• Question: why did you want to work where you do?

    Asked by Lucifer Morningstar to Helen, Hollie, Matt, Phil, Steve, Sylwia on 10 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Hollie Heard

      Hollie Heard answered on 10 Mar 2018:

      My company specialises in a particular chemical process that is used for coating all sorts of different materials for loads of different applications. When I finished my masters this company were sponsoring the doctoral project that I’m doing now so it was the perfect opportunity for me to work in a field, (materials science), that really interested me and on projects for the European Space Agency. Since then I’ve had the chance to work on all different sorts of things and been able to go out and get more funding to build new equipment. It also allows me to learn loads of practical skills as I get to build and create things myself, and am even being taught how to drive a forklift truck! It has also been really good in that I get to still study and research so I will be ‘Dr Hollie’, alongside getting lots of real world and industry experience. It’s a fairly small company, that appeals to me, as we have a lot of trust and freedom put on us to do our work and are a really good team that supports each other when needed. It was a company that I had never heard of when I started and being able to attend lots of events and meet different people has taught me that there’s loads of companies in the UK working in area such as space and cutting-edge research other than just the few big ones you may have heard of. The UK is a great place to be an engineer, and there are lots of job opportunities out there in loads of different fields. Is there anywhere in particular that you would like to work in the future?

    • Photo: Sylwia Nikel

      Sylwia Nikel answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      I have learned about the company when I had been offered a contractor position there over 3 years ago. While working there I learned about the company’s ethics and the project they work on and that they are in fact an international firm. I liked the atmosphere of the office and that they care about their staff. It is as well an employee own business which is good for the staff. We are also allowed to refuse to work on a specific project if it is against our beliefs, like for example if I thought a project is going to be bad for the environment I can say I will not work on it. This would allow me to be true to myself and still do the job I love… just different project. We can also have an impact on what project we are working on, again if we believe the project is against the companies values, we will not take it.

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