Carla

"I head up the energy engineering team. My role involves managing projects on site and remotely, which can range from CHP installations through to metering contracts or energy and BeMS audits. It's quite a varied role and I liaise with a lot of the divisions within Optimised and work across numerous sectors. I enjoy that no two days are the same.

I enjoy the variety of it, and I enjoy the fact that we get a positive outcome because we help our clients actively reduce their energy consumption through our projects."

Debbie

Natalie

"Yeah, I definitely agree. I think everyone falls into energy, don't they? When I started, I didn't know what anything was really, like a meter or a bill, so I went from knowing nothing about it to where I am now. In my role, I also really enjoy the variability of it - every day is different. I don't do the same thing day in and day out. It keeps you on your toes because everything's always changing in the industry. You're constantly learning as well, which is nice, rather than being stagnant.

Also, I think a lot more people are interested in energy now. When you compare when I started 10/12 years ago to the energy market now, everyone's talking about it and the impact it's having. So, it's definitely more at the forefront of everyone's mind, whereas in the past it was more at the back."

Carla

"The engineering team is predominantly a team of men, and a lot of my industry colleagues are also men. Fortunately for myself, my personality helps me work in a male-dominated environment because I’m naturally quite confident. It can be quite intimidating sometimes when you go into a room of engineers and they're all men and you're the only woman there, and obviously being a younger woman as well, sometimes it is quite hard to get taken seriously.

So, I think it's about building that credibility and getting people to take you seriously. I've battled for probably 10 years in my career now to get to the point where I am. I consider myself a good project manager, not just because I'm a woman, but because of my skill set. I think they're very fair at Optimised. They don't discriminate against women, and I think they give equal opportunities to both sexes."

Debbie

Debbie

Carla

"Yeah, they've really supported me in terms of flexible working, because I've got two small children, and even before the flexible working policy came on board, I already managed to negotiate a four-day working week as part of my contract. It's not frowned upon if you have to leave work because of childcare.

I speak on behalf of some of the men within the company as well: it's not just the women that benefit from it. Men can now finish at 3 o'clock and go and do the school pick up and then come back and log back on later. So, I think that's it's really good for both."

Natalie

"I think if you want to do it, don't be put off by it being a male-dominated industry or being told that you can't do it if you think you can. Don't give in, just keep going."