Arlene McConnell - guest post

Arlene McConnell is the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year. Arlene is supporting the Be What You Want campaign and tells us below how she became a Radar and Advanced Targeting Systems Engineer at Selex Galileo.

'I remember coming home from school one day to tell my mum that I wanted to be a fireman. Given that I was stood there in my school skirt with ribbons in my hair, my mum just laughed and said "honey you can't be a fireman, it's a fire man, there's no such thing as a fire woman, you can be something else." I couldn't understand my mums answer; I had never heard of girls not being able to do some things just because they were girls. It didn't make any sense to me; I just thought if you were good at something you could do it.

When I was a little older, I joined the brownies, where I learned lots of useful skills and got to take part in fun outdoor activities, like orienteering and camping. When it came time to leave the brownies I decided to join the scouts because they did even more outdoor adventure activities. Some people thought this was a bit weird, and they would ask me why I wanted to go to the scouts when there were no other girls there, but it didn't bother me. I was doing my duke of Edinburgh's award so I was more concerned with getting to do my first big expedition!

As well as hiking expeditions with the scouts I also learned other outdoor skills like sailing. It was no surprise then that after the scouts I went to the Army Cadets. There, I got to play lots of sports and learn military skills. I got to play hockey, volleyball and swimming and got to represent Glasgow at sports competitions. I relished the challenges of assault courses and first aid drills, there was always something new to learn to keep me occupied. Because I'd loved Cadets so much, as soon as I was old enough I decided that I wanted to join the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. There are hundreds of jobs to choose from in the RAF; I could be a chef or technician or even an air traffic controller. So I had to sit down and work out what my favourite parts of being a cadet were in order to work out the best job for me. Eventually I decided upon being a Regiment Gunner because that would mean I would get to be outdoors, do lots of fitness and take part in big infantry manoeuvres with helicopters and armoured vehicles. Being a Regiment Gunner is normally a job a woman isn't allowed to do, but fortunately the RAF decided that if we could pass the same tests then we would be allowed, which made me extremely happy.

I managed to pass all the tests and serve my country in the Gulf doing a job which I loved. Throughout the whole time I used to get asked lots of questions about being one of the only girls doing this job, but I always just answered that it didn't bother me because I was doing exactly what I enjoyed and what I was good at. When I decided on a career in engineering I guessed there would be questions and people who would make comments. But it hasn't been so bad, people are starting to realise that everyone has the right to choose what they want to do. I may have arrived into engineering late, but I always did what I loved, and it happened to lead me here. After everything I have done I have just learned to switch off when people tell me I can't, especially if the reason is my gender. Instead, I am honest and look inside myself, realise what I'm passionate about, and put everything I have into being what I want to be, always.'

A.E. McConnell