Judy Chan

NAME Judy Chan
JOB Graduate engineer
AREA OF WORK Highways
EMPLOYER Halcrow Group Ltd
QUALIFICATIONS BEng civil engineering, University of Strathclyde

After attending a ‘women in construction’ event as a sixth former I knew I wanted to be a civil engineer. I completed a 13-week placement with my current employer the summer before I graduated, contributing to a project proposed by Transport Scotland. This was a great introduction to my current role.

On rotation

I now work in Halcrow’s transportation business, which has different divisions including highways, bridges, rail and geotechnics. I joined as a graduate engineer in highways, before starting a six-month rotation in bridges. In the highways team, I completed an ‘accessibility audit’, which involved testing data against census information, and checked drainage system designs on the M74.

‘I am on a rotation scheme inside my employer’s transportation business.’

As part of the transportation business, I carry out checks on drawings, make alterations to completed designs and manage my own projects. Everyone in the group works as a single team. We’re based in open-plan offices in Glasgow, where there are no divisions between graduate engineers and directors.

Plotting my future

Over the next few years I’d like to enroll on a part-time masters course to achieve the further learning requirement for chartership, and also to experience working in another country.