What I do

I help to design and look after the exhibits at the Science Museum. I provide preventative maintenance – that might mean cleaning a machine or just checking that something is working correctly.

A lot of the museum’s exhibits haven’t been designed by people who are engineers, so you might open up an exhibit and discover it doesn’t work how you might expect it to; you then have to find a way to fix it.

We have lots of exhibits and interactives like that, which need a bit of modification to give them the longest lifespan possible.

Hear more about Fergus's role by watching the video below...

How I became a technician

I took an A-level in design and technology at school then studied Industrial Design and Technology at Loughborough University, but decided it wasn’t really for me so I applied to join the Royal Navy as a Submarine Engineering Technician and worked there for four and a half years.

My next job was an Incinerator Technician at a hospital, incinerating clinical waste. In May 2021 I got the job with the Science Museum - and that's where I have been ever since!

A typical day
in my working life

The thing I like about the museum is that most days are not the same. On a usual day I will get called into the public space of the museum three or four times to attend various things. It might be a case of switching something off and on, but sometimes something has genuinely broken down and we have to look and see what the problem is.

A surprising fact about my job

I’ve found that members of the public are more interested in an exhibit when it’s broken and someone is fixing it than when it’s working normally!

A little more about
my everyday role

What I love most about my job

It’s a problem-solving job, and it’s all about critical thinking. I enjoy the challenge of working out what something is meant to be doing and then tackling how to fix it. Some of its components might need replacing or I might need to work on changing the design in some way to make it work even better than before.

The best bits about working in a team

In our team, we all have different levels of expertise and knowledge. If I have a problem that I can’t solve, there is always someone that knows the answer. Some guys have been working here for 25 years, so I can ask for advice. We all help each other out.

Glass cases holding artefacts in a museum

Find out more about this role

Discover what qualifications you’ll need, how much you can earn, and what the next steps are.

Nine apprentices sitting on sofas socialising

Meet other technicians

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