RWC celebrates international women in engineering day 2018

Chief Engineer, Samantha Kelly

23rd June – Here at RWC we a proud to be celebrating ‘International Women In Engineering Day (INWED) 2018’ to help raise awareness of the excellent work women contribute to engineering on a day-to-day basis and also highlight the amazing career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry.

As part of this year’s theme #RaisingTheBar, we have been speaking to our very own Chief Engineer, Samantha Kelly, to find out more about her experience within Engineering:

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am the Chief Engineer for fittings at RWC and I have been with the company for nearly 7 years. I started out as a Project Engineer working on PRVs and gradually transitioned over to the fitting side of the business. I absolutely love spending time with friends and family (especially doing puzzles or playing games) and shopping. I have also just become a Mum which is an incredibly exciting new adventure.

What does an average day look like for you?

A little bit of everything! I work on new product development, which includes everything from modelling & testing new products to identifying suppliers to bring new product in and determine how they will be manufactured. I also work alongside sales and marketing to help get the products into the market and selling successfully. As Chief Engineer I also assist and mentor my fellow engineers with their projects and handle day to day questions & issues that come up on the fitting side of the business.

What’s your favourite part about being an Engineer?

I love being on the front-end of new products and new technology. We are there from day one working to create new innovative products and solutions and we get to see those projects through to completion. It is incredibly exciting when you finally get to see something that you worked so hard on being sold and used in the field.

What does INWED mean to you?

I love being a woman in a male dominated field and I especially love (maybe with a bit of an eye roll) when I’m told that “I don’t look like an engineer”. It is exciting be part of the perspective change, especially when I am able let my knowledge and hard work speak for itself. I have met and worked with so many amazing women in engineering throughout my schooling and career and I hope that we continue to see the number of women in engineering grow. I am also incredibly proud to work for a company that has such great representation of women in engineering.

Do you have any advice for any women who are considering a career in Engineering?

Engineering is an incredibly exciting and rewarding career, just be confident in yourself and work hard. At the end of the day that is what really matters, and classmates and co-workers will appreciate you for it. Be ready for the occasional eye-roll comment, but just laugh it off and your work will speak volumes.

Samantha Kelly, Chief Engineer