The path to Fellowship: 'if you have knowledge, your power lies in sharing it'

For me, the motivation to pursue ICE Fellowship rose after noticing a decline in technical skills and capabilities among technicians across the industry.

It forced me to question whether this was a broader industry issue and what was being done to address it.

How are we creating more professional technicians? What does that look like?

Those questions lingered in my mind alongside the notion that Fellowship was not for me.

But the more I learnt, the sooner I realised that it’s an excellent way to build presence and get in touch with more technicians around our industry.

Also, it would be a great way to talk to people who are making the decisions about the development of our technicians.

Paving the way for technicians

Fellowship will open ways for me to connect with the people making decisions around the development of technicians at a level they recognise.

Since receiving Fellowship, I’ve also joined the ICE South East England’s regional committee as vice chair of technicians.

I intend to find opportunities for technicians to get involved and demonstrate the value they offer.

I want us to have an atmosphere where they’re also able to join crucial discussions about the future of the ICE or engineering.

Overcoming challenges

Looking back, my Fellowship journey was quite eye opening for me.

I knew I had quirks, and I knew I found things challenging that other people didn't seem to find as difficult, but I had never really attributed it to anything specific.

But since I learnt that I had ADHD and dyslexia, it started to make sense and made things a bit easier.

Things came to a head with the Fellowship application because I struggled to create the structure and flow.

I could get everything out of my head very quickly. But organising it into a concise document that demonstrated key elements of what I've done and how I've done it was incredibly challenging.

I had to find ways to work around it, and I found tools and systems that help me. I use AI quite a lot to help with consistency and staying on track and on point.

Talking helps because you cannot do it on your own

My colleagues from the ICE network helped me see the strength in my experience. The more I talked to them, the more I looked back at my career trajectory through a different lens.

If I hadn’t had those conversations, I would’ve just moved on, but their encouragement prompted me to go for it.

Talking through my experience with them and pointing out how those things map across to Fellowship really helped me in getting where I needed to get!

Also, it was nice to be able to share with other people because you can’t become a Fellow just on your own.

My advice to other technicians

Ask questions – people can be more receptive than you think

From experience, when you’re performing at a certain level, there can be some hesitancy in asking questions.

It could make you think ‘I’m going to look stupid’, when actually, other people may be thinking the same thing. But by not asking, you end up putting a lot more pressure on yourself.

It’s important to learn about the issue, understand it and essentially not be afraid to tell people that you have challenges in a particular area.

I feel that often, the worry can be that if we say something, people may perceive that we won’t be able to do the task.

But the reality is that most people are very receptive. They understand what you're saying.

They might not necessarily understand what you're dealing with, but it helps people understand you a lot better, and you can feel more accepted.

If you want to grow, share your knowledge

I’ve learnt that fundamentally, knowledge is no longer something you need to keep to yourself to be seen as an expert.

It’s actually the opposite - if you have knowledge, the power is in sharing it so people can see and recognise it. It can help you earn the trust and respect of your colleagues internally and externally.

It can be quite hard for a lot of technicians to move past senior and principal grades into becoming an associate or director. That’s largely down to the fact that we're very focused on detailed project work, very specific things.

However, sharing knowledge also expands your exposure, helps build your network. Once you’ve established that, moving in the direction of Fellowship becomes easier.

Every day counts

It’s also worth remembering that day-to-day, you may not feel like you’re doing much.

However, all those small things I did, those conversations I had, they were opening doors, and that eventually starts adding up.