After my blog overhaul and relaunch, I thought it would be an ideal time to dive into my career journey from a motorcycle mechanic through to my current role as a mechanical engineer… My route into engineering wasn’t the most straight-forward, and I am a real advocate for being brave and switching careers if you find you aren’t in a field that is the right fit for you. There are so many jobs out there and you spend so much of your life working, I really believe that you can find a career which is fulfilling and that you love waking up for everyday.
I’m going to split this into years and stages of my career, to try and give a real overview of how and why I’ve got to where I have got to up until this point. Hopefully this will be a useful motivation bump if you’re trying to make that break into your dream career, or it will be valuable guidance for how to become a motorcycle mechanic or mechanical engineer.
Childhood Experiences – The Start of my Journey
I was brought up with motorcycles being such a huge part of my life, from great memories of going to World Superbikes and watching Carl Fogarty in the 90s to spending hours riding pillion with my Mum on her Ducati Monster as a teenager. My grandad is Bill Doran, who raced in the Motorcycle Grand Prix in the 1940-50s including at the infamous Isle of Man TT where there is a corner named after him (Doran’s Bend). Alongside my Grandma, they ran the Doran & Wright motorcycle dealership in Wellington which was where my Mum was brought up…sparking her love for all things two wheeled!
My interest in engineering has been with me throughout my life, spending hours as a kid helping (or more likely hindering!) my Dad with his woodwork creations in the garage. I have a lifelong passion for Lego which continues to this day, and I have always enjoyed practical activities.
Despite having all of this exposure to motorcycles and a practical lifestyle growing up, I never felt like I was pushed towards a career or interest in these things… I was so lucky to have experienced them from such a young age, and it genuinely called to me as what really sparked my interest. My Mum still has a letter that I wrote at age 11, where I wrote down my dreams of becoming Valentino Rossi’s crew chief when I grow up. I’ve always been clear that’s where I wanted to end up, which is unusual as I know a lot of people don’t ever really have a calling as to what they want to do for their career.
Education Choices and School Life
I was very fortunate going to schools that encouraged hands-on learning, right from my first nursery. I used to come back home with painted bits of wood that I’d hammered nails though, proudly presenting it as “Thomas the Tank Engine” or something that with even with the best intentions you couldn’t recognise!! I’m pretty sure health and safety doesn’t let tiny humans loose with hammers any more, which is such a shame because with the right supervision I think it’s vital learning from a young age.
The Design Technology department at my primary school had everything from pillar drills to vacuum forming machines. I would spend my summer holidays making plastic boats to race across ponds, and building wooden fortresses and catapults for competitions. I’m so grateful for having such great opportunities growing up, and I am sure that my love for engineering has been very naturally developed by having these experiences from a young age.
Aside from the practical side, I have always been an academic person and particularly gravitated towards maths, sciences and languages once I reached secondary school. Here the DT department wasn’t quite as forward thinking, so whilst making paintings, tapestries and sculptures was okay it didn’t call to me like making fuse testers had done as a primary school kid. For my GCSE options, I chose Triple Science, French, Spanish, History, Geography and ICT, along with the compulsory subjects.
I left secondary school and went to a sixth form college, where I studied Maths, Further Maths and Physics at A Level. During this time, it was becoming clearer in my mind that I didn’t want to go to university and instead I would much rather get stuck into the world of work. I didn’t fancy the university lifestyle, and to be honest I knew the door would be open to me when I was older if I changed my mind. I had also passed my CBT and was riding my first motorbike at this point, and was fully embracing the motorcyclist lifestyle!
I had been working part-time as a trainee motorcycle mechanic at a Ducati dealership from the summer in between my AS and A Levels, which continued as a weekend position once I started back at college again. This is where I really felt everything starting to align and I was absolutely loving my work, so when I was offered a full-time position once I’d finished my A Levels I jumped at the chance!
Starting out as a Motorcycle Mechanic 2009 – 2012
I finished college in 2010 with straight A’s at A Level, had passed my motorcycle license and was the proud owner of my first “big bike”. I started full-time at Ducati that summer, and spent the next two years learning my trade as a motorcycle mechanic. During this period, I had the opportunity of working on some of the most exclusive motorcycles and was fortunate enough to learn the trade off one of the best motorcycle mechanics I have ever come across.
I attended the Ducati factory in Bologna, Italy where I completed a week of training courses and subsequently became the first qualified female Ducati mechanic in the UK. I knew I had uncovered what I loved doing with my days, but as I became older and more experienced I became less enthusiastic about the way that particular dealership was doing things….so, it was time to make my next move.
Race Technician in the British Superbike Paddock 2012 – 2015
Racing has always been my passion, so moving into the British Superbike Championship was my next goal. As an enthusiastic 20 year old I speculatively emailed my CV to ~50-60 race teams (whoever I could find an email address for online!), and I only had six email responses. I’m highlighting this because motorsport is one of those worlds that you have to be prepared to face a lot of rejection when you’re trying to break into it. I knew this was the case which is why I made sure I got in touch with as many people as possible to try and get my break.
Fortunately, one of these responses was from an incredible team owner, who was interested in me and invited me up to the team launch event. I have spoken in more depth about these events in my “life changing trip to America” post. As a brief summary, I had to hand my notice in to attend this team launch event…I knew my calling was motorsport so I took that leap and left my job at Ducati with no firm offer, but the hope that I would prove myself to the team. At the launch event I spoke with the team owner and crew chief, who both believed in my potential and gave me a chance to prove myself. So, for the 2012 season I worked freelance on race weekends for CN Racing who were competing in the British Superstock 1000 Championship. This was an incredible first experience working for a race team, and I had the opportunity to go to Assen (The Netherlands) to help support another team with their Supersport rider.
For the 2013 season I was full-time, working for CF Motorsport during the week prepping our race bikes, building race bikes for other people and building track day bikes for customers. This was an incredible experience, being able to do what I loved and had always dreamed about full-time really was a huge deal for me. These were wonderful years, and having the opportunity to work at circuits such as Donington Park and Assen, that I had so many happy memories from growing up, was really something I will never forget.
However, making a full-time career of being a race mechanic in the UK isn’t hugely viable, so after the 2013 race season I started working at Streetbike as a full-time motorcycle mechanic. I used all of my holidays (plus unpaid leave) to enable me to go racing, and started working for MWR Motorsports in the Superstock 1000 championship for the 2014-15 seasons. Here is where I truly found my feet in terms of a race team, run by the kindest team owner who genuinely looked after his team, with one of the best groups of people I’ve ever had the privilege of working alongside.
I really landed on my feet at Streetbike, which was run by the most enthusiastic owner and had such a brilliant workshop department. When I started I was one of seven mechanics, working on a huge range of primarily Suzuki and Yamahas, getting to test ride everything that I worked on! Here I gained invaluable hands-on skills along with some great mentorship and guidance, including gaining my MOT test license and Yamaha Certification.
2015 was my final season in British Superbikes, which I look back on as the peak of my motorsport career (so far!). 2013 brought a lot of trophies, pole positions and lap records, but 2015 gave me the opportunity to work alongside the Moto Rapido Ducati British Superbike team that we became a technical partner with. The guys I worked with on this project are still some of my greatest friends today, and running the Ducati Panigale in Superstock 1000 really felt like a full circle after starting out in my career at a Ducati. We worked out of the Moto Rapido garage on pit lane, we were guests in the Ducati hospitality unit at every round and it was honestly the most fun I’ve had at racing. When the team decided to not continue into 2016, I couldn’t imagine myself working for anyone else, and knew I needed to focus on getting my degree with JCB.
Motorsport is all about networking, and honestly once you break into the paddock you will find your next steps a lot easier! I worked for three teams over the course of my five seasons in BSB, and both moves were based on offers due to having work with/alongside the teams I then ended up working for. If you’re good at your job and a hard worker you will get noticed and be in demand! Since I’ve left the paddock I have still had a couple of people get in touch to see if I’m interested in working for them, which I take as a huge compliment with it coming up to six years since I left that world.
Start of my Engineering Career at JCB 2015 – 2021
This brings us to my current role and my route into becoming a professional engineer. I was advised by a good friend about Higher Apprenticeship schemes that engineering companies were running in the UK, which meant I could study for a degree whilst working. This was quite a big deal for me, as it would essentially mean starting again at age 24 and pivoting from the career I was carving out for myself as a mechanic. However, I knew that if I was serious about having a feasible full-time career in motorsport or in the motorcycle industry that I needed to take that step up and get my engineering degree. I was ready to become a student again!
I managed to get onto JCB’s scheme for 2015, and over the course of the next four years I completed a Foundation Degree in Integrated Engineering, an NVQ Level 4 Extended Diploma in Engineering Manufacture and finally a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. I had the honour of winning several awards in this period too: in 2018 I was named JCB’s Apprentice of the Year, EEF’s Midlands Engineering Apprentice of the Year and EEF’s Runner Up National Apprentice of the Year. I also won the Best Project Award from the IMechE for my dissertation, which was a huge honour as I was really proud of the project that was the culmination of my degree.
During my apprenticeship I was based in JCB’s engine development team working on prototype engine testing, delivering several high profile projects alongside studying. It was during this period that I became a registered professional engineer with the IMechE and started work as a STEM ambassador. Since graduating in July 2019 I have continued in my role in the Mechanical Development team, where I am the technical lead for Power Conversion. I joined the Women’s Engineering Society in 2019 and I have developed my personal skills into mentoring and tutoring.
You can read more about my experiences during my apprenticeship in this post I wrote last year, I’m a huge advocate for this being a great way to get into engineering:
https://thefemaleengineerblog.com/why-should-i-do-an-engineering-apprenticeship/
I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to become a successful mechanical engineer from some wonderful people at JCB, and have been very fortunate to be mentored by some incredible engineers. I have visited suppliers out in Germany and in the UK, been involved in some very high profile projects and have genuinely enjoyed the last nearly six years. I have extensively used my experience as a mechanic in my current role, which really just emphasises that whatever you might be doing right now it will always feed into your future in some way! It might be lessons learned, specific skills or technical experiences, but you will always increase your knowledge and capabilities by taking on new roles and challenges.
The Future…
My secondary motive for sharing my career journey with you now, was that I am about to make my next step in my professional life and move into my second role as a mechanical engineer. I have accepted a position at Ruroc where I will be working in new product development on their motorcycle and snowsports helmets. I am beyond excited to be joining such a fascinating company, and I am really looking forward to pushing my technical capabilities even further being involved in a much smaller company than JCB. I have missed being involved in the motorcycling world over the last few years, and I am very much ready to embrace that world again but as an engineer this time around!
JCB have been a brilliant company to work for and I’ve gained so much valuable experience from my time with them. However, I was starting to get the “Sunday Scaries” and I knew I was ready for a new professional challenge. Time will tell how this move will go as it’s always a risk taking on a new role, but I am excited about the potential of where this job could take me.
Summary
My journey has been a real-life example of diversions and career pivots, but the overarching theme that I would love you to take away is that you really can achieve whatever you set your mind to. I am a firm believer that you should always chase your dreams and certainly don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be something that you can’t stop thinking about it. If you’re prepared to work hard and challenge the status quo, there is no reason why you can’t reach those goals.
If there is anything about my story that you would like to know more about, or if you would like any advice on getting into engineering/motorsport then please feel free to email me at emilie@thefemaleengineerblog.com
What was your dream job when you were a child? What are you doing now? Let me know in the comments – I would love to know how your dreams manifested in your current role! Or maybe you are still working towards those goals?
Emilie
The Female Engineer
