First Women winner - Alexandra Knight

Alexandra Knight won a First Women award this year in recognition of her achievements in engineering

Name: Alexandra Knight
Job: Senior Consultant
Graduated: 2004
College: Brunel University and Imperial College London
Course: Mechanical Engineering BEng and Medical Engineering MSc

Why did you want to be an engineer?

My Physics teacher at school told me that engineering "opened lots of doors" in a career, and that I would never be bored as there are so many opportunities to get involved in exciting projects and new developments. I wasn't sure what area of engineering I wanted to go into so I did mechanical engineering at university to get a broad base of knowledge and then I decided to specialise in medical engineering, as I wanted to relate the engineering to people – and work in an area I could see a real impact on people's quality of life.

How did you find your first job after graduating?

One of my professors at university was on the board of a small start-up medical company, Asthma Alert, and they were looking for a graduate to help them develop a new medical device. He suggested I go for an interview. I got the job and started a couple of weeks after graduating. I was lucky to be given the opportunity and this showed me how important it is to make as many useful contacts as you can throughout your academic and work life. This definitely opens up opportunities that you might not otherwise see.

How has your role changed since then?

I continued working for Asthma Alert for a couple of years and then moved onto Frazer-Nash Consultancy where I am now a Senior Consultant in the Systems Engineering group. I focus on the technical side but get involved in business development too. Frazer-Nash is a fantastic company to work for as you get such variety of work. I am currently working on a number of medical projects, but also get to work in other areas as diverse as submarine technology development and software development for elite athletes.

What is the most satisfying part of your job?

I love the teamwork and developing new opportunities. I am lucky to work with such talented people. The best bit of my job is building relationships with clients and working with them and our team to devise the best way to solve their problems, and then actually delivering it.

What is the most difficult part of your job?

It is sometimes hard juggling so many different things at one time and having a number of projects that all have important deadlines. I have to be very organised and work as efficiently as I can to manage the technical delivery as well as project costs. Again, working with great teams of people helps with achieving this. If I didn't have these challenges thoug, I don't think I would love my job as much, as it is when you are really under pressure that teams pull together, and that for me is very satisfying.

What advice would you give to younger engineers?

Engineering is a great career to get into and there are so many opportunities for young, motivated engineers. I think doing a sandwich course at uni helped me a lot in my early career. Getting some experience of working in industry is very valuable. Therefore I would recommend applying for work placements to build up your portfolio of experience. Also, recognise that it can be very hard work at times, but tackling the challenges is what drives you to develop and understand how to work best– so don't be afraid of pushing yourself!

Author
Matthew Valentine

Related Companies
Frazer Nash Consultancy Ltd

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