Q: What does your job entail? A: Basically, we fix the robots that build aircraft wings. Q: What are you working on at the moment? A: The current project is the Airbus 380, which is due to come out in 2006. It will be the biggest passenger aircraft ever built: bigger than the 747 and the Jumbo Jet. Q: And when things go wrong people come to you? A: Yes! We have a 24-hour support contract with Airbus - any time during the day or night we have to be available to repair the machines. Q: I hear you’ve been jetting off to Seattle? A: I’ve just got back! The company I work for is a contractor to Boeing, which is based near Seattle. We go there fairly regularly to check over the new machines before they’re brought back to the UK. Q: How did you get the job? A: The job came up on the internet. It was miles out of my league but I thought that I had to give it a go. I managed to get through to the interview stage and did a day’s aptitude testing. I knew within two days that they wanted me. Q: How did you convince them at the interview? A: Well they were keen on finding engineers who were multi-skilled. My degree was in Mechanical Engineering, but for the job I needed to know about electrical engineering and software as well. In my final year I did a lot of software and my final project was software based, which is partly what got the job. Q: So it was all down to your academic achievements? A: No. We're a small company, so people are chosen not only on their engineering knowledge, they're chosen on what kind of person they are. I always hope that I was chosen for how well I go about things, and how well I attack a problem as opposed to my academic skills alone. They were looking for people with good communication and people who are willing to have a go and are not put off by something complicated. Q: Do you enjoy the work? A: I do yeah, thoroughly. It’s an area of engineering that's very difficult to get into. I couldn’t have asked for a better job for me. Q: What's the best thing about the job? A: The best thing is that you get to work with people at the top of their field. Working with experts from Boeing and Airbus is brilliant. In the last 12 months I've learnt more that I would have with another year at university. I love learning things practically and you're thrown into it so you have to learn! Q: …and the worst? A: The way you can get called in at the drop of a hat. We're expected to be on the end of a phone all the time. I think you’ve got to be of a certain mindset to do the job. You’ve got to be in it for the team. A lot of jobs you get to clock off at 5pm. The way we work, if the jobs got to be done you have to keep doing it. Everyone understands that. Other than that there's nothing I don’t like about it! | 
