Bringing value to the world

After attending the University of York to study electronic and computer engineering, Cezara-Lidia found her calling. While on a placement year at university, where she did an integrated master’s, she completed a year at Sellafield Ltd as a CE&I design engineer working on control systems replacement at a nuclear waste storage plant.

Passionate about her work, she returned as a graduate to Sellafield, where she has thrived over the past two years. During this time, Cezara-Lidia embraced three secondments, allowing her to diversify her experience across various projects.

One of these assignments was serving as a systems engineer for nuclear waste encapsulation plants, where she took charge of delivering system health reports for all fire systems within her designated area.

Sellafield is part of an accredited scheme in partnership with the IET that helps its employees achieve professional registration. Cezara-Lidia utilised this scheme with the support of her employer and us, which enabled her to embark on the path to achieving her engineering technician (EngTech) title and reach her full potential. “I was encouraged by Sellafield to submit an EngTech application, which gave me the opportunity to get recognised for my work and be proud of my achievements so early in my career.”

Cezara-Lidia knew and valued the importance of receiving a professionally registered title, so she reached out to a professional registration adviser (PRA) and built a strong support network to help her write her application.
Once she had gathered a strong amount of evidence for her application – which included her work on control systems, requirements capture, design work, volunteering, continuing professional development (CPD), system assessments, and training – she then used our online tool, Career Manager, to track her professional development, experience and skills against the UK-SPEC competencies.

“I love Career Manager – the UX is pleasant, and the UI is straightforward and simple to use, to the point,” she says.

Unfortunately, Cezara- Lidias’s first application came back upon her submission, but that did not discourage her from applying again. It just meant that she needed to add a little more information to solidify her application. “It was easily completed through a UK-SPEC self-assessment on Career Manager and the IET was really supportive in guiding me through that.”

Once Cezara-Lidia had re-submitted her application, it was successful, giving her the professional registration title of EngTech. “It’s such a wonderful feeling reaching the end goal and getting that certificate!”

Now that Cezara-Lidia’s expertise is acknowledged and endorsed globally by the Engineering Council and the IET, it has bolstered her self-assurance and reinvigorated her commitment to continuous improvement. “Success in my career is doing work that I can be proud of and brings value to the world.”

With her new title, Cezara-Lidia has set her sights on achieving other professionally registered titles and plans on applying for incorporated engineer (IEng).

In the meantime, she is giving back to the engineering community as a STEM volunteer and has just been paired with a mentee. “It’s also important for myself, as it gives me confidence.”

Cezara-Lidia shares her top tips for anyone else who is looking to apply:

Contact a PRA: “I got a lot of help from my manager, mentor and local PRA.”

Get a mentor: “A good mentor is important, as you will go back and forth drafting the application with them.”

Utilise Career Manager: “I like having everything in one place.”

Keep up with your CPD: “It’s what keeps me engaged with what’s new in the industry.”