Friday, the 11th February, was the UN's International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This day was initiated to recognise the role that women play in science and technology and to work towards gender equality with equal access to and participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) for women and girls - a subject close to my heart.
As a teenager I enjoyed maths and physics but knew that I didn't want to study either of them at university. I liked the idea of engineering and my dad was a civil engineer so the concept wasn't alien to me although I was aware that there were different types of engineering - mechanical/electrical/structural etc.
Early Career
As I was applying to universities I wasn't sure which field of engineering most appealed so was keen to do a general course. Cambridge was one of the few places that offered this - and in the end my degree was actually in "Electrical and Information Sciences" (electrical engineering in all but name). From there I joined Nortel Networks, a telecommunications and data networking equipment where I quickly realised that software development wasn't for me and gravitated towards support - helping provide a facility for internal teams to try out brand new networking concepts. After leaving Nortel I went to NTT Europe, the UK arm of the Japanese telco. Again I had a support role - firstly in their IP-NOC and then progressing to the IP Engineering team. It was a fascinating cultural experience as well as enabling to progress my IP networking and Linux sysadmin skills. I then spent the next 12 years of my career at Amino Communications, then an IPTV set-top box (STB) manufacturer. I joined as Operations Manager for a team that was deploying a solution using the Amino STBs into Travelodge hotel rooms - a role I really enjoyed. I was able to put the networking and linux skills to some use, as well as working with the installation teams, coming up with solutions for technical problems as well as some more logistical challenges - for example, finding clips that would hold the cabling in place when TVs were swivelled and trying to work out where best to locate STBs for bouncing infra-red remote control signals. When that project ended I joined the main core of the business, working along side the main STB support teams and then ended up managing the European support team, helping customers overcome a huge variety of challenges as they deployed the STBs into a wide range of solutions.
My current role
Now at Origami I lead the Service Delivery and Support team - another role where no two days are the same and that I love, probably because of the variety of challenges and opportunities it presents. Whether it's helping the product team define the product requirements, coming up with creative uses of it to solve customer needs, or reacting to issues and incidents with our technology of the electrical assets we integrate with and control, the need to understand how things work (the "art of the possible") and how our customers and partners experience them is at the heart of what I do.
But am I an engineer?
Customers, creating solutions and fixing problems have been common themes throughout my career. But I struggle with thinking of myself as an engineer.
During my sixth form I was lucky enough to attend a "women into engineering" week. I believe that it was during this week that someone said that engineers in the UK are hampered by our language: we associate the word engineer with engines, which in turn leads us to think of heavy machinery and the traditional industrial engineering. In French, engineer is "ingenieur" which is much closer to the root of the word engineering: "ingenuity".
I love the idea that engineering is about using our ingenuity, solving problems and coming up with creative solutions. So I'm not an engineer who designs large structures or spends their day creating software. But I do apply my ingenuity on a regular basis and on that basis, I'm proud of the role I play in the world of STEM, engineering ideas into reality.