Yvonne Huddart

"I'm problem solver and a researcher - I use the key skills of the Explorer and Investigator constantly. I delve into details of a problem and come up with solutions. I work alone and in teams, and need to use the skills of the Communicator to get information, discuss possible solutions and communicate results."

"I work in a team of engineers developing a new product. The team has electrical, mechanical and software engineers and we also work closely with project managers, quality and manufacturing engineers, marketing and purchasing staff.Our new products are complex and our product development lifecycle is long. I've been working on the same project now for around 15 years. The project started as my EngD project with only me working on it, developing novel algorithms and looking at feasibility of new technology. The project now has the equivalent of over 20 full time team members and will very soon be released for sale. I've been involved with the full lifecycle from project inception, feasibility study, mechanical, electrical and software design and development, testing, marketing and manufacturing.Being involved with so many people with different skills is fascinating - there's always the chance to learn something new or get a different viewpoint on a problem. Although I've worked on the same project for a long time the work has been constantly changing as the product has developed and new challenges have arisen to be investigated and solved."

"When I finished university I took a job as a programmer in a company writing mobile phone billing software. I quickly realised that being a programmer in a software house was not for me - I was very bored! I needed to do something that would stretch me more. My job at Renishaw has certainly done that. At Renishaw, we work in multi-disciplinary teams developing very complex products. In our office in Edinburgh we do very early stage research through to initial product development and product launch. For the past 15 years I've been working on a project that started as my EngD (like a PhD, but with a more industrial bias) that I did through Renishaw. I've been involved in the project from the very start of the idea, right through to launch of a product based on my research.Along the way I have done my EngD through the company, been project manager, technical lead of a growing product development team, and I'm now in a technical role with responsibility for the performance of the product. I work part time to allow me to spend time with my little boy.I've never really had a career plan, or a life plan - I've done what seemed interesting at the time. I chose my degree because I was good at maths and liked physics. I chose to do an MSc to open up more job opportunities, and chose the particular MSc at Oxford because there was more maths involved than most other similar courses. I took my first job thinking it would be interesting, and stayed for two years. When I joined Renishaw I assumed I'd stay 2-3 years, but I've now been here 17 years and counting! I may be here for the rest of my career. Or I might not! We'll have to wait and see."

"My time outside of work is mostly spent playing with my three-year-old. I also surf as often as possible. I work part-time, 28 hours a week, to maximise fun while still earning enough money to enjoy life. My partner also works a 4 day week, so we get a lovely long 3-day weekend together as a family."

"My day at work starts with a coffee and a check of emails. After that, I spend most of my time writing programs to collect and process data, and analyse and display results. Also planning experiments, writing up experiments and results, and discussing next steps with colleagues. There are weekly meetings with the whole team to discuss progress, and other meetings with smaller groups to focus on more specific issues. And lots of ad-hoc discussion with colleagues over whatever is happening at the time. My experiments and data analysis is generally solitary work, but always links in with what other team members are doing.Every day is different, and the focus of the work varies month by month. At the moment, I'm working on tests to ensure that every single example of our new product that is manufactured meets the product specification. I'm also helping colleagues to test different sample artefacts used to calibrate the product. When I get time I'm also investigating and developing performance improvements for the product."

"5 Highers - Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English and Computer Science (AAAAB)CSYS (Certificate of Sixth Year Studies) - Maths, Pure Maths, Physics (AAA)BSc (Hons) Mathematical Physics (First class) - Edinburgh UniversityMSc Computation - Oxford UniversityEngD Photonics \"Non-contact free-form shape measurement for coordinate measuring machines\" - Heriot-Watt University"