What I do

I work at the Science Museum in London. I make sure everything is ready for the museum to open to the public each day, fixing any issues with the exhibits at the museum. I also do preventative maintenance on the exhibits and respond to calls during the day, fixing exhibits and making sure everything is working, clean and safe for our visitors.

How I became a technician

I was always a very creative child and loved doing art and taking things apart, finding out how things worked. I then did an Engineering BTEC in college, and in my second year I did work experience at the Science Museum. I shadowed a technician for a day, seeing what they did on a day-to-day basis, and then I was called back to do a second day. I really enjoyed it, so I applied for a job here.

A typical day in my working life

In the mornings, it’s busy between 7:30 and 10:00am, as we get everything ready for the museum opening. My day typically starts with checks and planned preventative maintenance on all our exhibits to make sure they’re safe and ready for visitors to use. If you overrun doing that, you might have to barrier yourself in around an exhibit because at 10:00am the museum is open to the public! During the day, I respond to radio calls about any exhibits in the gallery that break, and I go and fix them either alone or if I need help, I can use the radio to contact another technician or the appropriate team. I also spend a lot of the day in the workshop, where we’re improving existing exhibits and making things – doing all the things that people don’t see behind the scenes to keep exhibits functioning properly.

Just go for it. Don't hesitate to take opportunities – you’ll grow a lot faster by exposing yourself to opportunities that come your way.

A little more about
my everyday role

What I love most about my job

I love the creativity aspect, and machining. Because we’re making in-house parts, there’s a lot of freedom and we can come up with ideas ourselves. I can see a product go from an idea in my head, or a sketch, through the process of designing it on CAD computers, to actually making it and it being used in the museum. It’s so satisfying to see lots of people using something that I made in the gallery. One of things I made for the Technicians Gallery was a welding prop for people to use and see what it would be like to be a Welding Technician.

The best bits about working as a team

A lot of our jobs cross over with other departments. In Gallery Services, there are three teams – Electro-mechanical, AV and Production. Sometimes we also liaise with other teams on a project or ask for help from someone with more expertise in a certain field, and they’re more than happy to give a hand. If I’m working on a job and I need to do some wiring for example, I could go to someone who I know is an expert with that and work with them, then I’m learning something new.

The skills I use most

Communication is essential, because we interact with the public a lot when we run the working objects in the museum and explain how they work to visitors. Doing that has really helped me improve my communication skills. Also, problem solving, there’s lots of different issues we can encounter when making something. It needs a logical approach, and if we encounter a problem, we have to take it back to step one and see what went wrong and how to fix it.

My favourite piece of equipment to use

I like the central lathe. It’s mostly used to make cylindrical pieces out of metal. It’s very satisfying and you get a nice finish on it. I've also recently made my own hammer. I made both parts and soldered it together. Now, whenever I need to use a hammer, I use the hammer I made!

The most exciting thing I’ve achieved so far in my job

We have a water feature garden exhibit for three to six year-olds and one of my first big projects was making a bubble diffuser fan to replace a broken part. I came up with a few designs for a replacement, my manager made a few protypes and we came up with a new interactive exhibit to fit into the water feature. I used a lot of creativity, and worked with different departments so I learnt a lot of new things. There was a lot of problem solving needed too. It feels good and very rewarding to see people having fun using something I put a lot of time and effort into creating.

My school days

Studying Design Technology and Graphics at school has been useful in my job today because they allowed me to make lots of different things, use different equipment and be creative. Maths and Triple Science also helped with my engineering BTEC too.

What I like to do in my spare time

Going to the gym, seeing friends, and going on walks to get fresh air.

What I wear for work

I come to work in my normal clothes, and we have a locker and changing room. I then put on safety boots, safety trousers and a uniform top with the museum logo on, so that people know I’m staff. When I’m working on the machines, I also wear safety goggles and gloves when needed.

The advice I’d give to someone younger

Just go for it. Don't hesitate to take opportunities – you’ll grow a lot faster by exposing yourself to opportunities that come your way.

Glass cases holding artefacts in a museum

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