Aerospace Engineer
BAE Systems

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my name is Krystina, and I am an aerospace engineer working as an engineering delivery lead

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and early careers lead at BAE Systems.

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So aerospace engineers are involved in the design and engineering of components that make up machines that fly.

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As part of that role, I’m leading a team of engineers to help develop a system.

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So the best thing is that every day is different. I get to do a lot of different things. I’m involved in a variety of tasks, but also the downside of that is balancing all of that, that’s going on at the same time.

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So the skills that I would say are the most helpful in my job are probably the skills that people don’t really think about. So collaboration, communication, teamwork. Engineering is working with lots of different people who are doing different jobs. So you have to be able to work with lots of different people as part of the role.

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At school I really enjoyed maths and physics and they are really useful to what I do now.

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Also art as well. I really enjoyed art and that helps with the creative side of engineering.

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I guess the thing that I found difficult is that I never really enjoyed the exam atmosphere, so I never really did well under that kind of pressure.

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I didn’t actually get into my first choice of uni for aerospace engineering, because I didn’t get those grades that I wanted initially.

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One day I went to an air show with my family, and I saw the Red Arrows flying.

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And I thought, wow, like, so cool. How do I get to be kind of a part of that world? And started, you know, researching on the internet and aerospace engineering came up, and then it went from there.

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My first engineering job was working on the design and development of first and business class seating areas and surrounding areas on

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Air France, Cathay Pacific, lots of different airlines.

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So it was really cool. It’s the really nice stuff that I don’t get to see when I fly normally. And, you know, getting to try it out, taking mock ups to customers abroad and getting to travel a little bit.

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I then started looking at what I wanted to do next. I’m from the north. So I wanted to move back up north. And I applied for a job as a flight systems engineer at BAE systems. Didn’t know what that was, didn’t know what it meant. Applied anyway. Got the job and absolutely loved it. So it went from there

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really. And then kind of built up my career. Did a flight systems engineer role, then a senior flight systems engineer role, then an engineering delivery lead.

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One of the things that I regret that I didn’t do was any industry experience or work experience because, later on, when I came out of my degree, I had a master’s in aerospace engineering, I was going to companies and they’d be like, “What experience do you have?”

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And I’d say, “None.”

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So that was something that set me back a bit, from everyone else. So if I could go back, I would try and get as much experience as I could – join societies, go to events, network, meet people in industry and like-minded people.

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The best bit of advice that I ever received, was really early on in my career. And it was my line manager at the time who said to me, “You’re doing amazing things, but

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no one else really knows you’re doing a great job.”

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And that really kind of resonated with me.

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Since then, it gave me the courage to speak up about what was doing and really helped me in the progression of my career.