International Women in Engineering Day – Smart Made Simple present their very own electronics manufacturing heroes

International Women in Engineering Day began in the UK in 2014 as a national campaign from the Women’s Engineering Society. Since then, INWED has grown enormously, receiving UNESCO patronage in 2016 and going truly global the following year.

National Women in Engineering Day was launched for the first time in the UK on 23 June 2014 by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate its 95th anniversary.

In 2017, National Women in Engineering Day became international for the first time due to the interest and enthusiasm developed by the international audience and participants in the previous years. International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) was born to enable the celebration of women in engineering to become global.

At SMS – Smart Made Simple, leading UK Electronics Manufacturing Service Provider (EMS), we want to play our part in celebrating the continuous contribution from the women helping to shape our company, whilst promoting their position to encourage the next generation of female technology talent to follow in their footsteps.

To do this, we will recognise our very own #EngineeringHeroes, who engineer their own successes as well as our companies. Our next hero is, Claire West, Development Centre Team Leader.

Q:  Claire, tell us a bit about yourself.

A:  I’ve been in electronics for 18 years in various roles in different industries. My other passion in life is music and I play several instruments. I’ve played the violin since I was 8 years old and was in an orchestra for 3 years. I love travelling, airsoft, and spending time with family and friends.

Q:  Tell us about your formative years.

A:  I left school at 16 and went into further education to study in the public sector. My dream was to become a police officer. I trained hard and spent weeks with the army learning different skills including discipline, courage, and loyalty. Unfortunately, though during this time my brother passed away and due to the nature of his death it made me rethink my career.

Q: What led you into a career in electronics manufacturing?

A:  At the age of 23 I got my first job in electronics working for a mobile phone repair centre. I had no experience or education, so literally started from the bottom, and worked my way up until I was promoted to the position of team leader.

After six-years the company relocated to Scotland, and I was made redundant. On a positive note, I was head hunted by a Tier I Electronics Manufacturing Service Provider (EMS), Jabil.

This was another repair centre, but instead of mobile phones, it was the repair of chip and pin machines. After three short months I was promoted to diagnostics technician and my career in electronics was finally going in the right direction.

I managed to widen my knowledge in electronics, but three years quickly passed and like many of the UK Tier I EMS companies, the corporate decision was to relocate the business from the UK, offshore to Eastern Europe.   I was, therefore, redundant for a second time.

On a positive note, I wasn’t out of work for long, as I very quickly got offered a role within the UK’s principal EMS company, SMS – Smart Made Simple.

Going from repair to Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) meant starting from the bottom and working my way up. Another opportunity opened in SMS’s dedicated Development Centre, which enabled me to quickly move up the ranks to technician, then process technician, and onto Development Centre Team Leader, the role I hold today.

Q:  What has been your experience of gender parity throughout your career?

A:  Even though, in my career to-date, the ratio of men to women has been completely unbalanced, I don’t feel that it has held me back or that I’ve been treated any differently from my male counterparts. I’ve never felt looked down on for my gender and I’ve always been encouraged to progress.

Q:  What role does SMS play to encourage more women into electronics manufacturing?

A:  I really feel that SMS as a company will always help their team members to develop whether your male or female.  I believe that as a company that they recognise that it’s so important to encourage women into electronics to help broaden job opportunities and fill the skills gaps that exist from an aging workforce in the UK.

Q:  Thank you, Claire, what would be your final words of wisdom to any women who is considering a role within electronics manufacturing?

A:  I would never have thought I’d end up working in electronics and especially working with a great team developing new technology.   As a 41-year-old woman I love my job and I’m proud to say that I work in electronics manufacturing, at the intersection of technology creation and development.