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From the frontline - Alix Turner
Alix Turner, gas engineer at Optivo, talks about Irish dancing and the importance of being confident
What does your job involve?
As a gas engineer I’m responsible for servicing and maintaining our residents’ boilers in London. This can involve anything from carrying out repairs to just checking everything’s in working order.
How did you get into housing?
I never thought I’d get into housing. In fact, I trained as a teacher when I was younger but that didn’t work out. My dad, who is also a gas engineer, suggested I try a manual trade.
After going along on a few jobs with him, I realised I really enjoyed it. I did a plumbing course at college (I was one of only two women in my class) and afterwards I started doing work experience with Viridian Housing (now Optivo) because I wanted to build up my gas portfolio. What was supposed to be two weeks of work experience turned into a full-time job.
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What is a good day like for you?
It’s a good day if I can get the boiler working for a customer.
If they’re happy, I’m happy. It’s also nice when I get an opportunity to chat to a few of them and hear their stories.
There’s sometimes a bit of surprise when I arrive on the doorstep because I’ve got a fairly gender-neutral name and I think many are expecting me to be a man.
It’s the older ladies who aren’t surprised – they did a lot of manual jobs during the war and I love hearing about that. One of my customers spent the war years welding potholes and she’s incredibly supportive of me.
What about a bad day?
I don’t like it when I can’t get the boiler working as quickly as the customer would like. But however tricky the problem is to fix, I’ll work my hardest to ensure it’s resolved as quickly as possible.
I have also had the rare bad day when customers assume I can’t fix their boiler because I’m a woman.
The most important thing to do in that situation is remain confident. I’m the expert after all and I deserve respect. Thankfully, most of my customers are absolutely fine.
If you could be prime minister for a day, what would you do?
I would release more funding for housing and help more young people to get a step on the property ladder. I would also put more money behind apprenticeships.
What’s the most private thing you’d be willing to admit to your colleagues?
From the age of three to 16 I was an Irish dancer and I’ve got a huge collection of costumes and trophies in my loft!
