{"id":436,"date":"2017-04-07T14:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/?p=436"},"modified":"2017-04-07T13:00:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T12:00:56","slug":"seven-questions-with-andy-matthews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/2017\/04\/07\/seven-questions-with-andy-matthews\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven questions with Andy Matthews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I chatted to Andy Matthews who is a Senior Technician in the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Andy is responsible for the Undergraduate teaching labs, managing the risk assessment and practical needs of students undertaking project work. He\u2019s also responsible for access and security in 2 East. I asked Andy seven questions relating (mostly) to his work here at Bath. Here they are, together with his response:<\/p>\n

\n

1. What is the most enjoyable aspect of your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"I really enjoy working with you<\/em>ng people who are at such an optimistic stage of their lives and who don\u2019t see any limits to their horizons.\u00a0 It\u2019s great being in that environment every day\".\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/a>
Andy Matthews in the Electrical Engineering lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. How do you prepare for a typical working week?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"I make a list and try to prioritise the items. I can\u2019t plan too far in advance because issues can arise at the last minute, and I may need to adapt my list according to demand.<\/em><\/p>\n

I always have a big breakfast!\"<\/em><\/p>\n

3. What are your tips for effective leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"I try to understand the different strengths of each team member. I work with this and organise tasks in accordance with their strengths and comfort zones.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

4. How do you resolve difficult moments at work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"I\u2019m always mindful of University policies, but flexibility is also important. If a student makes a non-standard request relating to project work I always try to adapt our services to meet their requirements - unless there is a health and safety issue. We can never compromise on health and safety.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

5. What is the most useful piece of advice you have ever been given?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Two pieces of advice spring to mind:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  • To value your friendships \u2013 which I try to do!\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  • To always have some sort of plan and never simply hope for the best.\"<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    6. Who or what inspires you and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"Students inspire me. The enthusiasm they have for their project work motivates me to try my best for them, and I never feel I don\u2019t want to come to work. I usually finish each week with a real sense of achievement.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

    7. If you didn\u2019t do this job, what would prefer to be doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"I\u2019ve always been interested in aviation, and a job flying light aircraft for an aid agency or something similar would be a great alternative.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

    Thanks Andy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last month I chatted to Andy Matthews who is a Senior Technician in the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Andy is responsible for the Undergraduate teaching labs, managing the risk assessment and practical needs of students undertaking project work....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":935,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5,40,11],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-of-engineering-design-celebrating-success","category-faculty-of-engineering-design-staff-experiences","category-faculty-of-engineering-design-staff-insight","category-faculty-of-engineering-design-staff-top-tips","tag-seven-questions-with"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/935"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/fedstaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}