behind it that, unless you know what it is, are like magic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year is an annual prize chosen from among five finalists, each of whom is a promising young engineer. The first award was presented in 1978.