A Non-traditional Path for Women in Engineering: Kiome’s Story of Career Evolution at Thales

Created for Thales by VERCIDA

Kiome Pope shares her story about becoming an engineer at Thales via an internship with a focus on psychology.

Whenever someone asks me how I got into engineering, the short answer is “By accident”. After I did my A-levels, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and bounced between a lot of different degree options before eventually deciding to study maths and music. But that didn’t work out, so I worked for a year before going back to university to study psychology. I really enjoyed studying psychology for my A-levels, so this made sense.

Then I received an email about engineering internships within the Transportation Research Group at the University of Southampton. I was unsure because I had no engineering experience, but the email had come through via the psychology department. My dad said there was no harm in applying, so I decided to go for it – and I was offered an internship.

It turned out that most people in the department where I was interning had studied psychology, as well as subjects like archaeology and computer science. The work was in human factors engineering, so we were looking at the interactions between people and technology, and how people react to things like automation. For example, cars are becoming more automated, so we have to make sure it’s safe and work out how the car can best indicate when a human needs to get involved.

I ended up doing a couple more internships and part-time work and when I graduated, I stayed on in a research technician role. Then a job opportunity came up at Thales as an operability engineer, again looking at how people interact with technology and how that can be optimised.

There have always been lots of training opportunities available to me, such as being able to learn a bit more about coding, as well as learning on the job. I work with a lot of people who are very knowledgeable, so I am always asking questions. There is so much expertise in our team, which is great because everyone’s knowledge comes together. My role is really varied, which I love.

Engineering might be a male-dominated industry, but when I started as an intern, the team was mostly women, which was quite nice. I’ve heard some horror stories about women’s experiences of discrimination, but I’ve always been in really supportive environments, no matter where I’ve worked.

For me, I find it really important to challenge my own behaviour in the workplace. For example, at meetings, I am not the first to offer to make the coffee or take notes. It’s about not putting myself in a box or falling into the admin trap. I don’t mind taking the notes at a meeting once in a while, but it’s a role that should be shared. 

At Thales, there are networks that are really useful too. The We in Thales (WiTH) network is really active, getting involved with big events, such as an exhibition for women in business and tech that was held in Manchester. I thought I was just going to help out on the Thales stand at that one, but I ended up being involved in a round table discussion and an engineering panel. I don’t like public speaking, but that was such an amazing opportunity. And there are mentoring opportunities for women and Thales has partnered with Code First Girls, which has helped bring more women into the company. I’m in the LGBTQ+ network as well – there is a lot of support on offer at Thales and for many people, they may find that they can get involved in more than one network.

My next big step with Thales is to start my PhD this year. It will be very, very relevant to my job and it’s going to take me between four and six years. And as I gain expertise, I am applying to be on the promotion pathway towards becoming a Thales expert, which gives you greater recognition in the company. The experts wear orange lanyards, so they can be easily seen by other employees. 

It’s going to be hard work studying for my PhD, but I’ve got it mapped out in my head how I will manage my time so I still have a work/life balance, which is very important to me. There are other people at Thales who are studying, including a woman who is doing her PhD. She has given me great advice about blocking off time in the calendar, letting people know when you need time to study and protecting your time. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone at Thales as I take on this next challenge.

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