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SET Women - Leicestershire Women in Science Engineering & Technology

e-Book - Tamsin Ellison - Project Leader

"When there are other women engineers around I feel that solidarity is quite strong between us."

In choosing her A-levels and her university degree, Tamsin was careful to broaden her studies and not narrow herself into a course that was too specific. She says she didn't really know exactly what she wanted to do for a career, "I did Physics, Maths and French at A-level, and I was told that following from that, the typical course for university was engineering. Thinking about it, I definitely wanted to learn more about electrical and electronic engineering."

Tamsin is now a Project Leader at Crown, a multinational packaging manufacturing company. "My division makes food cans (for example baked bean tins), and we have other divisions producing larger and more decorative metal packaging, beverage cans, plastic containers, and much more." She heard about Crown's student sponsorship programme during her A-levels, and applied when she was 18 years old. "I didn't want to go directly into university after my A-levels. I wanted to make some money and learn more about working in engineering."

She held two placements at different Crown factories in the UK during a Gap year. She says jokingly, "I wasn't making the tea, but I wasn't running the production lines, either." This paid work experience gave Tamsin a taste of professional engineering, plus the assurance of future summer placements and possible career options with Crown after university.

At university, she chose a course that offered both electrical and electronic engineering, plus a year's study option in continental Europe. "In the rest of Europe, the title 'engineer' is a professional qualification like 'doctor' or 'lawyer', unlike in England where most people expect it means that you're going to come and fix their washing machine."

Tamsin recognised the professional asset of the European qualification, and decided to complete the fifth and final year of the French engineering degree on top of her four year Bristol MEng. She says she learned from this that it is important for UK engineering students to choose four year degrees, because in the job market, they will be competing with European graduates who have completed five years for their degree, including intense work placements.

By the end of her studies, Tamsin had a boyfriend in France, and so she was happy to stay on in Paris. As she was fluent in French, something she says "was a huge benefit," she obtained a temporary job at Crown's European head office in Paris which led to this permanent one she now holds as a Project Leader.

"My job is half technical and half people-orientated, and I really enjoy the majority of what I do." Her job is to oversee all client side relations regarding Crown's flagship measuring system, a unit that was designed and manufactured in England and is now used around Europe. "I manage the installation of the unit and the training-up of people on sites, and I liaise with the electricians and mechanics there. Once the system is up and running, I organise how the client uses the system, to make sure it's not just sitting in a dusty corner somewhere."

With the heavy client interaction aspect to her job, Tamsin travels from France at least once every two weeks to places such as the Netherlands, Italy and the UK and then occasionally to places such as Los Angeles, California. "The travelling is great, and although it means my home life is not quite so stable, I do get to meet a lot of different people in different companies."

"Being a woman in a 'man's world' is only very occasionally an obstacle for me, although I do still come across the odd traditionalist..." Working in engineering is rewarding to Tamsin, because she feels respected and needed, and the work is interesting and varied. "I get to see the real results of my work -- as compared to accounting for example, where it's all a bit virtual."

Learn more about Tamsin Ellison's work: Crown