Meet Abdullah Javaad

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.