Wanda Simpson

"I think the personality type matches me very well. I like organizing and helping young engineers to develop in the workplace. Therefore coaching comes natural to me. I am very good at coordinating and this is probably why i found myself in the Railway in the end which was not something i planned when i set out after university or even during uni. Due to the nature of the railway with lots of different assets e.g. Overhead Lines, railway track, signals coordinating all the different designs and construction is a big task. As a civil engineer i have to work with all the different engineers (track, electrical, telecoms, etc) and I enjoy the challenge that brings. I think being good at coordinating and coaching does then lead to being good manager i think that so goes together. "

"I am a senior civil engineer working in a design office for Amey. I work mostly on Railway projects. I have studied civil engineering and work on a construction site as well as in a design office. I love it that i have been part of building things like stations, bridges and recycling plants. For 8 years now i have been working mostly on railway which means on stations but also on new track routes and works which are electrifying the railway to be able to move away from diesel trains to electric trains. "

"I studied European Civil Engineering Management in Bremen, Germany and Wolverhampton, UK. My mum and dad are electrical engineers so they were my role models. I was always fascinated with big structures esp. bridges but i wanted to build rather than just do calculation day in and out, so for the first 7 years of my engineering life I work on construction sites. I loved working on site but when I had my first child I felt I wanted a more regulated day as working hours on site can be very long and late sometimes. So I decided to move to consultancy which has more regulated hours, this is how I got into railway and this is were I stayed as it seemed to suit me. I love working closely with Network rail (the railway owner)."

"I love going to festival, I love travelling and spending time with my family. I like going to concerts and comedians. I love baking and I am not the best cook but I keep trying. I also roller-skate in my spare time and my kids now love it too. "

"My normal day is driving to work and then reading emails or sometimes I will have to review some drawings or some documents like reports etc. and i will do that first thing before my colleagues come in. When my colleagues come in I will need to help them solve design problems and ensure they have all the information they need to design correctly. If we don't have the information my job is to contact our client and request the information. as a team leader I also answer question about non work related questions of my colleagues like training, holiday requests, IT etc. not every day but every other day I have meetings with the client or my team and depending on the meeting I will need to present a design we have developed or plan with the team the works coming up making sure every one is prioritizing the right works. I am currently working on a station and the design and drawings we are producing is required to help the guys on site build it. Without the drawings they will not know what to do and where to put it. It is my job that they get in time and that the design is correct cause if not it could lead to people being hurt. "

"I am from Germany so i have a Bachlor Degree from their it is called European Civil Engineering Management. It is an engineering degree with construction management top up. I have studied and graduated in Germany but also studied in the UK for 1 1/2 year during it. I studied in Wolverhampton in that time which i really enjoyed. After my degree I came straight back to the UK cause I loved it here. My first job was as a trainee engineer during my study in a design office and on site. After my graduation I worked for 7 year for a construction company working on construction sites. I then had my first child and moved to design work and into a more office based environment. I then done the incorporate engineer certification with the institute of civil engineers and I am now a Senior Engineer and Team leader working on rail projects like Stations and track works. "