Amy Hamilton

"I took the quiz and was told that parts of my personality match with all three personality types. I would agree with this analysis. Personality is a hard thing to pin down and having aspects in each camp will help you to understand other people’s point of view and work well in a team. In many industries, especially in engineering, you will work with others to develop ideas and technology, in which case communication and diplomacy skills are vital. You may not be the team leader, but being able to explain your ideas to others and bring them on board to your point of view cannot be understated as a skill. In my role, I must justify any spending I wish to do to upgrade the electricity network and accommodate low carbon technologies (such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels). If I cannot make my case strong then it will be rejected. Diplomacy is also important as even if your colleagues disagree with you on your full proposal, they may be open to a compromise which would meet some, if not all of your original targets. Confidence in yourself and your own abilities is the greatest service you can do for your future. Knowing your own limitations helps you identify where you can improve, but being confident enough to know when you are right will let you make a real impact in your chosen field by pushing forward with new ideas and taking calculated risks. "

"I am a graduate engineer in the Network Development Department at Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks working with low carbon technologies. This includes electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels. It is my job to track the growth of these technologies across Northern Ireland and evaluate their impact on the Northern Irish electricity grid. These technologies are vital to creating a greener economy and lowering the impact of society on the environment. It is my job to ensure that the electricity network can handle the increasing numbers of these technologies by investing in the network. I manage a budget to fund this investment, and come up with new and creative solutions to ensure maximum benefit from all money spent. I enjoy this part of my role as I feel I can make a real difference to the society I live in by ensuring that as many people as possible can access greener technologies and lower their carbon footprint. The starting salary for a graduate engineer at NIE Networks is currently £32,800 per annum. "

"My father previously worked as a mechanical engineer and always encouraged me to take an active interest in STEM. I also had a physics teacher in school who took great pleasure in encouraging more girls to become engineers. These two people were my primary motivators to consider engineering as a career. I signed up to do a week long work placement at Caterpillar Inc when I was 15 at their factory in Larne. There I was exposed to computer aided design software that the company used to design their electrical generators. This use of software to aid the design process intrigued me greatly and contributed to my choice to become more involved in the electrical and software side of engineering. When I was 16 I took a two month placement with Queen’s University Belfast building and programming a small robot to navigate around a room automatically. I loved the creative aspect of this task as there were lots of small problems to be solved and small victories to be had when an idea worked. This placement made up my mind to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering at university. I studied for a Master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester for five years, including an industrial placement year. In my first year at university, I applied for a Power Academy Scholarship as I had found a new interest for power engineering and large electrical devices on top of my current love of coding. I interviewed with the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy and Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks. In the end I chose NIE Networks for two reasons. One being that I could spend my summers back in Northern Ireland with my family while on work placement, and secondly because I was impressed with NIE Networks’ graduate scheme and the opportunities within the company to develop. After I finished my Master’s degree, I interviewed for a full time graduate engineer role at NIE Networks and now work in their Network Development Department. "

"I have always been a big fan of history, so in my spare time I enjoy reading historical fiction novels and watching YouTube videos on pieces of history that interest me. At the minute I am working my way through Stephen Fry’s Mythos series. I enjoy catching up on the latest updates within the engineering world by reading the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) magazine and scanning the news for interesting developments. I also love cooking although I will never say I am anything more than adequate at it. I enjoy going through websites like BBC Good Food to find something new to try making for dinner as long as it is not too complicated. "

"On a typical day I would start by spending half an hour checking my emails. This sounds boring but is essential to ensure you keep on top of everything and don’t miss an important request. I spend some of my day analysing the information I have regarding where low carbon technologies (including electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and solar panels) are located in Northern Ireland and investigating where reinforcement is needed. If my proposal is agreed by my Department, I will write an approval paper explaining the work to be done and the positive impact it will have. If this is approved by our Finance Department, I will write more detailed instructions for our Construction Department so that they can carry out the work and log their progress effectively. Cost-benefit analysis is vital to this role as I must be able to justify my decisions to spend money from my budget and ensure that as many people as possible will benefit from the work. My secondary role is to perform software studies to find how to supply part of the electricity network when a large substation is taken out for maintenance or when an unexpected outage occurs. This involves using specialist software to model the Northern Irish electricity network and experimenting with opening and closing switches to control the flow of power on the network. You can think of it like turning taps on and off to control the flow of water in your house. If you turned on all of your taps and showers at once, the main water pipe supplying your house might not be able to handle it and could be damaged. The same principle applies with electricity, trying to supply too many houses from a single substation at once could overload a piece of equipment and cause permanent damage or even a fire. It is vital to monitor voltage and current levels on the network when performing these studies to strike a balance between restoring power to as many people as possible while not breaking any health and safety rules. "

"I completed four AS Level qualifications in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computing and achieved A grades in each of them. I then dropped Computing and achieved A grades in my Maths, Physics and Chemistry A Levels. I then obtained a first class honours degree in my Master’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree at the University of Manchester. I did a placement year in the third year of my degree where I worked in the Connections Department at Northern Ireland Electricity Networks. During this year I completed my qualification to become an Engineering Technician (EngTech) through the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). An Engineering Technician must be able to demonstrate technical responsibility, effective interpersonal skills, commitment to professional engineering values and evidence of contribution to the design, development, operation or maintenance of equipment or processes. An EngTech qualification is a good step to take if you wish to become a Chartered Engineer in the future. "