WE no longer live in a man’s world.

For years women have crept into male-dominating industries, challenging gender stereotypes.

However there are professions that women still shy away from.

This is the reason for National Women in Engineering Day, an International awareness campaign that aims to raise the profile of women in engineering and highlight the wealth of career opportunities.

National Women in Engineering Day takes place annually on June 23.

Becky Weller, 29, works as an engineer for Openreach, part of the BT Group, covering Northwich and its surrounding areas and Greater Manchester.

Becky started on her career path as a customer service operative for BT when she was 18, but always yearned for something more hands on.

“I like getting my hands dirty,” Becky told the Guardian.

“I’ve been like that since I was a kid. I have a motorbike and I like fixing that up. I like mending things, it’s just how I’ve always been.

“I used to go home and empty my pockets and have bolts and screws and all sort, it’s just been like a fascination.”

Becky stayed at the call centre, based in Warrington, for several years, but when the opportunity came along to become an engineer she grabbed it with both hands.

“There were a few of us who saw the opportunity. So rather than having to go to uni or do an apprenticeship, they trained us up,” she said.

Openreach employ more than 30,000 people to install, support and maintain their network and work on behalf of the nation's communications service providers.

Being a woman in a male-dominated profession can be daunting, but Becky said she has only ever been treated with respect by her male colleagues.

“Some of them take you under their wing,” Becky said. “They look after me, but they know I can do the job just as good as they can.”

Being a woman also has its advantages in terms of dealing with customers.

“I think I can sweeten some customers up a little bit more,” she said.

“I also get from a lot of customers saying ‘oh you don’t see female engineer that often’. I get that so much. All the time. If I had a pound for every time I could probably retire.”

Openreach engineers visit around 29,500 homes and offices every weekday and manage 90,000 repairs to its copper, fibre and broadband networks every week.

Becky has now been in her role for the last four years, and even after all that time the job still presents new challenges.

“You’re still learning now,” The former Padgate Community High School pupil said. “There’s something new all the time.

“Sometimes you see customers all the time others you don’t see any for days, you’ll just have your head stuck in a box. It just depends, it’s different each day.”

The job is difficult, but also a rewarding one.

She said: “I love knowing I’ve fixed something and it’s me who’s done the job. It’s rewarding. You know you’ve fixed it. It’s been broken and you’ve fixed it yourself.”

The life of an Openreach engineer requires a knack for problem-solving and a wealth of patience.

It’s a slow paced job at times, which is somewhat at odds with Becky’s passion outside of her work life – motorbikes and fast cars.

“I’ve been riding since I was 19,” she said. “I like my cars as well, anything to do with motorsports.

“We go up to Scotland or Wales. Some Sundays if I’m not working and it’s nice, we’ll spend hours on the bikes.”

Becky is the youngest of four children. She has two brothers, aged 34 and 38, and a 37-year-old sister.

“My sister is the same as me, she’s into her bikes,” she said. “She’s an adenine junkie. She skydives, scuba dives all sorts. We’re very similar.

“Maybe it is because we were brought up with two lads. They just like sitting at home. They don’t like bikes or cars, I think maybe we were switched at birth.”

Becky is also an avid Manchester United fan, and used to play for several Sunday league and five-a-side-teams in Padgate in her younger days.

Many years have passed, and most of the girls Becky played with went their separate ways.

Becky said: “A lot of them went into healthy and beauty and hairdressing – and I became an engineer.”