Skies Above Britain TV show puts the spotlight on our air traffic controllers, but what it doesn’t show you is the army of very talented engineers whose job it is to make sure the technology our controllers rely on is in full working order.

Although Scottish schools are back in session, this week hundreds of school children are taking a field trip to an airport to learn all about the importance of Science, Technology, English and Maths at the Scottish Airshow STEM event.

My colleagues have discussed how they became engineers with NATS and the importance of women in engineering. However, professional development is important for everyone and is encouraged by NATS. To be awarded a Fellowship by the IET is a tremendous personal achievement.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) are embedded within the skills of people at NATS and keep our operation ticking.

How much do you know about NATS? NATS is an exciting place to work and showing people the opportunities we offer and profiling the expertise and dedication of our people makes our annual Careers Open Day an important date in the diaries of my team. This year the date is Wednesday 9th December 2015, from 18:00 to 21:00.

As students everywhere are returning to, or starting, university or college, they’ll be taking the first steps on their career ladder. For planning placement years, organising apprenticeships or looking for work as graduates there are lots of options out there.

The opportunities for engineers, especially at NATS, are fantastic and you don’t get pigeon-holed into a particular niche, so you should not get bored.

National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) was set up to raise the profile and celebrate the achievements of women in engineering. Our blog series “women in engineering” has featured several of our female engineers over the last year. Today, for NWED, we look at another of our female engineers, Fiona McCluskey, NATS’ Duty Engineering Officer (DEO) based at Aberdeen Airport.

Engineers can imagine too! As we begin to deploy more SESAR air traffic management technologies and concepts, we are also imagining how we could further improve our services – now and in the future.

Following the launch of our new Engineering Apprenticeship programme it seemed an opportune time to feature another article in our women in engineering series to encourage potential apprentices from both genders to apply before the deadline at the end of March. This one is from Katie Butler, Project Manager in Services and Infrastructure with NATS.