Since high school, Project Engineer Connor Hindley knew he wanted a career that involved math and science. Now he’s a Project Engineer at Atmos, so we sat down to learn more about his experiences working for the world’s leading pipeline leak detection provider.
In this blog, Connor answers questions about:
- His journey to Atmos
- What his biggest achievement is to date
- What a typical day looks like and what he’s currently working on
- The three words he’d use to describe his role
- If he could switch jobs with someone, who it would be
- What he’d like to achieve in the next five years
- His biggest professional challenges
- Who he’d choose as his mentor if he could choose anyone
- What he likes most about his job
- What advice he’d give to recent new entrants
- If he could go back and speak with himself as a 16-year-old, what he’d tell himself
- His motto or personal mantra
- The blogs and websites he follows
- His favorite country to visit
What was your journey to Atmos?
Back at school maths and the sciences were always my favorite subjects. That naturally progressed into studying Chemical Engineering which encompasses all of these subjects. I studied at the University of Birmingham with a stint in Singapore for one year which I really enjoyed.
After I finished studying I wanted to continue in the engineering world and secured a role as a graduate Process Engineer which gave me great experience and exposure to a range of industries, including manufacturing, nuclear and R&D. This gave me firsthand experience in delivering projects from an operational side.
When I came into my role at Atmos, my operational experience was useful. Now I’m on the other side as a supplier and I’ve been here about three years now!
What is your biggest achievement to date – personal or professional?
It’d be one of my first projects when I was the lead project engineer during a short term theft detection trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As the lead project engineer, I was able to drive the project from a six week trial through to a service which is still ongoing and a success.
What does a typical day look like for you and what are you currently working on?
There’s a huge range of necessary tasks required for every project, all the way from building the system from our UK office to commissioning and testing it at the site location, so there isn’t really a typical day.
It can be anything from making technical documentation, system design and build, demonstrating system functionality to customers, producing customer training material, to configuring hardware. There are quite a few meetings involved too, but the large variation is one of the best things about the job.
At the moment I’m working on finalizing a few technical documents for a recently commissioned system and also on testing an operational optimization system for a water pipeline network which uses Atmos SIM.
What three words describe your role at Atmos?
Dynamic
Every project is different and comes with its own set of challenges which obviously then needs different approaches and adaptive solutions.
Broad
As Project Engineers, we’re involved at multiple points in the project lifecycle, so this requires knowledge that spans various fields. This can range from learning customs procedures when shipping hardware, to learning how to configure network settings on site servers. The role is broad and spans a wide range of topics and areas of expertise, but it keeps things interesting.
Teamwork
Working effectively together within our project teams and as a wider company is essential for making sure that we complete projects on time and to a high standard.
If you could switch jobs with someone, who would it be?
It’d be pretty cool doing the job of someone like David Attenborough because he’s travelled the whole world.
What would you like to achieve in the next five years at Atmos?
One thing I definitely want to do is to get my Engineering chartership and that’s something I’m working towards at the moment. Certifying my experience so far will be great for my career and for the company.
I also want to continue to develop more of a lead role on projects and keep taking on more responsibilities on larger projects as time goes on.
What are your biggest professional challenges?
As a company providing both hardware and software technologies, we always have to ensure that our systems are compatible with the latest industry technologies and protocols, and so this requires continuous learning. Cybersecurity and industrial standards are always developing too so that means we have to ensure all our systems are up to date in these areas.
Then there’s always the challenge of making sure projects are delivered to a high standard and as fast as possible.
If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
I’m fortunate that I have a lot of people in my family that I’ve been able to look up to who’ve all worked hard throughout their lives, and I’ve taken inspiration from them.
If you could go back and speak with the 16-year-old you, what would you tell yourself?
Don’t try and think too far into the future and make the most of where you are and the opportunities currently available to you.
What do you like most about your job?
One of the things that I enjoy the most is that we get to work with people and companies all around the world, even more so when we get the opportunity to travel and visit customer sites to carry out project milestone activities like training or system testing.
It's always nice to meet our customers in person because we typically spend a long time communicating with them via emails and calls.
I also find it really interesting learning about the engineering surrounding the design of the various pipeline systems that we supply our systems for.
What advice would you give to recent new entrants?
Don’t be afraid to ask your team members lots of questions. We’re all here to help and are happy to do so. There’s a good supportive culture here in that respect.
What is your motto or personal mantra?
Do what you’ve always done, get what you’ve always got.
To change something you have to be realistic about how you need to behave or change your behavior to achieve it.
What’s your favorite blog or website you follow?
LinkedIn is always good for keeping up to date with industry activities and technologies and so are the IET and IChemE sites.
What is your favorite place to visit?
Scotland. I try to go hiking in the Highlands a few times per year.
Another of my favorite places I’ve ever been to is Georgia because the scenery is stunning. Georgia’s probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited.
