Welcome to the first in a soon-to-be regular weekly series of posts from the IMLPs in the UK.  There are currently just 14 of us, but that is soon to expand to over 20 in the coming year, and we’re very excited!

Before starting IMLP, I was working as a full-time engineer with GE for 2 years.  So, to kick-off this series I’m going to tell you about IMLP in the UK and why I gave up my engineering job to move back on to a training program. 

I started back in 2007 for GE Aviation Systems in Cheltenham as a Systems Engineer working on avionics products.  This was a role I enjoyed immensely but towards the end of my second year I was ready for a new challenge, which was when I discovered IMLP. 

IMLP gave me the opportunity to get leadership and project management experience sooner than I would have been able to otherwise. 

Add to this the world-class training we receive and the huge peer and alumni network IMLPs have and I didn’t have to think twice.  I now get the opportunity to regularly meet with the senior leadership of our business, and the great thing is; they genuinely listen to our ideas.

Never without: Laptop, Blackberry, VPN tokenOne of the perks of the UK programme for me has been to be part of a global, mobile workforce.  I work with teams in the USA and India on a daily basis and I can work from anywhere with an internet connection (including home!).

 In fact I am writing this post from a GE Healthcare office in Milwaukee WI.  I’ll be hopping on a plane back to the UK next week, just in time to meet some prospective new IMLPs at Warwick University on the 19^th October.  See you there!