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Ashlyn Ross is one of many young women forging a career in engineering with Thales. She switched to an apprenticeship after deciding that university wasn’t the right fit for her, opting instead to choose a more practical education. 

Engineering was always on Ashlyn’s mind. At sixth form she applied to Loughborough University to study aviation, driven by her fascination for airplanes and airports. Six months in however, she decided she was more suited to ‘learning on the job’, and chose to do something more hands on in the journey toward her chosen career. She joined Thales through its partnership with The Prince’s Trust, a UK-based charity that helps youngster find employment.

For the last nine months Ashlyn has been working at Thales, experiencing a unique insight into the world of engineering. She is currently assigned to the Connect telecoms team, but the flexibility of the apprenticeship means that she and her peers are able to move around the organisation, working within different teams. Ashlyn has just completed a course on signalling. 

She said: ‘I think I just knew that engineering was my thing since I was little, I’ve always had a passion for trains and planes ever since my mum took me on weekly trips doing train adventures.’ With this attitude and encouragement from her friends and family, Ashlyn was determined to make it happen. 

On her current apprenticeship intake, there are seven men and two women and the environment encourages new recruits to thrive and grow professionally. Ashlyn has seen first-hand the mix of people from all genders and backgrounds working at Thales. On each placement she’s taken up, there has been a good balance of male and female engineers, including the offices where she is working now.

Ashlyn said, 

Engineering is still seen by some as a ‘traditional male role’. ‘[Women] know it’s a male dominated sector. But when you’re actually in the environment it’s completely different. 

She believes that exposure at an early age to a  career in engineering, and an explanation of the benefits of an apprenticeship as opposed to university, will go a long way to attracting more women into the sector.

Working at Thales has broadened Ashlyn’s horizons, and shown her that there are many areas of the profession that can be challenging, interesting, and fun. Her love for anything that flies still remains, after her three-year apprenticeship is over she would like to become a rail signalling engineer – but if not, there is still the option to go back to avionics.

‘My journey so far at Thales has been amazing, and I’ve got to work on different projects and with different customers. In the future I can look to go national and international with Thales - Manchester, Canada or South Africa, anywhere around the world. So hopefully I can go international with this and seek many opportunities.’

We’re proud that at Thales we can foster people’s energy and give people like Ashlyn a platform to grow, encouraging awareness of the benefits of a career in engineering and what the sector can offer for their future. 

Ashlyn and Thales are keeping London safe, secure and on the move.