Sharon Clarke

"I feel that my personality types matched me perfectly. I think they are a true reflection of me."

"I am a Manufacturing engineer working in an Industrial Operations Planning team, I have a great passion for leading and working with teams. I believe in getting people involved early in any process that I am deep diving into. I am always looking for ways in which I can improve the area that I manage for the IE team. I have led very successful continuous improvement initiatives for the Vacuum area. I plan and review the budget for my area when we receive a new production schedule. I develop control systems to help with the efficiencies of activities. My favorite part of my job is that I get to lead and work within many teams. Each of the projects that I work on is completely different from each other. Currently I am working on a few Lean continuous improvements projects, a new Site tour layout project, the sites Family Fun day, as well as the investigation of redesigning a tool and investigating the opportunity to qualify a legacy process on a new fleet of tools. I have also had the pleasure of creating and developing my own STEM primary school program in 2017, since then this program has grown from strength to strength. Having interacted with just under 3000 pupils in 2018 and <1900 pupils in 2019 we are really looking forward to what 2019/2020 brings. The wonderful thing about working for Seagate is you are always encouraged to get involved in the local community."

"My Dad inspired me to go into engineering. From a very young age my dad was my biggest influencer, he was a wonderful man, a great mechanic and rally driver. He taught me to drive when I was six, he always said to me \"Do you know how that works Sharon?\", I would have said \"no Daddy\", and he would have said \" OK, let's have a look and see\". He bought me my first car engine to play with that summer and I spend the entire summer taking it apart, asking questions and reading every book that he had, putting it back together was the most fun part. Trying to figure out where everything went and why I hadn't organised it better as I had took it apart. Dad said \"Sharon, the key to ensuring that you are on the right track is to always organise your work huni, please be careful where you are putting your tools and engine parts\" Dad then showed me how I could test to see if the engine was working and how I should organise my work and tidy away my tools each day. (I wasn't the only person who would have needed them). From then on every spare moment I had I spent with him and his team in his garage. Slowly over time my responsibilities grew and I would get small jobs dedicated to me to complete each week, from spraying a lorry trawler, to rewiring the lights on a car, I loved every moment of it. Allowing me the opportunity to join in, ask questions and investigate the problems myself, only fueled my passion for engineering. At 16 I received my navigation license, I then was able to join in on the fun and his passion for motorsport, I had the pleasure of navigating for my dad for 10 years until he passed away. Like most young people I did not know what I really wanted to do at 18, so on advice from my Dad, I went to the NWRC to complete a GNVQ in engineering, which was based around all forms of engineering, electrical, mechanical, manufacturing and electronic. I then completed my National Diploma in engineering before going to the University of Ulster to complete my Honors Degree."

"I spend my spare time with my three children doing STEM related activities with them. We are constantly looking up the internet to see what we can do with the materials that we have been recycling, we love building, playing and being creative with household items to see what we can make. I also run, water ski and spectator al local and international motorsport events. "

"I tend to answer the emails that do not require any further action during my morning coffee at 5am, prior to going to the gym and work, this frees up my time so that I can spend my first 90 minutes of my day at work, working and reviewing my Key projects. Then I start prioritising my day ahead and ensuring that I am on track with all projects, open actions and send emails relating to delays, checkpoints on projects etc. I project manage many projects at the same time, I am also a member of many teams, which means that I have loads meetings that I need to attend, I have loads of data analysis that I need to complete. I need to have presentations completed on a daily basis in order to demonstrate that status of a project(s) on behalf of my team to various levels of the organisation.In conclusion no day is the same, each day if different which is nice. I like the variation however I spend most of my day in and out of meeting, analyzing data and putting recommendations forward, working with teams and coordinating the outcomes of these meetings. Project managing teams you need to ensure that everyone on the team keeps their focus and stays on target to reach and achieve the project outcomes that they have agreed to. I also need to ensure that I am on target for any actions that I have received and feedback to the relevant teams any updates and when these actions are closed out. "

"Post-graduate degree (MSc, MA, etc.) MSc in Composite and Polymers Undergraduate degree (BSc, BA, etc.) BEng Honours Engineering Management\tLevel 6 Project Management Lean Six Sigma Brown Belt training BTEC National Diploma in EngineeringBTEC GNVQ in advanced EngineeringCPR and Defibrillator training (Adult and Child)"