Amro currently works as a Solar Engineering Manager for one of the world’s largest privately-owned renewable energy companies, where his role includes supporting solar PV projects from across the globe contributing to different phases like acquisitions, developments and operational assets. For Amro this combines a long-held goal of protecting the environment and growing as an engineer.
Inspired by his love of the environment Amro quickly identified engineering as the right career path.
“I have cared for the environment for as long as I can remember. As a child I worried about not doing enough to protect it so from an early age I knew that I wanted to be an engineer and to work in the sustainable field.”
This dedication was on display from the very beginning, at a young age Amro was interviewed by a Jordanian TV Channel and when asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, Amro replied “I want to create electricity from the sun and help those in need!”.
A dream that was quickly put into action as Amro pursued a Master’s degree in Renewables however it wasn’t always straight forward.
Overcoming and achieving
Despite studying renewables Amro initially found it difficult to follow his passion and start helping people.
“I grew up in the West Asia North Africa region, which is an Oil and Gas dominated region, upon graduation I found it difficult to find a position in the renewable energy industry. However, I was determined to achieve my goal and worked hard to obtain transferrable skills from the Oil and Gas industry that I could eventually apply to the renewable energy field.”
Amro also had the adversity of moving from the West Asia North Africa region to the UK to progress his career, something that presented its own difficulties.
“I was used to a different education system, different work culture and different communication styles. Upon landing my first job in the UK, I was thrilled and proud of my achievement, but it was not easy since I was restarting my career in a completely different field and working culture”.
“I have faced many challenges during my career whether related to misunderstanding and communication issues, different working styles and different professional backgrounds.”
Amro was determined to achieve his goals and eventually moved into his chosen field of renewables and started to gain recognition, winning a Project Manager of the Year Award and being listed in Renewable Energy Worlds Solar 40 Under 40 in 2017.
Applying for CEng
Looking to validate his journey and knowledge up until this point Amro decided to apply for CEng using his Master’s degree and years of experience in industry.
“I wanted to achieve a status that recognises my diverse and varied experience and is valid internationally, I wanted to join a community of fellow engineers.”
Even though Amro had the skills and knowledge, he found that there were still doubts over his application and ability to become registered.
“I knew about the CEng process early on in my career, but I always felt overwhelmed every time I would check the UK-SPEC. Filling the Professional Registration application form comes with a lot of anxiety and stress and the false target of aiming for perfection.”
Luckily Amro was well supported by the IET and his colleagues who were able to offer support and guidance on how he could map his experience to the competencies required for CEng.
“I began using Career Manager a few years ago to record my CPD’s and scrutinise the UK-SPEC competency descriptions. With time I was able to link any new task I undertook at work to a specific competency and recorded evidence of achieving that competency. I was able to ask help from ex-colleagues who became friends that shared their experience and were supportive and encouraging when I felt overwhelmed during the process.”
Alongside a Professional Registration Advisor (PRA), Amro also took advantage of the IET’s free webinars that further explained the registration process and offered helpful tips. After going through the assessment and interview process Amro was successfully awarded CEng and advised “anyone who is considering an application to have trust in themselves and don’t be afraid to reach out to the IET Community. The advice I received from the PRA was priceless.”
Helping Others
Not long after achieving his Professional Registration goals Amro turned his attention to how he could give back to the engineering community and help others face some of the challenges he did.
“I’m currently the line manager to another graduate engineer and I kept him up to date on my registration process and explained the benefits. I have also used the UK-SPEC to design his graduate training programme to ensure that the tasks he is involved in are based on a structure.”
Instilling confidence and belief in the next generation of engineers is something Amro takes seriously and is one of the reasons why he has taken on a mentoring role at the University of Brighton for BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) students pursuing a Master’s degree in construction project management. Amro will assist students by giving them advice, helping them with writing a CV and explaining what employers are looking for.
Amro has also taken to social media to offer his assistance to other engineers that may need some guidance on their own journey.
“Upon receiving my CEng certificate, I uploaded a photo of it on LinkedIn and in my post, I pledged to share my knowledge and experience with anyone who asks particularly early career engineers, I have also asked my contacts to reach out if they are in the process of getting Professionally Registered. I was really overwhelmed with the heart-warming messages I received.”
Looking back on the distant memory of being a young boy interviewed on Jordanian TV about his dreams of helping people Amro simply reflects “It seems a bit naïve but I am proud that I stayed true to my childhood ambition. My path wasn’t straightforward at all but eventually, I achieved my goal.”