More space for women in engineering

A Careers on the Box report shows almost one in five of us make one of our biggest life decisions – a choice of job – based on TV role models.

Pity then anyone looking in vein on jobs24.com for a role as a Guardian of the Galaxy or Walking Dead zombie slayer.

Thankfully, the SAG Award winning film Hidden Figures might well do for engineering what Casualty has done for the medical profession.

It puts calculations and computers on the big screen to tell the story of three trailblazing African-American women at the heart of the 1960s Space Race.

The true but largely unknown story of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Winston Jackson and Katherine Johnson, three NASA engineers and mathematicians who were the brains behind launching astronaut John Glenn into orbit, could spark the careers of Britain’s female engineers of the future.

We might not be launching any missions to Mars any time soon but ambitious plans for a British ‘space launch port’ and the growing satellite sector show Britain’s commercial space industry is all systems go.

And, as with all our engineering sectors, there are plenty of opportunities for women to launch their careers.

Every specialism needs engineers of one kind or another: construction, rail, chemical, gas, technology, energy, water.

The variety of roles on offer with jobs24.com is huge, from electrical, chemical and mechanical engineer to project manager or technical supervisor.

Engineering is definitely not just for the boys. When it comes to academic results girls already have in spades what it takes to be an engineer. Not only that, they bring problem-solving, creativity, analysis, and good communication skills to the party.

Getting more girls interested in engineering is starting early with lots of work being done in schools to close the gender equality gap.

Engineering firms are also recognising the need to attract more women to the workforce and taking practical steps to encourage more to enter or return to the profession.

Whether it’s an academic path through university, an apprenticeship, starting out on the shop floor or a graduate scheme, there are various ways to get on the pathway to becoming an engineer.

To launch your career, or take it to ever greater heights, let jobs24.com guide you to the latest vacancies.

Posted on June 14, 2017