STG Bright Lights Series: Megan King
In this new series, we’ll be showcasing some of our employees and their experience here at STG Aerospace. To kick off the series we talked to Megan King, one of our Junior Designers.
In a nutshell, tell us a little about your career journey before joining STG.
It’s a short journey as I joined STG right after graduating from University with an Industrial Design degree. In that time I did a placement year, where I was able to get hands-on experience in the industry which was amazing. I worked in a transport company that manufactured signage and I helped with the design aspects. After graduating I moved to Cardiff, and have been here at STG for ten months now.
What made you choose the aerospace manufacturing industry?
I think the aerospace industry is great for me as I start my career, because there’s a lot of room to grow and career development to work towards. The industry has a lot of strict rules to follow, such as safety regulations, which is great for my learning style and getting the basics in place to develop my skills and knowledge. My placement at university was in the transport manufacturing industry too, so it’s always been an area of interest for me.
What’s it like being a junior designer at STG?
My role mainly focuses around product development and supporting the sales team with customer inquiries and information. From researching and developing new ideas, to seeing the product manufactured – it’s very exciting to see! An aspect of this job I have really enjoyed so far is being able to see the product through its entire life cycle and even after it’s launched to market, you can still get involved with the technical questions for customers.
What’s your team like?
We are the R&D photoluminescent team, who are responsible for the development of our emergency exit marking systems. Sean, our Business Unit Director, leads a team of five people. So there's me, I'm the junior designer and then Rhian the lead designer is directly above me, Andy (Senior Research & Development Scientist) is more research focused. Then Kevin and Elliot handle the certifications. I really enjoy working with everyone in the team and seeing how everyone’s individual roles contribute to the wider product development.
What's been your favourite moment of working at STG so far?
I’ve really enjoyed the big projects I’ve been a part of, over the past few months. One in particular, was the set-up of the new printer we purchased to increase our capacity. Working with the production team to match all of our existing colour palette and ensure that the new printer can be used for manufacture moving forward. It started early into my time at STG and was a big responsibility. I learnt a lot but it was really nice to see all the effort I’d put in, pay off.
What’s something you’ve learnt?
I’ve learnt so much over the past few months, but something that has stuck out is communication. We’re a small company but we’ve got massive mindsets. With so many incredible customers, it’s important for us to communicate with each other across the company to ensure all our projects are successful.
What is unique about STG?
I love that we do all our testing in house.
A lot of companies will outsource their testing and lab work, but being able to develop the product, take it to the lab and work on the adjustments at every stage is amazing. Not only does it allow for us to ensure quality and standards are maintained throughout the whole process, but also gives us the ability to customise and create bespoke offerings in-house.
Why would you recommend working at STG?
I'd recommend working here to someone of my age, just beginning their career, because there are so many career development opportunities. STG really invests in you as a person. There’s a lot of room to grow and train, with training budgets and opportunities. I think a lot of companies want you to do your job and that’s it, but STG encourages you to develop your career with them which is really nice, especially for someone at the start of their career.
Who inspires you?
My Director, Sean. In the corporate world, I think we expect our managers and people at the top to be quite closed off, but Sean is really open and friendly. His attitude creates a really open working environment, where I feel I can ask questions and really get stuck into learning things at every level.
What’s the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
I would say confidence. You have to know what you’re doing and be able to back yourself when asked. Due to the nature of our work, everything has to be done very carefully, so you have to take accountability for what you are doing. You can’t shy away from making decisions, so confidence is definitely key to growing and learning here.
If you are interested in joining the STG Aerospace team, see our available roles here.