The search for a ‘unicorn’ role matching your specialist qualifications, located close to your home and family, is something many of us can relate to.
For marine engineer Carrie Harris, joining Serco as a Senior Engineering Superintendent was the perfect opportunity to bring together her years of engineering experience in a role based 15 minutes from home.
Keen to explore the world (and get paid for doing so), Carrie completed a mechanical engineering HNC at the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies before embarking on an engineering cadetship.
“Once I qualified as a marine engineer, I secured a junior role as fourth engineer with the British Antarctic Survey. I worked my way up to second engineer over the next six years, and really enjoyed the role onboard,” Carrie said.
British Antarctic Survey research ships travel from the UK to Antarctica, doing supply runs and conducting scientific research. “The ship is like a small city, so any services you have in your house we have to create onboard. We make our own fresh water and electricity and process our own sewage and rubbish. Planned maintenance is critical to try and stop machine breakdowns happening.
“Occasionally breakdowns do still happen, and when you’re at sea you’re on your own. That’s where I learnt a lot of my problem-solving ‘MacGyver type’ skills because you can’t fly the manufacturer down to Antarctica to fix the issue for you.”
Eventually, Carrie’s role was moved shoreside, to support the building of a new vessel, Sir David Attenborough. Spending three years working out of a UK shipyard, gave Carrie a taste of life she’d been missing while adventuring at sea. “I was used to doing four months away and then four months at home. Then suddenly being able to come home every weekend, I realised how much you miss, all the birthday parties and barbeques. That’s when I started looking to move ashore on a more permanent basis.”
Now in her mid-thirties, Carrie has successfully transitioned to life ashore. The Engineering Superintendent role with Serco sees her planning maintenance for the vessel fleet we operate and maintain for the Royal Navy.
Passionate about encouraging young children, especially girls, to consider an engineering career, Carrie is a vocal ambassador, visiting local schools and promoting the benefits of STEM subjects. Members of Serco’s Scotland based maritime team recently supported local primary school children to design, construct and race electric ‘goblin cars’, in a STEM initiative alongside the Royal Navy.
“This project was a great way to see engineering come to life. Kids this age are dead interested, asking lots of questions about how things work. I think it’s really important that young girls see women in these STEM talks, so they have someone they can relate to.”
We’re #SercoAndProud to see Carrie continue her engineering career with our skilled maritime team and support her community engagements with the next generation of Scottish engineers.