Developing skills and travelling the world
IET Associate Member Matthew Dawes is a Project Engineer at Atmos International, an IET Enterprise Partner. Interested in engineering from a young age, Matthew is now developing his skills and travelling the world in his role at Atmos, whilst also following his passion for sustainability by working on projects helping to tackle climate change.
When did you decide to become an engineer?
I decided I wanted to be an engineer in school, after completing my work experience at the engineering department of the local college. My week was spent in a virtual control room learning about the complexities of running a control room in an oil refinery. This exposure to engineering was invaluable and led me to want to pursue a career in this field. Following my placement, I decided to apply to complete a chemical engineering degree at university and the rest, as they say, is history.
Another influence I had when I was growing up was my father, who worked at our local oil refinery as an operator. I had a fascination with all the storage units and “big towers”, and I think that inspired me from a young age to undertake engineering.
Why chemical engineering?
Throughout my education I was always interested in science and maths so a career in an area relating to these disciplines was always likely. Within science, chemistry was always my favourite, which led me to complete the Salters Chemistry Camp at Bath University during my GCSE studies. This involved 3 days of completing different lab-based experiments. Following this, I was torn between completing a chemistry degree and a chemical engineering degree but went for chemical engineering due to my enjoyment of maths and the other sciences.
How have you found your journey in engineering so far?
I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey in STEM so far. University was an amazing experience and allowed me to undertake some really interesting projects. I was able to complete a lab-based research project during my third year which looked at providing clean water for rural communities in Africa. I also undertook a group design project in my final year to produce bioethanol from wheat grain from start to finish of the process. Since graduating, I’ve started my career in STEM and my current role has allowed me to apply the skills I learnt at university in the real world. Regular opportunities to travel all over the world are also a massive bonus and a career in STEM unlocks that. There have certainly been challenges along the way, but these challenges have made me a stronger person and a more competent engineer.
What has been your biggest success in your career?
I have enjoyed a number of successes so far in my career, from completing a site acceptance test for one of our projects in Italy, to carrying out a factory acceptance test for another customer on a difficult pipeline. However, I would say that my biggest success in my career so far has involved finding an illegal tapping point on a pipeline by analysing historical pressure data. Using the results of my investigation and the information I provided to the customer, we were able to locate the tapping point only 150m away from the location I provided. This was a big win personally as it was the first time I’d identified a real pipeline leak or theft event since starting my role at Atmos over 18 months ago. It also felt rewarding to help a customer.
What has been your biggest challenge in your career?
The biggest challenge of my career was delivering an operator training session abroad to a group of operators whose first language was not English. It was a challenge to discuss technical details surrounding how our software works and what to do when something goes wrong, or when an alarm is generated. I had to break everything down in a way that could be understood while maintaining the necessary details required to successfully operate our system. This was also the first time I’d travelled to a country outside the UK on my own and the first time I’d ever travelled anywhere for work. This was a daunting experience, but a very rewarding one, and I feel that I gained a large amount of confidence from completing this visit and completing the training.
Are there any exciting projects you are currently working on?
I am currently working on projects with clients from all over the world. One exciting project I have is to optimise one of our systems in Oceania. This specific set of pipelines has unique operations, resulting in it being difficult to optimize, but I enjoy the challenge. I’m also hopeful of a site visit to Oceania sometime this year!
Another exciting project I am currently working on is on a carbon capture and storage (CCS) pipeline. This is an exciting project for me as I am passionate about sustainability and believe that CCS will be a vital solution over the next few decades to achieve net zero.
What advice would you give to young people looking at careers in engineering and technology?
The main bit of advice I’d give is to try and get as many experiences as you can within the field, whether that be undertaking some work experience at a local technology office or shadowing an engineer for a week. Some companies also offer scholarships and internships which I would highly recommend as the experience gained from those can be vital.
Finally, follow your passion. If you are highly passionate about a specific area of engineering or technology, go for it because this will help you enjoy the work you do and give you that extra motivation to make a difference within that area.
What does the future look like and what are your goals?
I love my current role as a Project Engineer, and I am aiming to achieve a Senior Project Engineer role in the near future. I strive to be the best engineer possible by continuing to improve my technical engineering skills while further developing my soft skills. Achieving chartership is another big goal of mine and I hope to complete the chartership process within the next ten years.
As a result of my passion for sustainability, I hope whatever I do in the future contributes to achieving net zero. I believe the issue of climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face today, and I will aim to help tackle this challenge in as many ways as I can.