Anna Hedley

"The three main types I matched with are Explorer, Investigator and Trainer. This definitely fits my personality and is vital in the work I do. I have always loved solving problems and understanding issues and also working with others to ensure they understand them. I like working with a wide range of people and being creative within my role."

"I started my career doing the digital design of microchips. I really enjoyed solving the problems of how to code a block in the smallest and most efficient way to meet the request of what the block should do. I also enjoyed debugging code when things went wrong, especially when there were a group of us debugging the system together as it meant I got to understand their blocks better, and explain my block. Often when explaining and answering questions I would find new ways of solving the problem.I have now moved into a customer facing role. My job is to work with customers to explain the products we make and ensure they can get the best out of that as possible. It is also to answer their questions when they hit problems. As my customers are engineers part of my role is also to work with internal teams to look at how we can make the product better.I really enjoy the teamwork side of my job with both customers and internal teams as well as being able to go into the technical problems to understand them. If it has been a long complicated project and at the end we have a happy customer with a product that works well then I find that very rewarding."

"At school I enjoyed a large range of subjects, including STEM subjects. The best advice I got was to pick the subject for GCSE and A Level that I enjoyed the most. This meant for A Level I studies Physics, Maths and Religious Studies without much idea of what I wanted to do next. Through my A Levels I knew I wanted to go down the Physics/Maths route but was not interested in the theoretical side, I always wanted to know why what I was learning was useful to life in general. This lead me to looking at Engineering where I could use the technical side to produce something practical and useful. I enjoyed the electronics modules in A Level physics, so went to Birmingham University to study Electronic and Electrical Engineering. Whilst at university I narrowed down my interests further to digital design of microchips. After university I joined Micron as a digital designer which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately after 18 months I was made redundant. Everyone who was made redundant with me who were looking for work managed to find work quickly. I decided I wanted to take some time out to do some voluntary youth work in Bosnia & Herzegovina with Novi Most International, where as part of my role I taught computer skills. One thing I really missed was the technical problem solving, so I decided to move back to the UK and go back into digital design. I went to work for Dialog Semiconductor designing the digital part of display chips which control the display of a mobile phone to ensure the right colours are displayed.After doing design for 7 years, and having gained a lot of technical knowledge of how chips are designed I decided to move to a more customer focused role as this allowed me to use many more of my skills, not just the technical ones. This is the role I do now, and really enjoy."

"I have done a lot of youth work in my spare time - both in Bosnia & Herzegovina and the UK. I am now the chair of the board of trustees for Novi Most International working with both teams in the UK and abroad to run the charity."

"My days are very varied. Sometimes I spend a lot of time on email answering questions from customers or internal teams. I also go to customer sites to provide in-depth training and to build relationships so we can find out what would make our products even better for them. As well as the specific customers, as a Senior manager I lead a team who work with a variety of customers and also look at how as a company we can make things better for our customers.Recently I have agreed to be a mentor for other people within Imagination."

"A Levels in Physics, Maths and Religious Study.MEng degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering with Management (which is too long for most boxes!)I have done professional training in programming languages and technics I need to use, such as Verilog and UVM (both used in digital design).I have also had professional training in other skills, organised through work e.g managing teams, conducting performance reviews and presentation skills. "