Spotlight on Company Member Representatives: Tamara Stafford

In our ongoing series of case studies, Jordanne Allsopp, IGEM’s Marketing Communications Co-ordinator is chatting to our members. Tamara Stafford, Engineering Trainee at Fox Hill Projects and IGEM Company Member Representative gives us the details on her career.

Tamara only began her career in the industry a few short years ago but she is already making plans to cement her future.

Before joining the gas industry, Tamara felt inspired by the engineering teachers at her school as they were all women. She said: “It helped me see that engineering wasn’t just for men. I developed more of an interest for the subject in their classes, while empowering me to become a woman in engineering.”

This led her into working at Fox Hill Projects part time alongside studying for her A Levels. Although she had exams to prepare for, she said that starting her career was fun and it allowed her to focus on something else besides constant revision.

At Fox Hill, she initially worked on pipeline designs as a Trainee Mechanical Engineer, later progressing to stress analysis which she specialises in today.

During her time at Fox Hill Projects, Tamara has been through multiple training courses and worked in different disciplines for a variety of projects. These include assisting with using 3D laser scanning as an alternative to topographical surveys, using a computing drawing systems to import the couldworx points. She believes this led to a much more efficient and accurate process for her design work.

Tamara is very much looking forward to what the future holds for her career. She said: “My future goals are to progress with stress analysis and design work, but I am very keen to learn.

“I mostly enjoy maths and physics-based projects, but I’m not fixed to this, as it’s best to have an open mind to new work. As I continue to study part time, in the next three years I’d like to have completed BEng in Mechanical Engineering.”

IGEM has helped guide Tamara through her career to date through our Gas International (Gi) journal. When she first started working at Fox Hill, she would read Gi to enhance her knowledge and source courses.

She said: “I became an IGEM member very early on, as it’s a great way to keep up to date with the industry. For anyone wanting to expand their learning, it’s beneficial to become a member for their events and training courses.”

Tamara also praises the opportunities that the Young Persons Network (YPN) has offered her. She said: “I’ve attended a couple of tours and events with the YPN, it’s lovely meeting new people in similar roles to myself. IGEM also provide great access to a network of expertise and technical support.”

On the future of gas, Tamara thinks that schools need to inform their students about the industry and the opportunities available to them on a bigger scale. Although she was fortunate enough to be introduced at a young age, she thinks that the positives of the industry need to be portrayed in schools.

She said: “I think promoting green projects in schools and educational facilities would encourage more people into the sector. Also, using STEM networks to show the range of roles and experiences that working in the gas industry provides.

“The gas industry is increasingly becoming more diverse, there’s a lot of opportunities for both young people and women.”