Meet the crew - Helen Robertson

In our new ‘Meet the Crew’ series, we welcome members of the IGS crew to take the stage and share a little about their life with the company. We’re delighted to kick things off by sitting down with Helen Robertson, Detailed Design Engineer, to chat about what lead her to pursue a career in engineering.

Can you tell us a bit about what your day-to-day work with IGS entails?  

In my day-to-day work, I spend time on CAD [Computer-aided design], producing IGS technical design drawings to communicate with the customers for the integration of IGS technology into potential sites.  

I have design meetings with customers, architects, structural engineers and the IGS deployment team to develop the CAD drawings into detailed procurement and installation documents.  

I note feedback from these meetings which highlights areas in the design we can improve and pass this onto the R&D team for ongoing product development.  

I also spend around one day a week at the James Hutton Institute, working on the HVAC design and running tests to improve operation and efficiency of the product.  

What attracted you to work with IGS in the first instance?  

The first time I visited the farm, I immediately realised that IGS was not just talking about innovation and advancing technology. The company was already achieving this, and I would have the opportunity to help bring the amazing technology at the Hutton to sites around the globe.  

The IGS team was very clear about where they see room for improvement, and where they saw my skills being useful to achieve this.  

Is there a particular project you’ve been most proud of since you started working with IGS?  

Since I have experience in HVAC, I have loved working on this patent pending system to improve its capabilities and efficiencies. It has given me the opportunity to take my written knowledge from university and put it into practice, learning many new skills working on the controls as well as hardware.  

Scotland has a reputation for innovation and technological advances. How important is it for us to nurture talent pipelines?  

The standout part of IGS for me is the company’s awareness to bring in people from many different backgrounds, recognise their talent/experience and use it wisely. People are allowed to work on what they are good at, which is usually what they enjoy most, which leads to motivated and productive employees. This is key when working innovatively as it can be a slow and unrewarding process so to keep bringing in new talent and new views of the technology will continue to lead to rewards. It is important for any size of company to recognise this.  

What advice would you give to younger girls considering a career in STEM?  

I would tell girls not to be worried about being amazing at maths/physics or expect they’ll need to have hands-on experience fixing a bike/car etc. Engineering is about solving problems, if they are motivated to do that then there will be an opportunity out there which suits their skillsets.  

I would encourage them to join any STEM activities at school / college / uni and take part in any opportunity to have a mentor or work experience in the field.  

I also did a HNC course at college to allow me time to continue studying rather than immediately committing to a four-year university course. It gave me the opportunity to have discussions with as many people as I could within different areas of the sector, which allowed me to understand what I wanted my day-to-day life to look like. This made it easier to narrow down which field of engineering I wanted to study at uni. It might seem like a step back from uni at the time, but long term it gives you a great advantage to know what your end-goal is.  

In your free time, what are you happiest doing?  

My lockdown hobby has been playing tennis, it has been great for getting me outdoors and meeting new people. A bit of friendly competition has made exercising feel less like of a chore.

If you’re interested in a career at IGS and want to find out more about our current vacancies, please visit our website: https://www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com/careers.