DCG Success Stories

Being female in a male-dominated sector is one of the best – and the worst –things about her job, says mechanical engineer Zoe Fittock.

Zoe, who qualified last summer, took the Higher Apprenticeship – Building Services Engineering Senior Technician & HNC in Building Services Engineering course via Derby College Group.

She said: “The worst thing about being a female mechanical engineer is that sometimes people underestimate me; it can be quite daunting being the only woman on site.

“However, the best thing about being a woman in my job is that I’m breaking down barriers.

My employers, Chord Consult in Nottingham, are great. With them there is absolutely nothing stopping me from progressing and making it all the way up to director level.”

Zoe, who grew up in Leicester, took A-levels at sixth form college but opted to look for an apprenticeship rather than go to university.

She said: “My dad’s an engineer; I get my interest in engineering from him. I’m a reason-based person too. I  like to think about things logically, so going into engineering made perfect sense.

“I enjoyed college a lot. It was very much how I imagined university to be. We were free to walk around the campus and we had our own higher education room in the second year.

“I was impressed with the tutors too. You could have a conversation with them about anything, not just the course. It didn’t feel like a teacher/student scenario but more like a university tutorial.”

Zoe was on the same higher apprenticeship course as her Chord colleague Angelina, who is also a mechanical engineer.

She added: “My job is similar to Angelina’s although she’s involved in a whole range of different engineering building projects whereas my work is based around schools and education.”