
Graduate Process Engineer at Xodus Group
Be yourself, have fun, work hard and be confident - it's your own experience and personality that make you unique.
About Yumi...
Who am I?
"My matched personality types were Coordinator, Developer and Influencer.Being an engineer, I am not surprised that I was matched to a Developer trait. I love numbers, I always have. I have always liked problem-solving, learning new things with a desire to investigate and make things better. I think being a developer also allows you to be creative, by coming up with solutions to problems. These are all skills that I use daily at work, but also carry with my in my daily life. Growing up, I always surrounded myself with other people. Wether that was in the team sports I participated in, or finding jobs in hospitality that relied on good team-work. It was important to be able to communicate well within a team, support each other by offering help, guidance or leadership. These things seem trivial when you are in the environment and its fun, but you are building strong teamworking and communication skills that are vital in the professional workplace. Being a coordinator includes being both a team member and a leader, and building good relationships with people, whether that is clients, employees or strangers. I think the first two represent me well, I was surprised by the outcome of Influencer but maybe because I associate influencers with famous people or people that I see in the news and on social media. In fact the trait influencer trails on from the coordinator route. It is about being good at explaining to people, working with detail, finding and reviewing information, being thorough and reliable. These are all qualities that I can definitely relate to, and use within my daily working life. Running multiple calculations, or wriitng client reports requires thorough work and checking, lots of detail and explaining concepts to people that might not be familiar with terminology. It focused also on building relationships with clients, being reliable, polite and inquisitive which are all very imporant to the nature of my role. "
What do I do?
"I am a graduate process engineer in the Process & Facilities department at Xodus Group. Xodus are an engineering consultancy that operate in the energy sector. From renewable sources of energy and transmission through to hydrocarbon extraction, processing and utilisation, the company strive to being adaptable, quick-thinking, multi-skilled teams together to create the next generation of energy projects. Being a consultancy, each job that Xodus win, and therefore we work on is different and varied - and that's what's great about it. You get to try out different skills with each role, some jobs are short or single-task and take a day or a couple of weeks. Some jobs you work on for up to 6 months. As a graduate in P&F, our tasks can include doing calculations, running simulations or writing reports. The starting salary is around £30,000 with good progression through the company. "
How did I get here?
"I worked with Xodus Group (the company that I am with now) during an industrial placement in my master's year at university, and also for a short period of time straight after graduation so I already had made relationships with my managers and employees. So really, Xodus is my first 'proper' job that uses my degree and trained skills. Before that, I had lots of experience in hospitality. I loved working in pubs growing up, I am very chatty and like the friendly country pub environment. The close team environment matches well with the nature of Xodus, as their integrated teams approach to winning and completing projects relies heavily on good team networks. "
The life I live
"I went away after university to do a ski season, where I learnt to ski from a complete beginner. During my season, I was the host for a private 14-bed chalet with my boyfriend who was also working as the chalet chef. It was the most amazing experience - I think I am a pretty good skiier now! I also competed for Great Britain in Team Gymnastics when I was younger (before uni), a lesser known type of gymnastics where you compete in teams up to 12. My knowledge of how to fall over definitely helped me when learning how to ski! I also love cooking and eating out and all things food-related, and spending time with friends and family. "
My typical day
"It's hard to outline what my normal day looks like. With the nature of consultancy work, some days can be very busy having to work to client deadlines, attending lots of meetings and finishing off reports, whereas some can be much quieter, just working on developing or working on internal projects without clients. Either way, my position is a desk-based role. There is opportunity to go away offshore or to other client sites for meetings but that is normally for more experienced people. Often I will be working on writing reports, doing calculations on excel, attending meetings to talk through projects, progress or new ideas. Most recently, I have been developing my coding skills in python as part of the companies aim of digitalisation, so that calculations and tools can be developed. The company are very friendly and socialable too, so there is plenty of time during the day to catch up with friends. "
My qualifications
"2014 - 2019: 1st class Masters in Chemical Engineering with Management from The University of Edinburgh2012 - 2014: A-Levels (AAA) in Maths, Chemistry and Biology2012 - 2014: AS-levels (BB) in Economics and Extended Project Qualification (report on genetically modified foods)"