Humza has been with Atkins for just over two years. He studied Aerospace Engineering at university, so Atkins was always on his radar. As he was coming to the end of his studies, Humza started to wonder whether going down the technical side of engineering was the best career choice for him.
Part of his course was in engineering management, and he had always been interested in the business side. He wanted to be working in a role that was about the big picture; a large project or programme in an engineering environment. When looking for opportunities, he came across the Management Consulting Graduate scheme at Atkins and applied. It was exactly what he'd been looking for.
Humza now works in the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Technology (ADS&T) division of Atkins. It has two main client markets. The first is Aerospace and Defence, and the second is Security, Intelligence and Government. The team also does work outside of this, collaborating with other Atkins' divisions, including Infrastructure, Transportation and Energy. So, Humza doesn't feel restricted to the core markets within ADS&T, and that offers him a massive variety in potential projects and clients.
As an Aerospace Engineering graduate, Humza has always had an interest in the aerospace sector. He has and continues to be involved in new opportunities for Atkins in this industry. He's also excited to support the business in its ever-evolving work in this area, helping to shape the future of the industry.
One of the many things ADS&T is involved in is exploring the future of flight. So, the team is looking at what flying will look like in a few years and how it will change the way we move around both over long and short distances. Humza is developing vertical take-off vehicles, leading to a future of flying taxis and autonomous flying vehicles. Right now, there's still a considerable amount to learn in this space, but the rate of progress being made is exciting. For Humza, to be able to say he was there at the beginning of that development and helped to build that vision is really exciting. There's a chance to challenge the art of the possible by bringing diverse people into this space with different and innovative mindsets.
Humza started off at Heathrow and was there for the best part of two years. He worked on a whole range of projects as a part of large teams as well as smaller more individual pieces of work. One of his teams was working on the development of the security lanes of the future, which involved doing trials on new body scanners, CT scanners and explosive detection equipment. The trial data was used to build simulation models to predict security process performances and help to inform future security area designs.
The team earned recognition at the Management Consulting Association (MCA) awards in 2019 for Performance Improvement in the Private Sector. The result of the work will be an improved passenger experience. In the future, flyers will not have to remove liquids or electronics such as laptops from their bags or limit themselves to 100ml of liquids.
Another large project Humza was involved in was testing an anonymised passenger tracking system from an international supplier. The new technology predicts queues and helps the airport to run its various terminal spaces more efficiently. For passengers, it also means reduced queue times. This project represented a large investment from Heathrow, and it was Humza's job to make sure that the new system was meeting Heathrow's requirements.
At the moment, Humza is working as a consultant for Defence Digital, which is responsible for the Digital and Information Technology of the Ministry Of Defence (MoD). His team is looking at the MoD's processes and data requirements, the tools they use and integration with their hundreds of service providers. Humza's role is to bring everything together and help inform the future to-be state for these processes and their supporting systems.
Humza has been on this project since March 2020 and through the UK's pandemic lockdown. Not being in an office has been challenging for him, at times. It has taken a bit longer for him to find his bearings, understanding the work and stakeholders. He's only working with one other person from Atkins, his assignment manager. Hence, Humza has been given a lot of responsibility early on for deliverables on this project.
Humza's assignment manager is happy with the work that he's been doing and has encouraged him to "just run with it". He's experienced in this area and is always there to advise and support Humza when needed. Humza's manager knows the stakeholders well: from the client to the many suppliers involved and can help Humza navigate the whole landscape. It's not all about the work either, he often calls to check-in, and make sure Humza is doing ok, and just to see what's going on in his life.
Humza talks about being a T-shaped consultant at Atkins. It means to have a broad understanding of a range of consulting competencies. That's the top of the T. The line that goes down the T represents having expertise in a single or possibly even multiple areas, whether that's a capability or knowledge of a particular industry/client.
It was when Humza was working at Heathrow, that he first got called a "subject matter expert." At the time, he was still a junior member of the team, so that meant a lot to him. He took the time to learn the supplier product's capabilities, the logic behind them and the needs of the client. He joined these together to gain the kind of insight that not many others had at that time. That has made him a valuable member of the project team.
Humza is now in a position where he's rolling off of the graduate programme. The scheme has helped him develop, and given him a range of experiences to draw on. He has also had to start thinking more about where he wants to specialise, long term. It's about asking, "Where would I like to fit into the business going forward?" "What would people come to me specifically, to ask about?" Essentially, Humza wants to pinpoint that unique selling point that differentiates him.
Humza has been exceptionally well supported by his line manager. From the very start of his time on the graduate scheme, they were having conversations about where Humza's interests lay and looking for opportunities that would take his development there. Obviously, it also depended on where the work was – still they generally focused on areas that aligned to Humza's end goals.
Outside of this, Humza would hear about internal business initiatives that aligned with his areas of interest. Often he would take the initiative and reach out to people saying, "I heard you're doing this or that and it sounds interesting. I'd love to get involved in some way." You can do that at Atkins. It doesn't matter how senior people are, they're always willing to talk, even if just to point you in the right direction. When Humza found the right person to speak to, they gave him 100% of their backing. He has found everyone supportive in helping with his development.
Humza believes the graduate scheme is one of the best within the industry and recommends it. Atkins has a close-knit graduate community, and that includes the graduate managers and support staff. The scheme focusses on graduates' needs, so they're always in conversation and suggesting ways to improve it.
Humza is also part of the Young Professionals Forum (YPF), an ADS&T initiative. He joined because he wanted to "give back" internally and help improve the experience for future young professionals. The committee for the forum is made up entirely of people early on in their careers. This includes graduates, or those who have just finished a development scheme, apprentices, and people doing a year in industry.
YPF looks at lots of different areas, from learning and development, feedback and engagement with the rest of the business, communication and also the social side of things. Humza is one of the learning and development representatives. He offers feedback to senior management on which areas could improve for the YPF community. The YPF can also start and run with their own initiatives.
In his spare time, Humza plays a lot of different sports, including cricket, football, tennis, squash and badminton. He's competitive and always plays to win. He also believes that sport is a great way to understand how to be a real team player. He says, "We can achieve so much more by understanding other people's strengths and working together. Sport helps to build your confidence as you take on elements of leadership and responsibility."
Humza has also become involved in organising internal away days and social events. It started out with just putting things in the diary for his graduate cohort, colleagues or friends at work. It soon led to him helping to organise two different events off-campus. The first was for the Business & Digital Consulting division and the second, for YPF. They were both challenging events to manage, but Humza had great organising teams, outstanding attendance and feedback, which led to a resounding success.
These kinds of events help people connect with different colleagues from around the business, and also help with development, to discover new projects and expand networks. For Humza, one of the most satisfying aspects was the amount of appreciation he received afterwards, from both the attendees and senior leadership.
Discover more about Graduate Roles at Atkins.
Discover more about Graduate Roles at Atkins.
The excitement of aerospace
Humza now works in the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Technology (ADS&T) division of Atkins. It has two main client markets. The first is Aerospace and Defence, and the second is Security, Intelligence and Government. The team also does work outside of this, collaborating with other Atkins' divisions, including Infrastructure, Transportation and Energy. So, Humza doesn't feel restricted to the core markets within ADS&T, and that offers him a massive variety in potential projects and clients.
As an Aerospace Engineering graduate, Humza has always had an interest in the aerospace sector. He has and continues to be involved in new opportunities for Atkins in this industry. He's also excited to support the business in its ever-evolving work in this area, helping to shape the future of the industry.
One of the many things ADS&T is involved in is exploring the future of flight. So, the team is looking at what flying will look like in a few years and how it will change the way we move around both over long and short distances. Humza is developing vertical take-off vehicles, leading to a future of flying taxis and autonomous flying vehicles. Right now, there's still a considerable amount to learn in this space, but the rate of progress being made is exciting. For Humza, to be able to say he was there at the beginning of that development and helped to build that vision is really exciting. There's a chance to challenge the art of the possible by bringing diverse people into this space with different and innovative mindsets.
Humza's work as a graduate
Humza started off at Heathrow and was there for the best part of two years. He worked on a whole range of projects as a part of large teams as well as smaller more individual pieces of work. One of his teams was working on the development of the security lanes of the future, which involved doing trials on new body scanners, CT scanners and explosive detection equipment. The trial data was used to build simulation models to predict security process performances and help to inform future security area designs.
The team earned recognition at the Management Consulting Association (MCA) awards in 2019 for Performance Improvement in the Private Sector. The result of the work will be an improved passenger experience. In the future, flyers will not have to remove liquids or electronics such as laptops from their bags or limit themselves to 100ml of liquids.
Another large project Humza was involved in was testing an anonymised passenger tracking system from an international supplier. The new technology predicts queues and helps the airport to run its various terminal spaces more efficiently. For passengers, it also means reduced queue times. This project represented a large investment from Heathrow, and it was Humza's job to make sure that the new system was meeting Heathrow's requirements.
Supported to take on more responsibility
At the moment, Humza is working as a consultant for Defence Digital, which is responsible for the Digital and Information Technology of the Ministry Of Defence (MoD). His team is looking at the MoD's processes and data requirements, the tools they use and integration with their hundreds of service providers. Humza's role is to bring everything together and help inform the future to-be state for these processes and their supporting systems.
Humza has been on this project since March 2020 and through the UK's pandemic lockdown. Not being in an office has been challenging for him, at times. It has taken a bit longer for him to find his bearings, understanding the work and stakeholders. He's only working with one other person from Atkins, his assignment manager. Hence, Humza has been given a lot of responsibility early on for deliverables on this project.
Humza's assignment manager is happy with the work that he's been doing and has encouraged him to "just run with it". He's experienced in this area and is always there to advise and support Humza when needed. Humza's manager knows the stakeholders well: from the client to the many suppliers involved and can help Humza navigate the whole landscape. It's not all about the work either, he often calls to check-in, and make sure Humza is doing ok, and just to see what's going on in his life.
Becoming an expert and finding a niche
Humza talks about being a T-shaped consultant at Atkins. It means to have a broad understanding of a range of consulting competencies. That's the top of the T. The line that goes down the T represents having expertise in a single or possibly even multiple areas, whether that's a capability or knowledge of a particular industry/client.
It was when Humza was working at Heathrow, that he first got called a "subject matter expert." At the time, he was still a junior member of the team, so that meant a lot to him. He took the time to learn the supplier product's capabilities, the logic behind them and the needs of the client. He joined these together to gain the kind of insight that not many others had at that time. That has made him a valuable member of the project team.
Humza is now in a position where he's rolling off of the graduate programme. The scheme has helped him develop, and given him a range of experiences to draw on. He has also had to start thinking more about where he wants to specialise, long term. It's about asking, "Where would I like to fit into the business going forward?" "What would people come to me specifically, to ask about?" Essentially, Humza wants to pinpoint that unique selling point that differentiates him.
Humza has been exceptionally well supported by his line manager. From the very start of his time on the graduate scheme, they were having conversations about where Humza's interests lay and looking for opportunities that would take his development there. Obviously, it also depended on where the work was – still they generally focused on areas that aligned to Humza's end goals.
Outside of this, Humza would hear about internal business initiatives that aligned with his areas of interest. Often he would take the initiative and reach out to people saying, "I heard you're doing this or that and it sounds interesting. I'd love to get involved in some way." You can do that at Atkins. It doesn't matter how senior people are, they're always willing to talk, even if just to point you in the right direction. When Humza found the right person to speak to, they gave him 100% of their backing. He has found everyone supportive in helping with his development.
Getting involved with the graduate community
Humza believes the graduate scheme is one of the best within the industry and recommends it. Atkins has a close-knit graduate community, and that includes the graduate managers and support staff. The scheme focusses on graduates' needs, so they're always in conversation and suggesting ways to improve it.
Humza is also part of the Young Professionals Forum (YPF), an ADS&T initiative. He joined because he wanted to "give back" internally and help improve the experience for future young professionals. The committee for the forum is made up entirely of people early on in their careers. This includes graduates, or those who have just finished a development scheme, apprentices, and people doing a year in industry.
YPF looks at lots of different areas, from learning and development, feedback and engagement with the rest of the business, communication and also the social side of things. Humza is one of the learning and development representatives. He offers feedback to senior management on which areas could improve for the YPF community. The YPF can also start and run with their own initiatives.
Humza grows his career through personal interests.
In his spare time, Humza plays a lot of different sports, including cricket, football, tennis, squash and badminton. He's competitive and always plays to win. He also believes that sport is a great way to understand how to be a real team player. He says, "We can achieve so much more by understanding other people's strengths and working together. Sport helps to build your confidence as you take on elements of leadership and responsibility."
Humza has also become involved in organising internal away days and social events. It started out with just putting things in the diary for his graduate cohort, colleagues or friends at work. It soon led to him helping to organise two different events off-campus. The first was for the Business & Digital Consulting division and the second, for YPF. They were both challenging events to manage, but Humza had great organising teams, outstanding attendance and feedback, which led to a resounding success.
These kinds of events help people connect with different colleagues from around the business, and also help with development, to discover new projects and expand networks. For Humza, one of the most satisfying aspects was the amount of appreciation he received afterwards, from both the attendees and senior leadership.
Discover more about Graduate Roles at Atkins.
Discover more about Graduate Roles at Atkins.
