"I’d say to any young woman, anything you want to do, anything you want to be, is possible. You have to put some grit and energy behind it, but it’s possible."

Idayat Salami has a simple message for any young woman, or indeed any woman, considering a career in engineering: “Go for it - there is nothing to get in the way of what you want to do.”

Idayat has built a fulfilling career in engineering on the foundations of study at Coventry University and employment at Jaguar Land Rover in Warwickshire. She has only fond memories of both and what she learned there, alongside her skills, determination and tenacity, has delivered a successful and rewarding career.

That career had its challenging moments, especially early on when she found herself in a tiny minority of women in the sector. But she seized the opportunities that came along – and happily those opportunities are now growing all the time for women in engineering.   

“If that is truly your interest, I would encourage all women to go for it,” said Idayat, who now works as a consultant with Credence Quality Consulting in London. “To all young women I would say there is nothing to get in the way of what you want to do. And it’s not just for the young, it’s never too late to make a pivot. If you are a bit more seasoned in your career and feel you want to make a switch, then go for it. There is nothing holding you back.

“The number of women in engineering is increasing. I go to SMEs and I’m seeing more and more women engineers. The ratio is still not where it needs to be but momentum is building.

“Growing up, there was no real encouragement for women to go into engineering. There was nothing at school but then I went to a programme at City University and there was a competition to build a load-bearing spaghetti bridge. I found that quite fascinating and decided to go into engineering.”

And where better to do that than Coventry and Warwickshire?

“I was accepted by several universities, including Imperial and University College London, but Coventry’s Formula Student programme fascinated me the most. I thought ‘this is where I am going to build a career and get some experience before going into the automotive field.’

“That’s exactly what happened. Coventry nurtured my interest really well and had close ties with JLR. I worked at quite a few companies, then joined JLR and that was amazing with the wealth of knowledge there. You can get your fingers into so many pies.

“I like a challenge. If I am coming into work every day and just doing the day-to-day process, it becomes mundane very quickly. I love variety – and the world of engineering is full of challenges and variety. I am now a consultant, working for a cluster of companies. With one I’m doing medical devices, helping them get their accreditation. With another I’m doing injection moulding parts. I’ve found my niche which is quality.”

Idayat has earned her success by long hours of knowledge-gathering and hard work – and showing the necessary resilience, especially early on.

“It was quite an intimidating scenario at uni,” she recalls. “My course had 300 mechanical and aerospace students and they put us together with automotive and in the 300 there were three girls. There was a perception that boys are good at maths and science and girls are good at the humanities and softer subjects. That’s just not the case, I’d say to any young woman, anything you want to do, anything you want to be, is possible. You have to put some grit and energy behind it, but it’s possible.

“I went back to Nigeria to attend secondary school and was getting 60% in Maths and some guys were getting As. My uncles and aunties said, ‘you’ve got the exact same brain capacity as those boys, so give it a go. So I kept practicing and starting coming first and second. If you put the work in, you’ll get results.”