Joanne Rogers

"I think the personality types match pretty well with me and the career I enjoy.Coordinator - working together to achieve a common goal requires organisation, patience and understanding. I feel that discussion and compromise help to find a path though difficult design issues to a solution that fulfils the customer needs. Influencer - Some tasks require independent work and other require co-ordination with other teams hitting targets and deadlines. Explaining things in a simple, clear way without becoming over emotional helps to keep the team focussed on using reason and facts to make decisions rather than splitting the team with anger, aggression or feelings of frustration. Asking for other team members point of view and being inclusive in decision making can help with keeping project direction. Manager - Planning, organising and encouraging the team are all useful skills to working well on a project and bringing it to a successful conclusion. "

"I currently work for BorgWarner Power Drive Systems working in the Power Electronics division. I help to design inverters and motor control systems for hybrid and fully electric vehicles. For my part I work on the housing design, controller layout, components and interfaces. As a Senior Engineer I mentor the less experienced members of the team and help to guide the project direction. I enjoy the time I spend designing components and assemblies in the 3D computer modelling system. This allows my creativity to combine with the technical knowledge of materials and structures that I have learnt. I also enjoy working with a wide variety of different people and seeing the progression of the design from a model on the screen to real life parts which fit together to perform a function in a vehicle."

"I have always had an interest in how things work and why things happen. This may be due in part to my parents, especially my father who was an Engineering Manager and the many trips during holiday times to museums and historical sites, looking at trains, boats, bridges and mechanisms. I didn't realise I was stealth learning.When it came time to choose my GCSEs and A levels I didn't really know what I wanted to do for a job. I looked for subjects I was interested in, which I thought I could do well at. I wanted to keep my options open and felt that STEM subjects, especially at A level (Maths, Physics and Chemistry), would give a wide range of career choices to consider. I finally decided to study for a Mechanical Engineering degree at the Northumbria University. My first job was working for Black and Decker starting as a resident Engineer looking after products in current production. I then moved into new product design working on a wide range of Consumer and Professional power tools, garden products and homewares. I stayed with this company for 15 years before making a change to my current employer. "

"I love art and crafts which I see as an extension of the creative side of Engineering.I enjoy getting outside so I love a walk in the countryside or along the beach, especially with our dog.I am a member of the cast and crew of Kynren, the epic tale of England which runs annually in the North East. I am part of the show team which means I get to perform outdoors on a gigantic stage up to 10 or 11 times each season.I am a member of a small singing group, \"Saved by the Belles\" who perform a wide range of musical types in up to 5 part harmony.I have recently started doing much more gardening and enjoy trying to get things to grow."

"I start my day quite early at 6:00am as I have a 45 minute commute to the office. I arrive to the office at 7:30am and start by reading and responding to emails. Every day is different depending on the particular project and how far through the design process the project has progressed. Generally there are daily project meetings to be involved with and a lot of discussions with other team members about various aspects of the design. The Mechanical team work closely with the Electrical team to collaborate on the design development. Some days are more meetings and interacting with different team members and some are more lone design based tasks. I usually finish my work day at 4:00pm.I am involved in all aspects of the product design from the initial concept layout through to the production at the factory. Nothing works in isolation, consideration needs to be given to the project progression for time and cost, as the project progresses sharing and reviewing information with other teams such as production and test ensures that they understand how the product will be assembled and tested to ensure it works in the way the customer needs.Time is spent designing components and assemblies in the 3D computer modelling system. These 3D models can be used to simulate the product usage for thermal and structural stability to finesse the design and make improvements before tooling and machining is started. I receive the first parts from tooling, review the way they assemble together and get involved with the manufacturing sites around the world. Travel is a necessary part of working with the manufacturing teams to ensure I support them with the knowledge I have about the design I have created.Being organised is very helpful, documenting my daily tasks, planning my time, the design decision I make and how I arrived at them. Documentation allows me to go back and review what happened in testing or when decisions were made. It also helps me to learn for the future and to share information on problems and solutions with my team so that everyone can learn together. Making mistakes or having failures is difficult but they need to be accepted, learnt from and fixed. "

"A levels: Maths (Grade A), Physics (Grade C) Chemistry (Grade E)Degree: 2:1 BEng (Hons) Mechanical EngineeringChartered Engineer and Member of the IMechE [Institute of Mechanical Engineers]Resident Engineer at Black and Decker working on Consumer Sanders and GrindersJunior Design Engineer at Black and Decker working on Professional products Grinders, Jigsaws, Plunge Saws and Tile SawsDesign Engineer at Black and Decker working on Consumer Outdoor products String Trimmers, Lawn Mowers and Leaf BlowersDesign Engineer at Black and Decker working on Value Analysis for Household products Hand Vacs and SteamersMechanical Design Engineer at BorgWarner working on high voltage low power air cooled and liquid cooled inverters for bus & truck aircon motorsSenior Mechanical Design Engineer at BorgWarner working on a low voltage bus inverter and an integrated system inverter with motor and transmission."