Interested in a career in Mechanical Engineering? Read the success story of World Skills award winning Mechanical Engineer, Betsy, for inspiration and insight in how to start in this industry.
Betsy is a mechanical engineer from Scotland who’s finishing College and looking to enter the world of work with her first job. She always dreamed of a career in mechanical engineering (CAD), which is why she chose to go to College after secondary as this best path to pursue her dream career.
How do you start off in mechanical engineering CAD?
At School, Betsy was mainly interested in graphic communication, which is how she learnt about mechanical engineering. At secondary school, she heard a lot about University and how that would benefit people in their career path, but she felt that College was the most suitable next step for the career path she wanted to take.
She believes that she would not be where she is now if she went to University instead of studying at College.
The advice that she would give to young people is that you should stay true to yourself and take the next steps that would help push you forward in the career that you wish to pursue, instead of following the crowd and taking a route that doesn’t make sense for you.
If you have a passion for mechanical engineering and would like to pursue this as a career, then you will need to develop the necessary skills, but what are those skills?
The skills you need to become a mechanical engineer include:
- Problem solving
- Good communication
- High attention to detail
How did World Skills UK support her career?
World Skills UK has given Betsy the opportunity to travel and compete around the world in their Mechanical Engineering: CAD competition. Betsy has competed in three of these competitions, in which she won silver in 2015, and the medallion of excellence in both Gothenburg 2016 and Abu Dhabi 2017.
She now works as a Skills Champion to encourage more young people into technical education and give young people who share her passion for mechanical engineering the inspiration and insight they need to pursue this career.
“WorldSkills UK has changed my life. It’s given me so many opportunities that not everybody gets and it’s often above what you get at college or university.”
If you would like to learn more about Betsy’s success story and how World Skills UK can support you in your career path, click the button below!
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