Question: Did u always want to be an engineer?

Eleanor Sherwen answered on 8 Nov 2017:

No, I didn’t know what I wanted to do at University until I was about 17. I liked a mixture of art subjects and science/maths and I wanted to keep doing bits of both. I thought about being an architect for a bit. I was quite a bookish kid but I chose Resistant Materials GCSE and Product Design A level because I enjoyed being in the workshop and making stuff. At A level my teachers explained that Product Design Engineering is a career where I could keep doing this and keep that creative/technical mix. It really appealed. My parents didn’t know what Product Design Engineering was initially, but they’ve always been really supportive of me doing what I want to in life. Some of my teachers in other subjects really wanted to encourage me into “academic” profession but I think that’s a misconception about Engineering, it’s actually a really varied subject so you can go into aspects of it with lots of intellectual meatiness and scientific method (if that is your thing). I’m so glad I did do it, because it’s a career that suits my interests and my personality down to the ground, and it brings me a lot of happiness.