Profile
Samantha Riddell
Curriculum Vitae
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Education:
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls & University of Exeter
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Qualifications:
12 GCSEs, AS Human Biology, A Level Maths, Chemistry & Physics. I then went to University and have a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
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Work History:
Activity Leader
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Current Job:
Applications Engineer
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Employer
Renishaw
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I live in Bristol with my two lovely housemates and lots of houseplants. I studied Mechanical Engineering at University and now work as an Applications Engineer for a Metrology company. In my spare time I like to keep active by doing Hot Yoga and Karate (I’m a black belt).
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How I Use Maths In My Job:
I am an engineer which means I use a lot of maths in my day to day job.
The main part of my job is measurement (but we use a machine, not a really precise ruler) and measure in a unit of measurement called microns which is 1/1000 of a millimetre. A human hair is around 75 microns, so are machines are very precise.
Angles are a very important part of programming our machines so I use a lot of trigonometry and vectors. I have to look at a lot of drawings of parts which takes number and geometry knowledge.
I gather a lot of data in my job so spend a lot of time making graphs, we normally use scatter or line graphs for our data. From these graphs we use values such as range, mean and standard deviation to check our results.
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My Work
Applications Engineer - I use maths to solve manufacturing problems.
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I’m an Applications Engineer for a Metrology company. Metrology is the science of measurement. The main purpose of my job is to make sure that parts that have been manufactured are the correct size. This helps companies reduce their wastage which saves them money and is good for the environment – less scrap.
The machines that I work with go on the shop floor of a manufacturing plant and can be automated to work with a robot arm to put the parts on and take the parts off. Robots are really useful for this job as they are fast and good at doing repetitive jobs.
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My Typical Day
I start work at 7am, say hi to my colleagues and check my emails. Every day is different but I may be writing some code, analysing some data or running some tests. I may even have to go to a different site to sort out some problems there. Because we start so early, I also leave early, around 4pm.
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05:30 – My alarm goes off, I’m probably running late for my liftshare with some of my workmates.
07:00 – I get to work, say hi to my colleagues, grab a green tea and check my emails. I work on a big engineering site with around 1,500 people.
08:00 – I might have some data from tests to look at. I analyse the data in Excel or Python and we look at repeatability and the range of our values to see if we are happy with our results.
09:00 – We often have a team meeting about a new software release or a project that we are working on.
10:00 – I go down to our lab to check on my machines. It’s one of my colleagues’ birthdays and they’ve brought in cake – amazing.
12:00 – I have lunch with some of my friends from my grad scheme, we always do a lunchtime walk around the grounds – it’s important to get some fresh air and time away from screens.
13:00 – I might have a call from someone who runs one of our machines saying they have a problem. I get them to break down the problem for me and help them to fix it, this may involve speaking to one of our Software or Mechanical Engineers.
15:00 – If I have a test to run overnight I set any machines I need running so I can collect data the next morning.
15:45 – I meet my liftshare and we drive home and chat about our days or sing along to some music in the car!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Enthusiastic, Analytical, Adventurous
What or who inspired you to follow your career?
My family, we have a lot of scientists in our family.
What's your favourite use for maths in everyday life?
GPS - I wouldn't be able to get anywhere without Google Maps.
What did you think about Maths when you were in school?
I've always had really inspiring maths teachers so I really enjoyed maths in school.
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
A yoga teacher
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Beyonce
What's your favourite food?
Cake
What is the most fun thing you've done?
Travelled around Brazil
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a dinosaur with no eyes? Doyouthinkysaraus
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