PE Propulsion Graduate Jaime Fowler tells us more about how the supportive culture in her team enables her to grow as an engineer.
‘I started my career journey on the Engineering Education Scheme, and after doing a year’s placement at a competitor, I joined the Women in Engineering programme at Jaguar Land Rover. After completing this programme, I returned to the graduate scheme – and now I’m in my second year.
Throughout my time with the company, I have been in Powertrain – with the same very supportive team and manager – specialising in fluids. As part of the graduate scheme, I do two six-month placements away from my team. I’m currently working in Engineering Sustainability – looking at the impact of a vehicle through its lifecycle. It brings a very different perspective to my role and I’m learning a lot from the experts in the team. When I return to Powertrain, I’ll be able to bring my learnings back to the team.
Powertrain has evolved from being all about engines – today there is an emphasis on Batteries and Electric Drive Units (EDUs). The team I work in is hugely flexible – moving forward with new components and the software required for them. I have learned different Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, to ensure we are using the best software for the task at hand.
My role in Powertrain allows me to be creative and I’m given time to model solutions, test them, and write out instructions on how to deploy them. I enjoy this as I can think creatively. I am constantly learning and improving the process as I go along.
I enjoy the problem-solving element of what I do. I am not massively into cars but enjoy working towards improvements in the virtual side of the development process. My advice to anyone looking to join Powertrain is to be open to opportunities. I wasn’t a huge fan of software at uni – but Jaguar Land Rover has given me space and time to learn on the job – and, because of this, I’ve found a job that I enjoy.’
To find out more about current opportunities in the Powertrain team click here.
