• Question: are your working hours flexible? (e.g could you take your work home with you?)

    Asked by bondoh5057 to Jamie, Kristen, Sheun, Simon, Will on 24 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: William Scott-Jackson

      William Scott-Jackson answered on 24 Jun 2015:


      One of the nice things about research is you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck making sure things are getting done. My PhD supervisor doesn’t really mind where I do my work, as long as it gets done. I can’t speak for industry though, each company is likely to have their own individual views and policies.

    • Photo: Jamie Johnston

      Jamie Johnston answered on 24 Jun 2015:


      It depends where you work, some people get lots of flexi-time in engineering roles. Personally I have to do a lot of my work at work because I work in a team with lots of specialist software and equipment. But if I have a personal thing that requires I leave early or arrive late I am free to adjust my hours so long as I make them up another time.

    • Photo: Sheun Oshinbolu

      Sheun Oshinbolu answered on 24 Jun 2015:


      I have flexibility in my work too. Apart from the time when I need to be in the lab, I can do my work from home. Industry is more of a 9-5 pattern.

    • Photo: Simon Marchant

      Simon Marchant answered on 26 Jun 2015:


      In contrast to these guys, I have not much flexibility at all! I work for the NHS and security around patient information is very tight, so most work I can’t take out of the hospital, and even the encrypted laptop I use for non-critical things locks me out after work hours! Like the other guys say though, that’s certainly not the same across all engineering (although some areas like nuclear power and defence will be similar).

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