How did you get into your job?
I first started my career completing a four-year engineering apprenticeship at STFC. Throughout this I spent time in all sorts of different departments across the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. I accepted a job role within the RAL Space Precision Development Facility as a precision Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machinist in 2023.
What is your role?
As a machinist I program and operate high-performance CNC machines to manufacture components primarily for the space sector in industry and research projects. These parts are manufactured to the highest standards in quality due to the environment of space that they will be operating in. Much of the work that I do is prototyping and making bespoke parts. This means constant adaptation is necessary.
Why is it important you do what you do?
My focus is underpinning the projects of the Millimetre Wave Technology Group. The remote sensing instruments developed and built by this group are put on satellites or ground-based telescopes with the purpose of observing and monitoring the Earth's atmosphere. This means important issues such as climate change, which affect us all, can be tracked and monitored. Using emerging technologies, it allows us to produce far more detailed understandings of climate modelling and weather-related problems.
What's the best thing about your job?
Working for a pioneering space organisation with likeminded individuals and knowing that the parts I make will end up in space, forming the physical building blocks of important scientific missions.
What advice would you give to people looking for a job in your industry?
There are so many different routes into the space industry, whether that be through an apprenticeship, secondments in industry, upskilling or university. It is a very large industry that is growing quickly, and anybody interested in supporting this sector has unlimited potential to become and do whatever they desire.
Is there anything you wish you could tell your younger self now?
Don't worry too much about grades and what route you take out of education, hard work will always shine through and build valuable experience.
Find out more about apprenticeships at STFC.
