Jordan Becomes our Engineering Manager

We are excited to announce the internal promotion of Jordan, who in October became our new engineering manager.

Jordan has featured in many of our blog posts, mainly ones pertaining to our engineering apprenticeship scheme that started in 2014. The engineering team has continued to grow since then as the business has developed, allowing for career growth and opportunities.

Jordans History at Variohm

Jordan started with Variohm in 2014 as one of our first engineering apprentices, during his initial year he spent time in our production department working on the assembly line. This allowed him to understand how our products are built and manufactured and is something we still do with any new apprentices as a starting point in their journey.

Jordan then rotated through the other departments within the business including quality/returns, accounts, and administration, giving him further insight into how the whole business operates. After approximately 18 months of employment, he secured a position within our engineering department as a project engineer. In this role he was responsible for processing inquiries from customers and with his engineering experience developed bespoke solutions to their sensor requirements.

During his time as project engineer, Jordan realised that he had a flair for designing products outside the scope of customer-driven demands. When Jacob Upton, another engineer within the team joined Variohm, Jordan was able to progress into the role of ‘Mechanical Development Engineer’. From here he became responsible for developing Variohm’s own ‘datasheet’ product range, starting with our rotary position sensors.

In Jordan’s final year of study, he became the Chief Engineer, undertaking engineering and quality based managerial responsibilities. Upon completion of his degree, he was then promoted to ‘Engineering Manager’ where he is responsible for not only the engineering and quality returns teams but also any new or ongoing product development and managing our QEMS (Quality & Environment Management System).

Why Engineering?

We asked Jordan what made him choose a career in Engineering and his response was:

‘I didn’t make a “conscious move” to engineering as I planned to always be an Air traffic controller in the RAF. However, at that age of choosing which industry or career path to go into none of my immediate family/ friends identified that I had a keen mind for engineering which was surprising as I was fixing cars and motorbikes from when I was around 13 years of age. Once the RAF plan had fallen through, I was then trying to identify an alternative and saw the apprenticeship advertised through Variohm on the apprenticeships.gov website. At the time I knew I needed to further my education but at the same time wanted to learn whilst working in the industry. I applied and was successful in my application and the rest is history. Since working in an engineering industry I discovered very early on that this was the correct path for me to pursue a career in and I am extremely happy that I am now a fully qualified engineer responsible for managing an ever-expanding team whilst continuing to develop Variohm’s product ranges.’

Career Advice for Aspiring Engineers

When asked what advice he would give other aspiring engineers hoping to climb the career ladder Jordan’s main comment was:

‘Make sure to set personal and career-based goals, being persistent with them until they have been achieved. This keeps you motivated and focussed and sets a dynamic timeframe for the completion of those goals.’

Jordan also stated that:

 ‘Another thing I have always done is dream beyond the job description which feeds back into the previous point. Completing the daily/ weekly “assigned” tasks and then dreaming and acting upon ideas of other unknown possibilities. One example of this would be the CMRx range whereby I wanted to create a range of the worlds smallest rotary hall effect sensors- there was no internal demand for a product range meeting those specifications and now these sensors are used within Formula 1 and other top tier automotive applications.’

Jordan applied for his apprenticeship in 2014 with The Engineering Trust Training who is our provider and recruiter for apprentices. They deliver work-based apprenticeships, and their website holds a lot of advice for people thinking about applying for apprenticeships

Jordan’s Mentions

We asked Jordan who has shaped his journey as an engineer and any special mentions he had:

‘I would firstly like to thank Variohm Eurosensor for sponsoring me through my education and offering me all of the opportunities I have been lucky enough to have with them, secondly the institutions and staff that have educated me throughout the previous 8 years. Thirdly Richard Kelley as it has been a privilege to be under his tutelage and he has been the main influence in shaping me into the Engineer that I am today. And last but by no means least Phil-Lloyd Jones at Inoplas Technology who has been a great work friend and has helped develop my understanding of injection moulding part / tool design which has proven to be invaluable.’

We wish Jordan the best of luck in his new position as engineering manager and we are excited to see what lies ahead in his engineering future here at Variohm.