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Josh Williams

Josh Williams has always preferred subjects where he could have definitive answers as it suited his learning style as a dyslexic. With the support of the PREM team, Josh was able to change his IEng application to a CEng application.

Product Implementation Engineer Josh Williams BEng MIET CEng works for the Financial Services business unit at Symphony AI. In his role, he focuses on speaking with EMEA based teams, starting various virtual machines/environments ready for testing development tasks and configures back-end modules for customer deployments of anti-money laundering (AML) software.

Starting out in high school, Josh discovered that he “preferred subjects where there were definitive answers to questions as opposed to room for interpretation, since this suited my learning style as a dyslexic”. Josh enjoyed maths, physics and German at A-Level.

Josh went on to graduate with a BEng Systems Engineering degree in 2014. With his new qualification, he worked at BAE Systems Defence.

“I was attracted to the work hard, play hard lifestyle of the armed forces which led me to find a job in the defence industry”.

Now Josh has transferred his skills and moved to the Financial Services business unit and relocated to Washington D.C.

Building Confidence on the road to CEng

Josh first became aware of Professional Registration and the IET when he worked with an IET Engineering Fellow during his internship. “They encouraged me to start recording a diary of my personal contributions to projects so that I could use this as the basis for my application”.

Five years later, Josh began drafting an application to become an Incorporated Engineer (IEng) but he continued to struggle with motivation, “I also doubted my experience and answers would be sufficient”.

“However, after about 8 years of professional engineering work experience, I felt more confident about the depth of my skills and experience.” Josh renewed his IET Membership and migrated his unfinished IEng application to a drafted CEng application.

Support available from the PREM Team

Before he submitted his draft application, Josh received an email from the Professional Registration Engagement Team, who offered him support and found him a Professional Registration Advisor (PRA).

“Under Lucy Byrne’s guidance, I became more confident using the “STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach to tease out my personal contributions. She confirmed that my application was ready to go to the next phase and then helped me find a Professional Registration Advisor”.

“I worked with a PRA to finalise my application which was submitted in September 2022. My interview was initially scheduled for April 2023 but was rescheduled to June 2023. I was awarded CEng a few weeks after my interview in in June 2023”

Achieving Chartered Engineer (CEng)

Once Josh received his interview date, he became very nervous, “I think many candidates experience forms of anxiety, especially just before and during the interview”.

Now that Josh has received his CEng title, he wanted to share a tip he discovered going through the process, “whilst it’s important to take the process seriously, it is just as important to enjoy the process. Being well prepared and reciting your presentation in a mirror, will also help your confidence during the interview”.

Becoming a Chartered Engineer has helped Josh receive trust in his capabilities as an engineer. “Becoming a CEng demonstrated to my current and prospective colleagues that I have met a standard of engineering competency that they can trust”.

He has also discovered new professional relationships due to the IET’s network, “the CEng title provides a stable foundation on which to build professional engineering relationships”.

Useful resources

The IET has a wealth of useful resources to help you on your journey to Professional Registration and Josh wanted to share some key resources to others considering starting their application.  

“Be sure to use all of the resources available to you”: