Occupation

Graduate Project Manager

Organisation

Selex Galileo

What challenges have you faced in your career and how have you overcome them?

I think one of my greatest challenges was at the start of my career when I started my graduate job as a project manager.  Having studied engineering,   project management was a new area for me although I would still need my background engineering knowledge as I would be working with engineers every day.  Despite this, I had a huge learning curve in order to learn about project management.  A lot of the learning is done through a mixture of courses and learning on the job which means that experience is sometimes the most valuable learning process.  Despite this, I feel that my knowledge of project management has increased a lot since I graduated but I still have a lot to learn.

What is your greatest achievement?

The day I graduated was a great day.  I loved the ceremony and wearing the gown.  I had a close group of friends on my course and there was a great sense of camaraderie.  I had spent the last 5 years working hard to achieve my masters degree and it hadn’t all been easy and so to actually have my hard work pay off and have a job to go to was a great feeling. 

Could you tell us a bit more about how you came to be in this job?

I graduated from the University of Edinburgh in June 2007 with a MEng in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.  Having worked at Selex Galileo as a summer student and as part of my masters I decided to apply for a job on their graduate scheme as a project manager.  I have been working here as a graduate since September 2007 and have done a variety of placements in order to learn how to become a project manager and also about the industry and the business itself.

What made you get involved in this area of work/this career?

At school I enjoyed maths and physics but also liked my foreign languages (I studied French and German at school and am now learning Italian) so I wanted to chose a career that involved maths and physics and could also let me use my languages and give me a chance to travel.  Engineering seemed like a good choice and I enjoyed the electrical engineering course that I did as part of my first year at university and so I decided to specialise in that.  As I got closer to graduating, I felt that my skills were stronger on the management side but I was still interested in engineering and so I looked into finding a project management graduate job – preferably in an engineering firm.  As I had worked at Selex Galileo whilst I was at university, I decided to apply for their Graduate Project Manager vacancy as it combined my interest in engineering with where I see my career going at the moment!

Being part of a company that is part of a large international group means that there is potential for me to travel – something that interests me a lot.  By studying engineering I feel that you learn a lot of transferable skills that helps to make you more employable and gives you the opportunities to travel and work abroad if that is important to you

What is a typical day like?

A typical day for me is – come in, check my emails and sort out what I want to accomplish for the day.  Then its meetings, speaking to people or at my desk, working on documents/reports and answering/writing emails.

What is your working environment like?

My office is an open plan office which makes everyone really approachable.  This is vital as communication is one of the most important parts of my job.  The building itself is bright and airy – plus we have a Starbucks on site!

What is your favourite book / TV Programme?

I read a lot – I read everything from trashy novels to Jane Austen to fantasy books so it’s so hard to pin down my favourite book. Same with TV Programmes – I enjoy things like Sex and the City on one hand and Top Gear on the other.

What do you think could be done to encourage more women to enter your field?

Work needs to be done to stop the stereotyped image of engineering being a ‘dirty’ industry and an industry that is just for men.  I think that it’s a good idea to support women at all stages in their career and it is vital to get that support going from the start.  Hopefully that will encourage more women to choose a career in Science and Engineering.