ELECTRONICS FEATURE WOMEN IN ELECTRONICS - PRAGMATIC T
he semiconductor industry has seen phenomenal growth over the years and despite the roller coaster nature of its troughs and peaks it continues to offer a wide range of exciting career opportunities. In the early years, female engineers had to deal with a lot of challenges, but what is it like to work in electronics now? PragmatIC is a leader in flexible electronics, delivering ultra-low cost flexible integrated circuits, introducing intelligence and interactivity into everyday objects. Here are a few female members of staff sharing their experiences of working in electronics and offering advice for young women (indeed, anyone) considering a career in electronics.
MELANIE WINTER, ENGINEERING MANAGER AT PRAGMATIC When I left school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I began working as an operator on a manufacturing line in a local factory. I was promoted to team leader, but then realised that I found the technical aspects of the job more interesting, so I went back to college to study night classes in electronics. Not easy when you are a full-time working parent. I have held various positions including team leader, process technician, process engineer, operations and engineering manager. I have worked for large multinationals across the UK such as Philips, Siemens, Atmel and Motorola, as well as for smaller companies, ranging from manufacturing TV screens to surface mount PCB production, medical devices and semiconductors. Semiconductors seemed very exciting 20 years ago. When I first started working at Siemens it was the technology of the future. Now I feel very fortunate to be part of developing the next generation of electronics at PragmatIC. Engineering in general is thought of as a male dominated environment. It may well still be the case in some heavy engineering industries, but these days personally I don’t find it’s the case especially in this area of electronics. It’s a challenging but extremely rewarding career for anyone, male or female, but I would really love to see more young women being encouraged at school to view engineering as a career option. My advice is check it out, it’s exciting!
DR CATHERINE RAMSDALE, SVP TECHNOLOGY AT PRAGMATIC I really enjoyed science at school and decided to pursue it further. When I was studying for my degree in Physics
with German in London, it was a heavily male dominated environment. However, when I embarked on my PhD in organic electronics in Cambridge it was much more diverse, not just in terms of gender, but also culture and ethnicity too. I have been involved in the flexible electronics industry for over 15 years – predominately working for two companies – Plastic Logic and PragmatIC. Both companies have allowed me to do some amazing work. At PragmatIC, I like the fact that what I am doing is worthwhile. This novel technology adds intelligence and item-level traceability to everyday products, and it has the potential to address key global challenges, such as waste reduction. I am fortunate that my employers have been flexible, and I have a good work / family life balance. I don’t think I have faced any major challenges because I am a woman, but there are still things to do in science to make it more diverse. We need to be repositioning how we portray sciences at school. I think it’s key that technology companies collaborate with schools to stress how important science is for the future. My advice to anyone considering a career in STEM is to pick a field where you can see yourself making a difference. This will motivate you when it gets challenging and bring you opportunities to positively impact society in an area that matters to you, making your working life very rewarding.
/ ELECTRONICS
EBONY BIRMINGHAM, GRADUATE PROCESS ENGINEER AT PRAGMATIC Electronics and semiconductors were a big part of my university degree. My lecturer was extremely passionate about the subject which resonated well with myself and, I believe, the other students. He made us very aware of the careers and opportunities open to us within the semiconductor industry. I personally did not find it difficult being a woman in a very male-dominated environment. Initially it was slightly intimidating but I knew I deserved to be there just as much as anyone else. I think about 20 per cent of the people on my course at university were female. I am lucky as my work at PragmatIC is varied and rewarding. To any girls considering a career in electronics I say go for it. There were so many girls I went to school and 6th form with who were extremely talented when it came to maths and science, physics in particular, and still chose a different route because they thought it might be too difficult or might not be for them. This is something that really needs to change. It’s clear that there have been many changes in the electronics industry over the years and in these exciting times there are great opportunities for young women and men. There is an increasing focus on STEM in many schools and hopefully this will continue to grow.
PragmatIC
www.pragmatic.tech ELECTRONICS | JUNE 2020 15
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