Navigating your career path with a STEM background_ Tips for success in tech

Be careful not to compare yourself to others too much. It's nice to have some awareness of where your peers are at, but remember that everyone is different and everyone learns at a different pace. Hi, I'm Emma. I am a physics graduate from Lancaster University. I studied for four years and I got my Master of Physics and then I went on to a graduate role at Cummins Table of Technologies. So I'm now working in the aerodynamic performance group as a validation engineer and I've been in this role for just over a year now. Hi, my name is Rebecca Ingray and I've worked at Cummins for eight years after doing a Master's in Physics from the University of Salford. My role at Cummins is aerodynamic performance validation manager and I'm also the women's empowerment network leader for the Huddersfield site. Hi, my name is Georgia. I've just finished my second year at the University of York studying math and physics and I'm three months into my industrial placement here at Cummins and I'd like to welcome you to our Cummins top tips video. My favourite thing about working in a technical team is that you have a really diverse support network around you and you get to learn interesting facts that you wouldn't be able to learn alone or at university. This is why my first tip is to become your own expert. I found at my time at Cummins I would have to take real initiative because sometimes the answer that I'm seeking isn't within my group and sometimes the answer isn't anywhere and you have to take the initiative to find the answer for yourself in order to help future colleagues or the team that you're working and you even become a little expert in that specific area which is nice. What I mean by being your own expert is that you don't necessarily need to enter a role knowing everything off the bat but you're willing to ask the silly or complex questions in order to gain the knowledge that you need and you can use that knowledge to better yourself and better others and better your company as well. Ultimately the transition into tech is the opportunity to develop what you're interested in not necessarily what anyone else is interested in and in the end you don't know where your career will take you so it's best to prepare yourself by being yourself and here at Cummins there's a lot of opportunities to develop yourselves in many ways you just have to ask. My top tip for people starting off their careers is to be careful not to compare yourself to others too much. It's nice to have some awareness of where your peers are at but remember that everyone is different and everyone learns at a different pace. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and you should focus on your own professional development and make sure that you enjoy that process and that growth as well because that is the most important thing. I really enjoy working in a technical role because it gives me the opportunity to work collaboratively with a lot of different types of engineers that may be people that are considered experts in a very niche technical area or people that have a very good understanding of an entire system and how all the different parts of that system come together and that's been really good for my growth and it's been a really enjoyable aspect of my job. I think it's also shown me that there are so many different paths that you can follow and there really is something for everyone and you just have to find what's right for you. My tip for you as a new starter at Cummins is to work on building your professional network. As well as getting to know people in your own department you can get to know people from loads of different areas around the business by doing things such as joining different training classes doing a day in the life or a week in the life in a different department or by joining an employee resource group such as the Diversity Council, the Women's Empowerment Network or the New Starters Support Network. For me it was these networking groups that really helped me build my confidence and also helped me develop my communication and leadership skills. I really enjoy working in my technical team at Cummins because every day I get to work with a group of technical subject matter experts on really complex yet interesting problems. In our department everybody is so supportive of one another and there is never a stupid question. Thank you for watching the Cummins top tips video. Best of luck with your future career.