Christelle Faucon, VP Sales at Agile Analog
At Agile Analog, we want to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day. We have great female engineers in our team and we are keen to encourage more women to work in engineering. It’s such an exciting sector. However, even though there has been some progress made over the last two decades, engineering is still a male-dominated environment, especially in senior engineering and leadership roles. So what can be done to help inspire more girls to study engineering, choose a career in engineering, and then advance to higher level positions? I chatted with a few of my female colleagues to get their thoughts on this.
It’s clear that the earlier in life we reinforce the message of equal opportunities the better.
Nicky Wilkinson (Senior Director, IP Delivery) says:
“I believe that encouraging women into engineering happens when they are brought up in a home and school environment where the focus is on equal opportunities rather than traditional gender roles. If we could achieve this in society that would be for the benefit of everyone.”
Unfortunately, there is still some way to go.
As Shukla Mahmood (Senior Software Engineer) recalls:
“When I was at school, you could count the number of physics/IT female students on one hand. Girls were encouraged to study other subjects, and the biggest reason enrolment into engineering courses was low was because we didn’t know it was an option for us.”
Greater awareness is obviously key.
Mairead McManus (Senior Staff Analog Engineer) comments:
Increasing the visibility of female engineers can contribute to more girls choosing this career path. I think it’s important to show that there are already women in the industry and they are willing to talk about their experiences.
Areeba Kamran (Analog Engineer) agrees awareness and interaction are essential:
Female students should attend open days to meet with engineers and explore what options are available for them. Female engineers have the ability to make a huge impact on the world!
Shukla says:
Keep working hard. I was lucky that the small handful of women on my engineering course really motivated and helped each other. To those starting their careers, don’t be afraid to make your voice heard, and share your ideas. Be prepared to stand up for yourself!
Mairead has some practical advice:
When at university I would recommend looking for work experience and summer placements. When it’s your first job - ask questions and don’t be afraid to say you don’t understand something.
Nicky is keen that gender is not seen as the main focus:
Don't let being female define you - you are first and foremost an engineer. Believe in yourself, believe in your abilities and always show others the respect you would like shown to you. A good engineer is just that - a good engineer - you!
I started out as a Design Engineer, before moving over to more commercial and then leadership roles. The best advice I can offer to young female engineers is: keep on challenging yourself. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone. With the right support you can achieve much more than you expect. I would urge established female engineers to come forward and share their experiences at STEM, career and industry events. We need role models to inspire the younger generation. It is also important to support each other and to empower more women to take on leadership roles.
Over the last few years society has faced many challenges. There are innovative engineering devices and projects spanning IoT, healthcare, AI, quantum computing that are offering exciting solutions. And there are semiconductor companies, like Agile Analog, working on ground-breaking technology that will have real impact. The world needs more engineers, so perhaps if there were more women working in engineering we could come together to drive forward technological advances to resolve more challenges.
If you would like to work for a trailblazing analog IP specialist that has a range of interesting engineering roles, and that supports equality and values diversity, please take a look at our career opportunities.
Agile Analog is transforming the world of analog IP with Composa™, its innovative, highly configurable, multi-process analog IP technology. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a growing number of customers across the globe, Agile Analog has developed a unique way to automatically generate analog IP that meet the customer’s exact specifications, for any foundry and on any process, from legacy nodes right up to the leading edge. The company provides a wide-range of novel analog IP and subsystems for data conversion, power management, IC monitoring, security and always-on IP, with applications including; data centers/HPC, IoT, AI, quantum computing, automotive and aerospace. The digitally wrapped and verified solutions can be seamlessly integrated into any SoC, significantly reducing complexity, time and costs, helping to accelerate innovation in semiconductor design.
Senior IT System Administrator
Core Technology · Head Office · Hybrid Remote
IT Support Engineer Linux/Mac
Core Technology · Head Office · Hybrid Remote
Senior staff Analog Engineer
Core Technology · Head Office · Hybrid Remote
To keep up with our company announcements, industry collaborations and key product developments, please check out our press releases.
