A well-respected and highly sought-after Engineering Contractor, Sharon Walmsley, talks to Ruth Parker, about her early days and the career path she has carved in engineering after sitting her A-Levels.

Sharon speaks to us candidly about the challenges for women in engineering, the roles available, and why the industry is a great option for anyone who wants to be a part of it.

Making her mark in Engineering

After receiving my A-Level marks, I saw a job advertised for Fox’s Biscuits. I was just 18 years old at a time when the factory was very traditional in its genetic makeup. It was mostly males doing the engineering and mechanical work, while women generally worked on the factory floor.

I didn’t see engineering as a career then, and I’m not sure I do now – it is more of a vocation that I love to be a part of. I found it quite challenging at times, and extremely rewarding. No day is the same, particularly when you’re working on a project. It is the job I love to do.

Fox’s Biscuits gave me an opportunity to train, and learn the manual skills on the job, following on to complete a three years at college to learn the theoretical componentry of engineering.

Moving onto Water and Electrical Engineering

I spent three years at Fox’s and then moved on to Aughton Automation to work in the water industry with Northwest Water now United Utilities in Birchwood. I thrived learning about the world of water and building new water treatment works, and I worked predominantly in this sector.

I enjoyed this time and learning the core discipline of electrical with MCC designs, electrical designs, PLC software, and everything else. I was fortunate to have a lot of people I could learn from, and work with some great engineers. We were using new technology and, most significantly, our project was the first to use this new tech for Northwest Water. It was the 1990's and I had a big desktop computer for running the cable calculation software and we had agreed with the client to use this software on the proviso that we could do a percentage of calculations manually to verify it.

A natural progression into Project Management

It was a natural progression into project management with more people giving me responsibility. If you take the lead in these roles you can have a lot more say, influence and control over the outcomes of the project. I could then concentrate on the end product and outputs.

I think I would be lying to myself if I said I didn’t come across people who found it difficult to work with a woman in engineering and project management. But I have worked for 30 years in the construction and water industry. In that time, I have been fortunate to have only dealt with a handful of people who made me feel that way. Maybe it is my strong-willed personality but I am not afraid of the job, and what we have to achieve.

Women in Engineering in the UK

If I am going to take a view, I think in the UK, we are not championing women in the industry as much as other countries do. But when I was working in London on the Lee Tunnel with international parties involvement – with French and Spanish parent companies – women were seen as equals and would take on jobs as they came, just like men. That project had a huge amount of women involved in many different roles and levels.

From my perspective, working with foreign companies and people, there has been more equality shown and more women in the industry seen as equals. The UK doesn’t seem to be as progressive or focused on growing the roles of women in the industry as much as some of European counterparts.

I remember a meeting I chaired while working on the Lee Tunnel project. There were seven people present, and of those, five were women. They held senior positions in heavy construction roles so it was an incredible project to be involved in. That is the one experience I can say I have had where women were prevalent and seen as important.

Apprenticeships as a Great Route into Engineering

An apprenticeship is a great avenue because you learn by doing the work without having to wait to experience it after studying. It could be a game-changer for industry growth in the UK and for neurodiverse minds who may have been labelled as not having Maths as a natural strength. Even though I now have a Masters degree, as an apprentice I worked harder because I saw the value in it, and how I could apply my learning whilst working and earning.

Hopefully with more companies offering apprenticeships, people will fall in love with engineering when they gain those crucial early experiences.

Career Pinnacles and Aspirations

I’ve had many pinnacle jobs in my career – and I’ve been lucky enough to learn from all of them.

And something I have learnt is this: If more people believe they are going to make a difference and not rely on a company to open the door for them, we’ll make more progress. You might have to knock on a few doors and get rejected a couple of times but eventually, someone is going to crack open a door for you to squeeze through. But we shouldn’t rely on others doing it for us. Just open the door yourself and then hold it open for others to follow.

When we are doing a job, we are representatives for others - female leaders in engineering and their respective fields who help other women to achieve the same.

Summary

At Alexander Associates, we believe anyone can have a place in the construction industry. We specialise in engineering recruitment and can help you with your next project or career path.

Contact ustoday to discuss engineering as the ‘it’ industry for you, and be inspired by more of our #ShesanEngineerblog series.