Profile
Ayla Cooper
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About Me:
I am a 27 year old Civil Engineer originally from Scotland, now living in Lincoln. I am a scout leader, avid crafter and new dog mum.
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My name is Ayla and I live in Lincoln with my boyfriend and our 1 year old puppy George.
I am originally from Scotland but we moved down to Lincoln in 2019 and I was luckily able to transfer my job from the Glasgow office to the Sheffield office.
Outside of work you will find me either doing a craft project, volunteering as a scout leader or playing the sims.
homemade christmas crackers!
homemade face mask!
Blair Athol Scout Camp – 2018
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My Work:
I am a civil engineer in the geotechnical team. I work on jobs related to the ground beneath your feet. I have designed dams to collect drinking water, foundations beneath buildings and slopes that motorways and railways sit on.
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I studied a Masters of Civil Engineering at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.
In the summer between my 4th and 5th year I was lucky to be offered a summer placement at Mott MacDonald working in the Water Team.
Over 8 weeks I worked in the water team ranging from reprofiling rivers, reservoir design, water treatment works and looking at drainage for new housing developments. It was really interesting to be part of this team and to learn about how much work goes into getting clean water from the sky to your pipes!
Following graduation I started my big girls job in the geotechnical team in the Glasgow office. What I find so interesting about geotechnics is the chance to work on different projects everyday as everything civil engineers do have an element of geotechnics in them!
At the start of a development the client will come to us and say ‘I want you to build me a new hospital on this plot of land’.
The first thing we will do is have a look online and do a desk study to identify anything that might cause us problems in building here. We will look at the ground and see if its strong enough to build on and also look at old maps and see if the land might be contaminated by nasty pollutants (unfortunately our ancestors weren’t as environmentally friendly as we are these days!).
Once we’ve had a look online it’s time to design a ground investigation. This is when we will do some surveys to find out the ground composition underneath our new hospital. We want to know if the ground is soft – our hospital might sink! We can do lots of different types on investigations; we can use a digger to dig out a rectangle into the ground and see what the ground looks like. Or we can use a big drill and drill into the ground to get a core sample of what it might look like (think piercing a straw into a slice of cake and getting a cylinder of cake, except the cake is soil!).
Can you see the two different layers of soil in the pit??
Now we know how strong or weak the ground beneath our hospital is, we can design the foundation to make sure our hospital doesn’t wobble, sink or lean like the Leaning Tower of Piza!
Geotechnical engineering isn’t just about the ground beneath buildings; we also design flood walls to make cities safe from flooding, we help to design new railways and roads to help people get where they need to go and so many different projects!
I have been working as a civil engineer in the geotechnical team for 3 and a half years and I am really enjoying the variability, the chance to keep learning and the chance to design and make my mark on the world.
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My Typical Day:
Currently working from home so I log on at 9am, check my emails & my to-do list. My work day is always different depending on the project that I am working on that day! In general though it can range from report writing, checking other team members reports, reviewing ground investigation information, analysis of testing results and using different software’s to design slopes and foundations.
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I have been working from home and unfortunately had to give up some of my craft room so it can get quite messy and distracting! Especially with a doggo around!!
Today I had a catch up meeting with our client where we discussed a few railways projects that we are working on at the moment. Once the meeting was over I started checking a report that one of my team members had written about the redevelopment of a train station in the North East. Once I had checked that I updated a ground investigation specification that I had written before but since we issued it to the client we received some more information that has highlighted part of the railway track is bumpy and affecting the trains!
The most interesting thing about geotech is how different every day can be! Next week I am going to be out on site in Leeds supervising a ground investigation !
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I am going to use the money to design kits to help scout groups run STEM evenings!
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Education:
Paisley Grammar School 2005 – 2011, Stow College HNC Civil Engineering 2011-2012, Heriot Watt University MEng Civil Engineering 2012-2017
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Qualifications:
Highers; Graphic Communication – A, Physics – B, Maths – C, English – C, Business Management – C. HNC Civil Engineering – A. Masters of Civil Engineering 2:1
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Work History:
My first job was working in River Island while I was at school. Whilst at university I started working in Asda at the weekends on the checkouts. When I finished uni I started working as a Graduate Civil Engineer at Mott MacDonald.
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Current Job:
Civil Engineer
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
crafting civil engineer
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wanted to be an Architect but after a weeks work experience, I found it pretty boring :| Civil engineering is much more interesting!!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I talk wayyyyyy too much so there may have been a few punishment exercises!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Not quite a singer or band but I cant stop listening to the classical pop music playlist on spotify!
What's your favourite food?
TACOS all day every day!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1 - I would wish for me and my dog to have our own language so I would know what he wants when he whines. 2 - I would wish for all my bills to be paid forever so I could use my pay to buy fun things instead of boring adult bills! 3 - I would wish for my family & friends to live closer :)
Tell us a joke.
What type of cheese is made backwards? Edam (ps I know it's bad but I love cheese jokes)
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