Tell us about your academic background.

I did a Mechanical Engineering degree apprenticeship at the University of Sheffield. It was a bachelor’s degree over three years, with one day of university contact time and four days of work each week. A lot of the university work was done in the evenings. It was very intense but a great way to gain experience while also learning the theoretical side.

What made you want to go into engineering in the first place?

I’ve always been fascinated by machinery – it could be anything from fighter jets to vacuum cleaners! I’ve always just had this natural curiosity to understand how things work.

What does your role as a Mechanical Engineer at Eadon involve?

The work is quite varied, which is one of the reasons I enjoy working here. I do everything from substantiating designs through calculations, to coming up with initial concepts, building prototypes, and presenting them to clients. It’s a really broad range of tasks, which I love.

What’s a common misconception about engineering?

A lot of people think engineers either do theoretical work at a desk all day or are out getting their hands dirty making things – but there’s space for both. Being exposed to both areas helps you develop, as they’re closely related.

What’s been the most technically challenging project you’ve worked on?

That would be building the deployment system for Eadon’s Reach project. The challenge was meeting requirements while keeping the system modular for manual handling. We had to split it into pieces for ease of transport, which made it tricky to balance weight and function without compromising on strength and stiffness.

Tell us about a time when you’ve felt particularly proud of something you’ve worked on.

Again, that would be while working on Eadon’s Reach project. We recently finished the prototype for the swivel module, which is quite a complicated module of the system – it allows a rotational joint along the deployed tube. When we first came up with the concept we realised assembling it would be really challenging because we were working with limited space. But when it all came together and worked perfectly, it was one of those satisfying moments. We all just stood there, turning the handle and looking at each other thinking, ‘That’s pretty cool.'”

How do you handle situations when a project doesn’t go as planned?

Communication is key. Keeping clients updated helps you come to a resolution before they become bigger problems. Most clients understand the challenges we face and keeping them in the loop makes all the difference.

What role does teamwork play in your projects?

Teamwork is critical for a few reasons. People have different strengths, and coming together lets us make the most of those. It also helps to solve problems quicker – getting a breadth of opinions on things and having someone else to critique your designs often helps highlight potential issues you might have missed.

What impact do you hope to have in the engineering industry during your career?

I’d like to help improve the nuclear decommissioning world. There’s still some negative press around nuclear, and being part of the solution to rectify past mistakes and make it a safer technology would be great for the future of energy production.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in engineering?

I’d say try to get some hands-on work experience. Work experience in different places is really useful. It helps you understand the wide range of work in engineering and figure out which areas interest you the most.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I’m a bit of a petrolhead, so anything to do with cars. I’m always tinkering and working on my own projects – at the moment I’m partway through designing a motion simulator for a racing platform!