Shirlayne Dunwoodie

Somerville College 1992, Engineering Science (BA and MA)

I am currently Head of Sales Transformation in the Global Services Division of British Telecom.

I attended a grammar school in Belfast where excellence was encouraged. No-one in my large Irish Catholic family had gone to university before. In fact, few had stayed on to do A-levels. But my school gave me the belief that by working hard towards a goal you can make it happen.
 
At school I did a mix of languages and science, and struggled to choose between applying for Classics or Engineering at university. However, work experience at a local aircraft manufacturer made me decide I wanted to do Engineering because I wanted to do something practical that led to an obvious career. I still read Latin and Greek texts for fun though! 

If you like Maths and Physics, then Engineering is the degree for you. The Oxford course covered all the disciplines of Engineering, whereas other universities wanted me to choose between mechanical, electrical or chemical. At Oxford I discovered my talents and interests lay with electronics and optics – which led me to work in telecommunications.

There is a good mix of theory and practical – designing, building and testing – on the course. It also covers management and business. The course is a great springboard to other things: further academic study, working in design or manufacturing in almost any field, or a career in management with a solid grounding in 'how things work'.

I absolutely loved my time at Oxford. People were free to be who they wanted to be. They weren't held back by culture or family expectations. Over dinner we could talk about diverse topics from quantum mechanics to what was on TV!

It was an honour to be studying among people at the top of their field – knowing that I could be sitting next to a future Prime Minister or TV star. It was also great to have so many different nationalities and cultures living together. At the Oxford Union I had the chance to meet people who had already made a difference to the world, including Ronald Reagan and Mother Theresa.

Oxford gave me a launch pad into an engineering role in BT where I designed, and was responsible for, new technology on the UK network. I was then able to move to a commercial role because of the business skills I had learned at Oxford.

Four years after leaving Oxford, I was matrix-managing 100 people and responsible for a turnover of more than £100m. A new product I developed was nominated as a finalist for a World Communication Award for the Best New Product in 2002. There is no question that Oxford gave me the confidence to achieve these things early in my career.

I was then offered a fast track position working for a President within our Global Services division as her Executive Assistant, where the thinking skills and drive I had developed at Oxford gave me the confidence to challenge senior leaders and bring real value to the role. Since then I have run teams selling to some of the largest multinational organisations.

The unique benefits of Oxford are the sharpness of thinking, the fabulous networking, and the drive for excellence, confidence and self belief; it's not all about the degree certificate. I soaked up every experience to the full, networked like mad, and made lots of enduring friendships. I gained a lot of confidence in deciding what I wanted from life. Also being a woman and having experienced minor prejudice before, I realised that women were just as capable of succeeding in roles traditionally considered 'male' – like engineering.