My name is Shannon King– I started my apprenticeship with WES in 2017. Having spent most of my childhood helping my Dad fixing push bikes & tinkering with things, I‘d developed a real interest in how things operate and how they can be fixed – hence starting my career in engineering. I live in a village called Oakley just outside of Basingstoke, having grown up in the area also. Outside of work, I enjoy playing football for Basingstoke women’s team who I recently joined- although football is not new to me as I’ve been playing since I was 4 years old. I have a 1-year-old dog called Odin who is a Dogue De Bordeaux cross Rottweiler – he’s a big lad and needs a lot of training. On his hind legs he’s taller than me (but that’s not difficult being only 5’5).
My role with WES is as a workshop supervisor. This involves both mechanical & electrical work, including interpretation of drawings, plastic & metal welding, fabrication & assembly of pipework, installation of cables & controls and many other tasks associated with our workshop activity. I have recently been seconded into the role of workshop supervisor which is a whole new experience for me – that I am thoroughly enjoying. This involves work planning & scheduling, progress reporting, providing operational support to the wider business and participating in project design reviews.
Being new to the supervisory role, I particularly enjoy learning new aspects of the job and find it exciting when new challenges hit me. As I’m the only female in the workshop I particularly like keeping the boys in check by “bossing” them around!! I enjoy being part of such a good team – this makes work so much more enjoyable when everyone gets along and are on the same page. I really enjoy the mix of “hands-on” work and the additional supervisory duties I am now undertaking. I particularly like being given the responsibility for building an exciting new project – this gets my brain ticking!
Whilst every day is different for me, the main aim is to maintain productivity & efficiency. A typical day is generally a “hands-on” activity – building dosing rigs. In addition, I might attend a design review, deliver a morning “huddle” with the workshop team, plan future workload & assign resources, train or coach members of the team on workshop techniques and engage with project managers and office staff.
My least favourite part of working for WES is the walk that needs to be done between the 2 units I personally think there should be a buggy parked outside to transport the team – after all 25 metres is quite a struggle!!
My favourite thing about working at WES is the problem-solving, I like being able to have the knowledge and to pass that on to the team when they need help. It gives me great pride that I have been seconded into a supervisory role only after 3 years of being fully qualified – I’m grateful for the support I’ve had from the WES management team and ongoing training opportunities.