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In our latest careers interview blog, Maryam Qureshi tells us about how she uses 3D printing in her current role and about the career path that has led her into her current position.
Maryam currently works in the Technology sector as an Application Engineer for Hewlett-Packard Inc.
About Your Education
What subject areas/qualifications did you study for?
BEng in Mechanical Engineering
A levels in Maths, Physics, IT, Government & politics, and an AS level in Art
Did you have to undertake any further training during your career in order to progress into your current role?
Job specific training, e.g. use of 3D software but no formal qualifications etc
About Your Career
Tell us a little bit about your career leading up to your current role?
After completing my BEng I went to Worcester university to do a PGCE in secondary physics but left near the end of the course to go and teach in Saudi Arabia with the intention on coming back and completing the course. However this didn’t happen as I was offered an Engineering job on my return from Saudi.
I then worked for a company doing 2D CAD services for 6 months before deciding to merge my part time Sales skills with my Engineering skills and go in to technical sales.
I worked for Thermal Energy International for 4 years as Sales Engineer. They are a small engineering firm who specialise in industrial energy reduction solutions. Focusing on heat recovery from steam and hot water systems.
I was approached by HP Inc on LinkedIn for the current position I work in. I had no prior experience in 3D but my passion and enthusiasm came across in the interview and so I was offered the position.
About Your Current Role
Briefly describe your current role, what do you do?
I am a 3D Application Engineer and work specifically with HP’s Multi jet Fusion technology. I work directly with customer to assess their current manufacturing limitations and help find bespoke and cost effective solutions to their problems. I help implement the MJF solution in to my customers businesses and get to play with interesting 3D printed parts every day.
What skills do you need for your role?
Technical, IT, sales, communication skills both in person and over the phone, CAD experience, time management and a drivers licence.
What do you enjoy about your role?
I love that my role is so varied and allows me to travel all over the world on a regular basis. I meet different companies every day with all sorts of parts and uses for the MJF printer. This allows me to learn about a broad range of industries and processes which expands my knowledge of manufacturing. I love that no two days are ever the same. I could not do a 9am-5pm office job every day.
What salary range can you expect to achieve in this role?
£35k-£50k depending on level of experience. There are obviously also positions that allow job progression and so the incentive for a higher pay in a different role as your experience increases.
Do you have any further career aspirations or plans?
I would love to open up my own business one day. I am very interested in design- in specific furniture design and so want to learn as much as I can about the industry through my current role. Within HP, I want to progress my role into more of an Account manager role as this is the natural progression for my role.
About 3D Printing
What benefits does the use of 3D Printing bring to your role and/or organisation?
My role wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for 3D printing. Within HP, 3D printing is changing the way machines are designed and manufactured. 50% of the plastic parts within HP’s 3D printer are printed by HP. Basically the printer is printing itself!
How do you feel the future of your industry will benefit from 3D Printing?
AM allows you to design complex parts with multiple functions. Traditionally these types of parts would have to be created in multiple pieces and assembled. This is costly and time consuming. With AM this is removed giving a huge advantage over the traditional model and allowing AM to be a very compelling business case against manufacturing methods like injection moulding and machining.
Overall you get a much better designed part, with combined functions at a cheaper cost per part.
How can our education system best prepare our young people for job roles of the future in your field?
There need to be better education on teaching how to design for additive manufacturing. In all manufacturing methods there are constraints and so designers have become very good at working around the constraints to get a good quality part. Additive has little to no constraints and so in theory should be easier to design for. In reality though, designers are not used to the idea of no constraints and so they find it very difficult to design for AM.
Finally…
What advice would you offer to students that may be interested in pursuing a career in this field?
This is such a cool and interesting industry to work in. every day this sector changes as there are so many new people adopting and utilising 3D printing. Though it has been around for 30 years the industry is expanding and new technologies are coming out every year. Not to mention the 4th industrial revolution as additive manufacturing starts to replace traditional processes. We really need new fresh minds!
The CREATE Education Project would like to thank Maryam for sharing the details of her career with us.