Kat Draper

"I am a design manager who works with teams of people to allow us to deliver a project in a timeframe agreed with the client. I also believe it is important to support other people and let them learn new things. These match my personality types of Coordinator, Manager and Trainer. "

"I work within a team to design roads to improve people's journeys. This might be large projects, similar to Stonehenge tunnel, or smaller improvement schemes to prevent flooding or make it less likely that people will get stuck in traffic jams. The job requires problem solvers, team players and people who can think outside of the box. A lot of people start their civil engineering career by going to university and studying. Those that do that may be offered starting salaries of around £25,000. Others join a company through apprenticeship schemes, so their starting salary is much less, but it does mean you may not have to pay to study to get trained and will eventually end up at the same level as those who have studied at university. "

"I first considered engineering whilst still at school and did a work experience placement with an architect. I had planned to do some kind of design course and considered architecture. The length of time to become fully qualified scared me and I chose something similar but which gave more focus on maths and less 'artsy'. I did Maths, Physics and Design Technology as A levels and went to university to study 'Civil Engineering with architecture'. I needed to work during the summer holidays and happened to get a placement through my local council with their Highways engineering team. During that summer I designed sign faces and put in several speed limits in some local villages. "

"I enjoy swimming in open water. I swim in both the sea and some local rivers. I also play the flute and have recently taken up running. "

"I spend a lot of time in meetings. These can be in other offices or often, remotely using video conferencing. I listen to team members who share problems they have with the design or delivery and then we work together to work out how to solve that problem. I monitor how long people are taking to do things and let the client know if we can meet the deadlines we have been given. I also have to monitor what we are spending so that we don't spend too much money. The job can have lots of emailing and talking to others. Sometimes I travel around the country and occasionally go out to see things being built. "

"I studied A levels in Maths, Physics and Design and Technology. I then went to university and studied a Master degree in Civil Engineering. "