Kaya Patel

"I'm Kaya, a Graduate Civil Engineer who was born, raised and is now working in London. I have been part of the construction industry as a full time employee for just over a year and am still learning what it means to be a Civil Engineer and where I want to take my career over the next few years.As a campaigner I am passionate about creating a society that is suitable and sustainable for future generations, and believe that the construction industry can play an even bigger part in helping than it currently does.As a coach I enjoy working in teams of people with a variety of backgrounds and experience and helping the collective in succeeding together. I like brainstorming together and being able to come up with new solutions that alone may have not been created.As a manager I enjoy coordinating and motivating others around me in everything they do, and helping each other reach our full potential."

"My main job as an engineer is to help find practical solutions in the work on construction. This can be in how we make a particular bridge design work, how we make sure a live construction site is safe for all those present, or how to coordinate multiple disciplines to work together towards a singular goal. As I work at an engineering consultancy firm, my day to day job is based at a desk, although a trip to site isn't out of the norm - it's good to see the place you are designing for! Currently, I work in a more team managerial role, where I'm helping coordinate a number of work packages so that we meet tight deadlines for a big project, which means I get to speak to many different people from all over the business. As the scope of civil engineering is so broad, the work one of my fellow colleagues does can be something I will never do in the future, so I really enjoy getting to see what everyone is working on so I have a better idea of the opportunities out their for myself.I also really enjoy knowing that the work I am doing is going to improve the lives of many people (normally without them realising) and that I will hopefully be able to go see one of the projects I have worked on in the flesh. Feeling that I am making a difference to the society falls naturally into my personality of wanting to give back to my community in some capacity, should it have been through volunteering at a care home, mentoring a student or helping run a charity at my university. Therefore knowing I can do it as part of my job on a daily basis makes my work very exciting to me. Starting salary for a Civil Engineer can range between £23k to £30k depending on the size of the company you join and the location you join in."

"Initially I thought I wanted to be an architect but when I realized I wanted to use more of my Maths skills in my day to day work my Graphics teacher suggested I look towards engineering a possible career path. I ended up joining a scheme which allowed me to be mentored by someone in the Civil Engineering industry and after my week of work experience with her my mind was made up that I would become an engineer. This lead me to look at university courses, and when I found the course at Sheffield I knew it would be the perfect place for me to learn. In the second year of my studies, I thought it would be good to look at possible work experience to make sure the industry was for me in practice which lead me to get in contact with my current boss, who offered me a position to work during my summer break. I took this offer up in 2017, and then again in 2018. I then formally applied for a Graduate role in the company in 2019, after which I joined the team in September of that year as a full time employee."

"In my spare time I like to use my creative side a bit more and normally work on some sort of art project. I worked as a freelance henna artist on the side of my studies, a skill I picked up when I started secondary school and am continuing to grow my abilities as an outlet when I'm not being an engineer.I have also taken up learning how to code - I initially started this as I wanted to learn how to put a website together for my henna business but as I found I enjoyed it and realized it could be useful in my engineering life, I have continued to expand the coding 'languages' I know - my favorite is Python as I find it the most simple to understand."

"A normal day starts with my commute to the my office in Blackfriars, London. I then check any emails that may have come through while I hadn't been working and make sure I reply to the appropriate ones. Some days I don't have to many but in my current project role I tend to start the day with a lot! Our team normally had a quick chat to make sure everyone is okay with their workload, so resources can be spread where needed to make sure we meet our deadlines. Being the most junior in my team, it gives me a good chance to ask for help or advice on anything I'm not sure about so I can progress past it. I then tend to either start some design work, which might involve doing some calculations by hand, on excel or using a software to assist me, or drawing up a design using CAD software. This will normally take up the majority of my day, with various meetings or skype calls falling in between these working hours for various reasons related to the projects I'm on. Towards the end of my day I make sure I slot in some time to keep a record of what I have done as a record of my learning. This is important as I am working towards becoming an ICE Chartered Engineer and part of the process is proving your ability through your day to day working, so by keeping a record I can look through it when writing up my reports to submit to the ICE."

"AS-Level Chemistry, A-Level Physics, Graphics and Maths, MEng Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield"