Malaysia’s first female underwater welder – Nur Izzati
Nur Izzati is the first female underwater welder in Malaysia. The second of four siblings was raised in Kampung Kuala Sungai Rambutan, Rantau Panjang in Selama district, Perak.
Her dream to make a career in underwater welding started when she was a student at Kolej Vokasional Taiping in Kamunting, Taiping, Perak. Back in 2013, she was the only female student who studied welding.
“I had no idea about welding when I signed up for the course. I simply wanted to try something new,” she says.
Nur Izzati said when she was in her final year, she still wasn’t sure what to do after college. But, everything changed after she visited Weldzone Training Centre during a field trip. Weldzone Training Centre offers courses in commercial diving such as underwater welding and underwater cutting.
“I was so impressed with a demonstration on underwater welding. I was fascinated with the concept and sophistication of welding under the sea.”
She had completed her underwater welding course at the centre years ago. Now, she works as an underwater welder and also an assistant instructor at the centre where all her students are males.
Female Petroleum Engineer in oil & gas – Ts. Cempaka Lim
Lim Chia Wei or popularly known as Cempaka has worked as a field engineer, production engineer, and technical sales engineer. She has been working in one of the leading oil & gas companies in the world and served for more than 5 years in the oil & gas industry.
Growing up in a small state in Malaysia which is Perlis, Cempaka knew she wanted to become an engineer and work in the oil and gas sector since high school. Hence, she dropped biology and took engineering drawing instead. After her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam, she wanted to study at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) but failed to get in.
“So I applied again and succeeded on my second attempt,” she shares.
After graduating in 2016 with a degree in petroleum engineering, Cempaka joined her dream company, Schlumberger, where she had previously interned at as a cementing field engineer for eight months.
She has been posted as far as Thailand and Oman and proved to people who belittled her that a kampung girl who is not good at conversing in English is capable of working in a leading oil & gas company.
First female to be appointed as Ammunition Technician (AT) dan Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in Royal Malaysian Navy
Leftenan Madya Puteri Shazwani Megat Ahmad Shariman is the first female to be appointed as Ammunition Technician (AT) dan Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in Royal Malaysian Navy.
She underwent the Ammunition Engineering Officer Course for eight months, starting from January to August 2021 at the Ammunition Training Cell, Royal Ordnance Corps Training Center, Mempaga Camp, Bentong, Pahang.
According to Puteri, it was the first time the course is open to female officers. Only five female officers from the Malaysian Army were selected and she was the only female officer from Royal Malaysia Navy that was given the opportunity to join the course.
Her job requires her to inspect explosives and ammunition physically and testing evidence to determine the condition and destructive methods of the explosives. It was a challenging experience that she needs to overcome every day to prove that even female officers are able to work in a male-dominated field.
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