Following a busy 2022, we have expanded the team by welcoming Design Development Engineer, Elena Slobodyuk. This week, Elena shares an introduction to herself as well as what she’s been up to in her first couple of weeks at Haughton Design.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed drawing and maths. As I got older, I realised that a career in engineering was the perfect path to combine the two areas. After gaining a degree in Product Design and Technology, from Loughborough University, I pursued a career as a design engineer. Over the last 5 years, I’ve had the chance to work for some amazing companies and continued to develop my skills, most recently at a company designing bespoke prosthetic limbs.
As a child, I thought engineers fixed cars. As I grew up, I reimagined it as a very male dominated and tough industry. Now, I realise it’s both. But more than that it’s rewarding, hugely diverse, collaborative and super interesting. I get to work on so many varied projects and develop the skills I’m interested in. It’s a sector that really benefits from diverse opinions, viewpoints and personal experiences so it’s great to see that more women are choosing a career in engineering.
We are proud that Elena joining brings the average number of females in HD’s team above the average at 29% – something that we hope to continue building on!
The advice I would give to people wanting to pursue engineering would be to do your research of the sector. There are so many different paths you can go down so if you’ve ever even considered it, I can almost guarantee that there is an engineering job out there that you will love.
I love seeing the process through from start to finish. Watching something transform from a simple sketch to a physical product is really exciting. I enjoy problem solving along the way and getting to a final product knowing that it will be used in the real world, having started as just an idea in my head.
To be able to do all of that within the medical industry has always been my goal. I thrive off projects that are focused on people and even more so when we can work with users to create solutions. The medical industry is heavily focused on people and so it really motivates me to know that the products I’m working on could make a real difference to someone’s life.
I was really interested in the diversity of the projects at HD and their approach to working on every stage of the product development process in detail. It was clear that they’re very experienced in what they do, and it seemed like a place I could really build on my current knowledge/skills as well as develop new ones. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into various projects!
Great, I’ve got straight into some design work! Alongside lots of training to get me settled in and started, I’ve been working on a drug-delivery project in the early stages of development and that focuses on sustainability. The team have been super helpful and it’s great to be able to pull on their different areas of knowledge and years of experience. There’s a real collaborative approach to solving problems as well as getting everyone trained up on the latest product development tools, trends, regulations and processes.
I love doing anything crafty like painting, knitting and general home DIY projects. If I’m not at home, I’m most likely out walking my greyhound with friends or family.
Elena graduated from Loughborough University in 2017 with a degree in Product Design and Technology. Since, she has worked as a Design Engineer working at a consultancy designing children’s car seats before working as a designer and product lead at a start-up where she oversaw product development from concept to manufacturing of prosthetic limbs, with a heavy emphasis on user-centred design and human factors in addition to involvement with business development activities to grow the company.
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