Never just a hobby - how your interests can shape your entire career.
In this edition we talk with the talented Philippa Davies, Engineering Director of Reaction Engines - aerospace engineer, wife and mum of two with another on the way. We talk about turning a passion into a career, and what it’s like to go from an all-girls school into an engineering degree.
Tell me about what you do for work.
A few years ago I would have described myself as a designer of engine parts for a space plane. Now I lead all of the technical development activities of our business and I am responsible for an engineering team of around 100 people.
What drew you to engineering in the first place?
Like many young people, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I left school. I knew I liked math and physics so I sort of knew I might go into that field, but obviously that’s very broad.
I wanted to be an astronaut - like most young people. I went to Kennedy Space Center with my parents and I just loved being immersed in technology and the stories of people going into space, things like that.
One evening we all went out to Denny’s and I had a t-shirt on from NASA. The waiter told me that the space station would be passing overhead that night so we all went out to watch that - it was a pivotal moment that stuck in my mind. I was thinking how this was really cool and when choosing my career path I thought, yeah, engineering seems to be the kind of thing that would be good with my skills. At the time though it felt like a little bit of a gamble for me, I didn’t know anybody who had done it before so I couldn’t ask them questions. But I kept learning stuff that was interesting to me and that set me up for the next opportunities.
What do you love about your job?
I really love that I get to work with the whole engineering team and across the whole business. So, I do get to do a little bit of everything from aerospace to high-speed flight, and even motorsports. Because there's a little bit of everything, it keeps it really interesting.
What brought you to this point in your career?
I've been with Reaction Engines for around ten years. I came from Rolls-Royce where I had been on the graduate scheme doing technical work. The role I took at Reaction Engines was very technical and although I had worked in a similar field, that didn’t mean I had all of the skills to design the whole machinery from first principles, and do the concept work. It's quite rare to have that breadth of skills, so it was a huge amount of learning over the first couple of years. I then moved through various roles including Technical Chief of Staff, and I am now the Engineering Director.
Have you faced any obstacles?
Not really obstacles but I do check if I am being true to myself throughout, making sure I am making decisions that are authentic to me and not just following what feels easy or comfortable.
It might have been easier to stick with my best friend and do whatever classes they did rather than doing physics. When I went to my degree course, I knew I would be a minority there and I went from an all-girls school to being one of only ten women among 100 men. It was a very different dynamic and quite scary for someone in their late teens, but I had to be sure I was being true to myself and I am comfortable with that decision.
Does being a woman bring something different or new to the work in this environment?
I feel I'm good at being quite self-aware. So, I wonder if I bring that sometimes in terms of diversity to a group because I know what my strengths and my weaknesses are.
I know I have different strengths that I bring to that team, and that has often been something that I've noticed. I think that's helped me value different strengths of having a more diverse team that might not necessarily be gender, but by trying to recognize what different people bring.
When I'm thinking about teams, I'm often thinking about, what are their strengths and how do they best marry up with the team and what gaps have we still got to balance that out.
What might people be surprised to know about you?
People might be surprised that in conjunction with the technical skills that I bring to the role I also bring a lot of my creative passions that I fulfil outside of work. I enjoy creative projects and artsy or craft-type activities. These feelings and sentiments spill over into my professional world and help me think of ideas in a different way.
What do you feel is the reputation of tech and engineering?
I like to think that it has a reputation of being exciting and interesting, people want to know about the latest technologies. Engineering is kind of the problem-solving for technology developments, turning ideas into a reality.
I also feel it's probably still got the sentiment of being a very male and male dominated activity although I do feel that other nationalities do quite well with balance in engineering.
What can we do about that?
I feel like it's on a positive trajectory, whether it's fast enough I don't know. We still don't have enough women applying for our roles. So I can't create a balanced workforce if they're not educated in this area, looking for jobs and applying.
There's a lot of good stuff happening, particularly in outreach through early education. It wasn't something I had any exposure to when I was 14 to 18.
It's nice to know that Reaction Engines as well as Rolls-Royce and many other big technical companies that I work alongside, do a big outreach program and I think that it's great getting out to schools early. It's nice to be able to showcase why math is interesting.
What do diversity equity inclusion efforts look like in your sector?
There's lots of good things happening. Reaction Engines has a dedicated ED&I group, with a number of different activities in terms of education, outreach efforts and general awareness and support for the organisation.
I've seen that mirrored among the agencies that we work alongside. I think a lot of people want to do it, they just weren't aware before. Reminding people to be aware of having diverse groups is a positive and it should make the team better.
What would you like young women to know ?
I would just say focus on doing the things you enjoy and want to learn, because you will always end up being the best you by being authentic and following those topics. I often get asked, ‘should I study this or should I study that?’ and ask in return, ‘what are you really drawn to?’ because my opinion isn't useful in that sense. If you're passionate about it, you'll succeed at it.