Breaking Stereotypes: My Life as a Female Electro-Mechanical Engineering Apprentice

Claudia Sidderley, an Electro-mechanical engineering degree apprentice at Thales, is redefining what it means to be a "typical" engineer. Currently rotating through a systems engineering secondment to master the full engineering lifecycle, Claudia also serves as a Social Impact Representative, where she passionately champions female representation in STEM and leads vital volunteering initiatives for local charities.

Can you give us a overview of your role?

I work in the Hardware team and engage in electrical engineering activities, predominantly things such as circuit design and test equipment. I am also currently engaging with systems engineering in a ‘secondment’, working on requirements management. I am also an active member in the early careers committee, taking on my new role of ‘Social Impact Representative’ for Thales Cheadle.

What did you do before Thales?

Before Thales I completed a year at the University of Leeds, studying Chemical Engineering, while running my own tutoring enterprise for GCSE maths, physics, chemistry and biology. I found out about Thales through an apprenticeship advertisement website and have been here for 14 months now. In terms of progression, as I said I am working through a secondment with systems engineering to help me get a greater perspective on the engineering lifecycle as a whole.

Why is your current role important?

I think being the only female engineer in my team plays an important role. I am a big advocate for breaking the stereotype of what your ‘typical engineer’ looks and acts like. I’d love to encourage further females to get involved with engineering in future and help to break this stereotype as a whole. Imposter syndrome is a huge problem within the engineering environment and this is something I am passionate about working towards reducing this as much as possible.

Have you ever volunteered? 

As the social impact representative for my Thales site, I engage with plenty of volunteering activities with Thales. I tutor students from disadvantaged backgrounds once per week online to help them prepare for their SATs mathematics exam. I have also recently set up a volunteering day at a charity local to the Thales Cheadle site for a charity called ‘Millie’s Trust’. This charity helps provide affordable first aid and mental health training courses. The volunteering event involves painting their new office and I hope to get around 10 colleagues involved with this.

Additionally, I am a member of the ‘Charity Champions’. We help advertise different charity events throughout the site and I am also involved with the Thales Community Investment Fund, which choose 5 charities to donate a pot of money to after an application and vote. Finally, I am currently preparing for a ‘social media takeover day’ to advertise Thales apprenticeships through a company called ‘Not Going to Uni’. This will involve me creating content for their social media page and showing my ‘day in the life as a Thales apprentice’.

What do you enjoy most about working at Thales? 

I love that everyday can be completely different and there are so many opportunities available to get involved with if you fancy it. Networking is made easy with how large and varied the Thales community is.