Melissa is a chartered engineer and also a young entrepreneur. Showing that engineering can be a viable career choice for all, she is a role model, not just for engineers, but for females from ethnic minorities and other young entrepreneurs.

By the age of 27, Melissa had achieved Chartered Engineer status (IMechE), was a certified SolidWorks professional member, a SolidWorks Champion programme, a STEM & female role model, an advocate for women in engineering and a successful entrepreneur, running Techwuman, a design engineering consultancy.

Like many females in engineering, engineering wasn’t my first choice of career; nor was it a career that was promoted to me throughout my education. Since childhood, I had a great interest in science, maths, and art subjects and was always very creative, spending hours exploring and investigating, trying to understand how things worked. When it was time for me to choose my degree subject and specialise in an industry, I struggled to identify my ‘perfect job’.

Trying to decide on a career for the ‘rest of your life’ is a difficult decision to be made by a 17-year-old. I had so many questions when I was deciding on what do to after my A-Levels; university, an apprenticeship, or a full-time position, where would I live, what industry would I choose, would I study an integrated master's? The questions were endless. The answers were placements and lots of them!

I am fortunate to have very supportive parents who organised placements in different STEM industries so that I could have a sneak-peek into a variety of roles within different industries. I went to a pathology lab, shadowed ward rounds and observed operations happening real time in the operating theatre at a hospital in Sri Lanka, completed a graphic design placement producing marketing material and finally a civil engineering placement at a cement factory in Sri Lanka. I also benefitted from hearing and learning from the first-hand experience my father had in his aviation career as well as my grandfather’s experience of being a mechanical engineer.

This work experience was invaluable as I was able to identify what I liked, but more importantly what I disliked, helping me gain a better understanding of the kind of role I would enjoy. I decided on Aeronautical Engineering as my degree as I wanted to work on emerging technology, and it fitted in with my passion for travel.

Throughout my degree, I knew that I had chosen the right subject as the content was stimulating and I enjoyed all the topics taught each semester, but what concerned me was the lack of females on my (and other) engineering course(s). I was one of 5 females out of 60 in my first year and couldn’t understand why females were so underrepresented.

Looking back, as a female I was always in the minority; one of two in my Physics & Maths A-level classes. I realised this was due to the misconceptions around engineering and engineering roles, and that the only way to improve this was to get involved as a role model to show other females a real insight into studying engineering. I did this by being a mentor for placements held at Salford University for female A-level students and I loved explaining what I did to try and inspire them to study engineering and other STEM based subjects at university.

The underrepresentation continued throughout my degree and when I participated in an industrial placement year, I was the first female to be employed in the company’s technical department. My placement year was invaluable as it was here that I found my true passion; design engineering. This role changed my insight into the industry and allowed me to leverage my strengths (maths, science and art) and develop them. It also helped me realise that working with a team of males wasn’t as daunting as it had been made out to be. After completing my placement year, I went on to successfully complete my degree, achieving a 1st class grade. My ambition was to complete a MSc straight after my degree and I was fortunate to find a role that would allow me to work, study and develop myself at the same time – a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

The KTP gave me the opportunity to work on a project which aimed to improve the security industry by revolutionising the design procedure for physical security products with the implementation of 3D simulation. This procedure improved the efficiency of the design process for products tested and certified to the LPCB LPS 1175 security standard. The KTP also allowed me to complete an MSc in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering as well as hugely beneficial CPD; I became an Incorporated Engineer, completed a Level 5 Award in Management, became a Yellow & Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma and completed a SolidWorks simulation course.

My journey within the engineering field up to this point lead me to constantly ask – where are all the women? It made me want to try and make a change in the industry.

Likeminded females who are in engineering need to devote time to showcase their jobs and stories to empower more females to consider taking up a career in engineering, because if you can’t see role models who look like you, you’re less likely to follow that career path.

The beauty of engineering lies in its diversity, the fact that as an industry, its specialisms are so varied. The skills you learn are transferrable, so you aren’t stuck in one particular role– no one told me that at the time and I had to learn this myself.

I have made it my mission to be a female leader in engineering, to be the female engineering role model I never had at the start of my career. Seeing my determination to be a female role model was the key driver behind my father setting up Techwuman; he wanted to support and provide me with a means of promoting women in engineering whilst developing my career.  

Techwuman is an engineering consultancy company specialising in design engineering for the physical security of critical national infrastructure. Our company’s mission is to empower women in engineering, improve gender parity in the industry and promote STEM careers to the next generation.

Research shows that young people’s awareness of STEM increases by 90% following STEM events. This is one of the reasons why Techwuman delivers STEM Activity Days and participates in events to promote STEM and improve the perception of STEM careers to the younger generation.

Within 4 years of starting our STEM Activity Day programme, Techwuman has delivered STEM sessions to over 3,700 pupils across the UK. Our vision is to demonstrate to the younger generation that there are numerous opportunities available to them which they may not have been aware of, or even considered before. 

We host STEM activity days in primary and secondary schools; with a focus on primary schools as it gives pupils time to think about what they’d like to pursue as a career before they must pick their GCSE subjects. The concept of our STEM activity days is based on delivering activities which are fun; learning is achieved by participation in practical hands-on activities. The activities are expertly designed so that they incorporate STEM careers, teamwork and basic STEM theoretical concepts – providing an early opportunity for the children to hear and use appropriate terminology. 

Another key part of our STEM Activity Days involves engaging with our STEM ambassadors who have diverse backgrounds with their own story to tell. Our ambassadors are all at different points in their career, some are at university studying for their degree whilst others are qualified professionals in STEM industries. We currently have over 60 STEM Ambassadors and more than 70% are female. When pupils get to see the number of females in STEM careers first-hand, this can help to challenge established stereotypes and perceptions they may have.

It is incredibly rewarding when someone comes up to me at the end of an activity day and says they want to be a female engineer like me when they grow up - it’s a wonderful feeling knowing you have succeeded in inspiring someone. 

Despite the push for diversity within the engineering sector, there are still practical challenges that need to be overcome. For instance, it is still nearly impossible for me to purchase PPE that fits - I always end up wearing oversized PPE as they only cater to male body types and sizes!

According to EngineeringUK's 2022 Women in engineering report, females comprise 16.5% of the engineering workforce – this is up from 10.5% in 2010 which is a great achievement. UCAS 2023 admissions data revealed that nearly a fifth (19%) of applicants for engineering and technology degree programmes were female, up from 17% in 2022. With the UK engineering sector experiencing a shortage of skilled professionals and only 8% of UK engineers from BAME backgrounds, more role models are required to increase this number.

I hope that this article will help to inspire and encourage others in the engineering sector to do all that they can to try and make a positive impact on the industry, and encourage females to get involved in societies such as WES and other campaigns where they can share the story of their journey into engineering. Let’s join together to break the perceptions and stereotypes surrounding engineering!

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