Engineering Career Development: Lessons from the 2025 Young Woman Engineer Finalists

Every year, the Young Woman Engineer of the Year (YWE) awards celebrate engineers who are not only excelling technically but reshaping the culture of engineering across the UK. The 2025 finalists bring together civil, space, software, asset management and infrastructure expertise, demonstrating how diverse an engineering career can truly be. But more importantly, these finalists represent the skills, character and behaviours that future engineers need if they want to grow within this profession.

At Elec Training, we often highlight how engineering career development isn’t simply about acquiring technical skills. It’s about awareness, communication, discipline, problem-solving and a willingness to learn. The stories of this year’s finalists bring those principles to life. Their journeys illustrate what engineering can look like when people pursue their interests with curiosity, structure and commitment.

Building a career on strong foundations

Engineers like Amy Dillon and Rachel Hayden began their journeys with something simple: an early experience that sparked interest. A school bridge-building challenge. A structural design problem. These small, almost accidental introductions show that engineering careers often begin with moments that reveal what someone enjoys doing.

But early passion only becomes a profession when it is supported by structured learning. Learners today need to build similar foundations. For example, understanding where to find reliable technical information is an essential early skill. Modules such as technical information sourcing help learners identify, check and interpret engineering resources before making decisions.

Engineering begins with curiosity, but it strengthens through structure.

Why communication remains central to engineering excellence

Every one of the YWE finalists demonstrates strong communication skills. Whether presenting at the United Nations, mentoring apprentices, or coordinating multi-disciplinary teams across countries, communication shapes their professional success.

Many learners underestimate how vital this skill is. Engineering roles involve explaining risks, sharing design changes, reporting issues and making decisions together. Training modules such as site coordination communication basics reinforce the importance of clarity in technical environments.

Clear communication keeps projects safe, teams aligned and tasks progressing smoothly—quietly preventing mistakes before they appear.

Managing safety in professional environments

A recurring theme among the finalists is their commitment to safety. Whether maintaining national airspace systems, managing civil infrastructure or overseeing spacecraft operations, they all work in environments where safety is non-negotiable.

Learners entering building services or electrical installation roles experience the same truth. Safety is the thread connecting every part of the job. Modules such as interpreting workplace safety indicators give learners the ability to recognise risk early and respond correctly.

And safety is not just procedures. It’s awareness, behaviour and decision-making. It’s the way you choose to act even when no one is watching, which one finalist said is often the hardest but most important thing to learn.

Handling challenges and unexpected situations

Engineering careers rarely run in straight lines. Many of the YWE finalists spoke openly about problem-solving under pressure, adapting to unexpected issues or managing complex operational environments. From maintaining continuity across 24/7 systems to building bridges during difficult conditions, their experiences show that flexibility is essential.

Learners build similar resilience through studying risk, response and practical procedures. Modules like emergency response fundamentals teach how to stay calm and take structured action when things do not go as planned.

Engineering isn’t defined by avoiding problems. It’s defined by how you respond to them.

Becoming part of a team, not just a role

Each finalist highlights how engineering depends on teamwork. No bridge is built alone. No spacecraft standard is written in isolation. No tech system stays online without coordinated effort. Senior engineers, apprentices, planners, developers and safety specialists form ecosystems, not hierarchies.

Learners preparing for industry roles soon discover this themselves. Understanding how teams operate, how duties are shared and how communication flows increases confidence and reduces mistakes. This is explored in training modules such as structured reporting practice, which helps learners develop disciplined communication habits that strengthen team cohesion.

You can be the most talented engineer in the room, but if you cannot work with a team, your impact will always be limited.

Representation, inspiration and the future of engineering

One of the most important contributions of the YWE finalists is representation. Their achievements demonstrate to younger generations—especially girls and young women—that engineering is a place where they belong. Seeing people who look like them, who have taken different paths and overcome different challenges, creates possibilities that many never knew existed.

Engineering grows stronger when it welcomes a broader range of voices and experiences. Diversity encourages better design, better ideas and environments where innovation happens naturally.

Learners at Elec Training—whether beginning an electrical installation course or planning long term progression—benefit from understanding this wider context. Engineering is not just a technical field. It is a human one.

Why stories like these matter to developing engineers

Each finalist illustrates a behaviour or principle that matters for engineering career development:

• Curiosity leads to early exploration.
• Structure transforms interest into competence.
• Communication keeps teams effective.
• Safety awareness protects people and systems.
• Resilience supports long-term growth.
• Teamwork multiplies individual ability.

These behaviours form the foundation of a professional engineering identity. They are the same qualities Elec Training seeks to build in learners from day one—through structured practice, clear expectations and realistic workplace preparation. More details on training pathways are available at www.elec.training. There’s a small but important truth in all this: careers don’t happen overnight. They build slowly, often quietly, through consistent habits and choices. The finalists didn’t follow identical routes, but each showed commitment to learning, adapting and contributing to the world around them.