Simona Capparella comes from a family of engineers in Italy. From a young age she was destined to follow in her father’s footsteps and work her way up to being a reliable, dynamic female engineer.
“My father is a very respected engineer in my hometown, he was a teacher and started a career as a design engineer in Italy in 1990,” she said.
“Both my father and uncle were electrical systems teachers. They were the people who encouraged me to study engineering, and instilled a great love for this subject in me.”
Today, she is a senior electrical engineer in the building services industry. It has been quite the journey to get where she is today.
At the age of 16, Simona enrolled in an engineering high school in Italy where she studied electrical systems.
In 2008, she acquired an Honors degree in Safety and Protection Engineering in Rome, where she mainly studied Chemical Processes Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering.
Upon completion, she moved on to her master’s degree and began working as an electrical designer in the building services industry with her father, who mentored her in the profession.
“I earned my master’s degree in Safety and Protection Engineering with a focus on Safety in Electrical systems in 2012,” she said.
“I then started a second master’s degree in 2013 in Electrical Power systems.
“In 2015, before finishing my master’s, I decided to move to the United Kingdom to expand my engineering knowledge and work on international high profile projects.”
Her move saw her lending her skills to projects in Oxfordshire. She got an offer to work as electrical designer at ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, one of the most famous neutron spallation research centers in the world.
During that time, she enrolled in the EIT Professional Certificate of Competency in Substation Design (Control, Protection & Facility Planning) while weighing up her career options.
“I wanted to work in a commercial environment,” she said.
“At the time I wasn’t sure whether I would like to go back to the building services industry or start a new career in the power systems sector.
“Either way, I felt that in order for me to be more competitive in the market as a professional I would need to deepen my knowledge of substations, and in particular, earthing systems — which is a topic that has always fascinated me.
“The best way to achieve this was to attend an EIT course. Completing the EIT course definitely boosted my prestige as an electrical engineer.”
Two years ago, Simona decided to apply her electrical engineering skills to the building services industry.
She is currently working in Manchester in the United Kingdom at a company named BDP. It is a major multidisciplinary practice, of architects and engineers, which works in several building services sectors.
The qualification from EIT gave her CV the push it needed to rise above the rest.
“I believe that the EIT Substation course gave my CV a certain visibility in the pool, and helped me during the selection process for my current job”
She is also a contributor to the STEM Ambassador Programme in the United Kingdom, a position which she uses to encourage young people to pursue engineering careers.
EIT is thrilled to have been part of her journey and wishes in both her current and future endeavor.