Why did you choose to work in acoustics?
At school I was passionate about science and loved performing music. I stumbled across acoustics when looking at different engineering degrees and thought it combined my interests. Whilst studying acoustics, I quickly realised the diverse array of career options available.
What is your job?
I work in Personal Care (the Dyson team that brought you the Supersonic hairdryer and Airwrap)
What do you do on a typical workday?
Every day is different, which is great! In a typical week I’ll be doing a day of testing in the semi-anechoic, catching up with design engineers to discuss projects, having a team meeting to discuss what we’re all up to and to provide support to each other, some coding and finally acoustics simulations for projects.
What is most challenging about your job?
Being the first to do things can be a challenge as there is no simple answer! There’s always lots to learn and explore, but that also makes my job exciting. It’s satisfying when you get to develop something new.
What are the most important and personal qualities skills to have in your job?
Having a good technical background is important but so is the ability to communicate concepts clearly. To help improve our designs I work alongside different types of people, sharing my ideas and expertise. Good enthusiasm helps to keep people motivated and excited about new ideas.
How does your work make a difference to peoples’ lives?
Our products can be bought by people all over the world! We want to solve problems in a clever way, ensuring a quality experience for our users and great sounding products.
What route did you take to get into acoustics?
Music (AS Level); Physics, Maths, Chemistry (A Level); General Engineering at Durham University; Acoustics at Salford University
What advice would you give a young person who was considering acoustics as a future career?
You’ll need to study at least Maths and Physics at School / College. There’s lots of information and videos online, have a look and see which areas of acoustics appeal to you most. Various career paths are available, there’s no right answer e.g. apprenticeship, diploma, degree. The Institute of Acoustics has various free talks and a career guide available, you can sign up as a student for free!
What do you want to do next in your career?
I’m still pretty new to Dyson, having worked previously at Arup Acoustics for 3 years. At the moment I’m wanting to improve my acoustics knowledge of products and gain experience working on different projects. I’d like to get more involved with STEM volunteering and maybe in the future I’ll lead my own team (see what happens!).
What do you like doing in your spare time?
I play saxophone in a 9-piece funk band in Bristol, play ultimate Frisbee in a local team and enjoy going to gigs / theatre shows.