emilieweaving, Author at The Female Engineer

In Travel

Reflections on my First Trip to America – How This ‘Holiday’ Shaped my Career and Identity

March 12, 2021 3 Comments

I started out by writing a post for Instagram to share some photos of my first trip to America, but as I was writing it I realised that this ‘holiday’ was actually so much more than that. It was a trip that changed a lot for me, which was something I was so sceptical of being a thing…I thought that people go on holiday for a break from the monotony of life and to have a nice time with friends/family, not totally change their perspective on the world. I’ll give you an advanced warning on this one, it may come across a little clichéd and cheesy but it’s really hard for me to describe this any other way. I came back from that trip a different person, which catapulted me into my journey in motorsport and the life that I’m building for myself to this day. This is the main…

In Engineering & Careers

Celebrating World Book Day 2021: An Insight into one of my Favourite Hobbies

March 4, 2021 No Comments

Today is World Book Day, which gives me the perfect excuse to dig into one of my favourite hobbies – reading. I’ve always spent a lot of time with my head in a book, and I try to read a wide range of styles…although I am guilty of often returning back to my favourites over and over again. I think reading is such an important thing for everyone to do as much as they can, which is why I wanted to share some of my favourites and recommendations to you today. I also always love getting book recommendations from people, so please get involved and comment your favourite books and authors! I’m very lucky in that I can read pretty much anywhere, so when I am travelling that is basically my go to activity. When I was a kid and we’d go on holiday in the car to France, I…

In Engineering & Careers

5 Benefits of Volunteering as a STEM Ambassador: Learn How to Boost your Engineering Career

February 26, 2021 No Comments

Are you looking for ways to boost your engineering career, whilst also giving back to your community and inspiring the next generation of engineers? Volunteering as a STEM ambassador is an incredible way to achieve all three of these goals! In this article I will explain what a STEM ambassador is, five key benefits to volunteering and finally I will share details on how to join the program (when I’ve managed to convince you to sign up!). Hopefully this will give a great insight into the STEM Ambassador programme, which I have been a part of since I joined JCB back in 2015. This year I received my 50 hours of volunteering certificate, which I am very proud of. My STEM Ambassador certificate for 50 hours of volunteering with the programme so far As a disclaimer for my readers outside of the UK, this is heavily focussed on the British…

In Engineering & Careers

Why should I do an Engineering Apprenticeship?

February 11, 2021 3 Comments

This week is National Apprenticeship Week in the UK, which is a government-led celebration of all things apprenticeships aiming to showcase this career option. I will mostly be talking about engineering higher apprenticeships as this is where my experience lies, but a lot of the discussion will be relevant to apprenticeships in all fields and levels (particularly STEM careers). I am going to take you through my personal experience of apprenticeships, discuss the careers options that are available and ultimately explain why I think an apprenticeship is the best way into a career in engineering. Tip: You can search #NAW2021 for great apprenticeship content across all social media platforms. Firstly, I would be interested to find out what your route was into your career, regardless of what your career is or if you’re still on the route to this career. There are so many different routes that you could possibly…

In Practical Lifestyle

Welcome to 2021!

January 6, 2021 No Comments

So here we are again, in the midst of another lockdown in the UK and facing minimal signs of optimism about the year ahead… It has taken me a while to find the right words to put down for this post; I had hoped to be able to review lessons and achievements from last year and focus on a brighter more hopeful new year, but with the latest news it’s made that much harder. I knew we wouldn’t stroll into 2021 and the pandemic would be gone, but I thought that we might be starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel with the roll-out of the vaccine. Being put back into another lockdown for a minimum of six weeks has been a real blow, but I am trying to remain optimistic that this is the best thing to do to bring numbers down whilst the most…

In Practical Lifestyle

The Female Engineer’s Guide on How to Prepare your Van for Winter Hibernation

December 20, 2020 No Comments

As we are heading firmly into the winter in the UK, the campsites are closing and the roads are starting to be covered in grit. Both of these are bad news for us campervan owners, as it generally signals the end of the season…if you can call it that this year! For my latest ‘How To’ guide, I am going to take you through a few steps that you can do to prepare your van for a winter off the road, to ensure that you don’t have any issues once we come back out of hibernation in the spring. Personally, as I also use my van for transporting mountain bikes, collecting Christmas trees and various other activities, I don’t fully take my van off the road over winter. I know many people who just use them as full campers and won’t use them at all over winter, and my first…

In Practical Lifestyle

Project Northmoor “Saving Tolkien’s House” – Not Supported by the Tolkien Society

December 10, 2020 1 Comment

I’ve got an interesting story to share with you today, on a few different levels! As a huge J. R. R. Tolkien fan (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), I was really excited when I read the news that broke over the last week or so about Project Northmoor. This project was launched to “save” Tolkien’s Oxford home, running as a crowdfunding style initiative to raise £4.5m to buy this house from the current owners. I’d seen the typical negative comments online slamming the project which has been publicly backed by Sir Ian McKellen and other actors in the films, saying “they can afford it themselves”. These comments annoyed me, and I was really interested in finding out more about the project, as I couldn’t believe that there isn’t a literary centre or museum dedicated to Tolkien’s legacy already. I clicked through onto the website (https://www.projectnorthmoor.org/)…

In Practical Lifestyle

Christmas 2020 Gift Guide – The Local Edition

December 4, 2020 No Comments

So we have found ourselves in December (when did that happen?!) and Christmas seems to be rushing towards us at a great speed! If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while you’ll know how much I love local, independent companies. I know some of you more organised readers will be laughing at this as you’ve already completed your shopping…..but maybe there’s still something here that might just be an extra purchase, or that you might support in the future. I thought I would put together a small Christmas Gift Guide for 2020, showcasing a few local, independent and/or handmade businesses that I absolutely love! I’m trying to support as many small businesses as I can, as after this ridiculous year we’ve all had I think it’s more important than ever to support the little people. I’m done with giving the supermarkets and huge corporations any more of my…