I think the best thing about being an engineer is knowing that you're taking an active role in shaping the world.

Watch: our interview with Sharon.

As a building services engineer I work to design and create spaces for people to live, play and work in areas that promote the health and well-being of the occupants taking into account sustainability and how we use resources.

As an electrical engineer there's no direct module that I did in university that was related to what I'm doing right now but I draw on the fundamental principles of what I learned on the course to be able to analytically solve problems when I'm meeting with clients and provide solutions for clients, building occupiers to the end users as well.

As I was nearing the end of my A Level studies I thought I knew for sure I wanted to do an engineering degree so my default option was mechanical engineering because that's what people do when they're doing engineering but then I started to think about what other subjects, as I was doing physics, that really interested me and I thought electromagnetism, circuits and the elements of the circuits. Those are what really captured my attention so just as about I was about to start the course I gave the head of the department a call and I asked him if I could change my degree from mechanical to electrical and he was so nice and he said ‘yes absolutely’ and that's how I got started on Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

I volunteer with The Access Project as a tutor for talented students who don't have access to universities and for one hour a week I sit with final year A Level or GCSE students and go through math questions or where they feel they're weak in mathematics. I think it's important to bring those students into this professional world so that they see what they can aspire to and see that it's a reachable world for them.

Sharon Kidaha

Electronic & Electrical Engineering Alumna

To someone who's thinking of taking an engineering degree I would say the degree pushes you, it challenges you, and it asks you to first of all learn the basic rules of engineering provided from the tools of physical sciences - take those basic rules and then think outside the box so that you're able to take the demands of your clients from paper to reality.

I think the best thing about being an engineer is knowing that you're taking an active role in shaping the world and actively asking 'ok, we are doing this and it's working well but we can do better.' As an engineer you're never satisfied when things work the way they do; we're always challenging the status quo and asking if there are more efficient ways or more efficient systems and can we serve the needs of our end-users much better than we do now - that's the exciting thing, it's not just a static rule, it's dynamic and it keeps on changing - that is what keeps it challenging and interesting.

We interviewed Sharon in 2018.