Fatima Dalgamouni is a field engineer working on GE Healthcare equipment, a job she explains to her nephew means “I carry small bag with a few tools, likes a screwdriver, and make the machines happy.”

In fact, she’s responsible for installing, maintaining, repairing and upgrading GE Healthcare’s Life Care Solutions equipment, which includes anesthesia, ventilator, incubator, patient monitoring, and ECG machines. Based in the UAE and working primarily in Abu Dhabi, she also installs and services related software, such as AssetPlus, which helps hospitals and clinics manage equipment maintenance.

For 31-year-old Fatima, whose degree is in biomedical engineering, learning to handle AssetPlus was one of the most difficult things she’s done in her six years working on GE Healthcare equipment, including the past three years as a GE Healthcare field engineer.

“It was a totally new thing. I’d not had experience with data or software. So in the beginning, it was difficult to learn, I almost gave up. But then I thought, ‘How can I differentiate myself in the field’?”

The answer was by adding this new competence. So she worked hard, put in the extra effort, pushed herself out of her comfort zone (biology and physics) and learned this new software skill. “Now I’m handling it very well, even if sometimes I still need additional support.”

Challenges like this are what Fatima enjoys about her job. “I like the varied work. I like to be challenged. I don’t like work that’s always straightforward.” She also likes being part of a collaborative team that works together “to make solving impossible problems possible.”

For example, she was part of a team tasked with upgrading nearly 400 patient monitoring devices for a large public hospital facility in the UAE. By developing processes and working closely together they finished the 25-day job in only eight days.

She also enjoys her job because she knows that when she’s maintaining or repairing machines, she’s helping improve patient health. “Our job has this human part. It’s not just a ‘job’.”

“We are helping healthcare providers deliver better care to patients by ensuring our machines are in good condition. We’re impacting how patient get treated, and that make them get better faster and with lower cost,” she adds.

Looking back on her accomplishments so far, Fatima says she would tell her younger self: “Take a leap of faith in yourself. Keep focused on what you want and invest in yourself. Life is an ongoing journey and you can most certainly achieve what you set your mind to,” and concluding, “With positive thinking, nothing is impossible!”

She advises young women asking if they’ve made the right choice to pursue biomedical engineering, “Yes! Don’t be afraid to dream big. Set high goals and you’ll be able to achieve them.”

GE Healthcare also supports her in her career, she says, adding that she knows the company celebrates its female employees. “They continually motivate us by rewarding our work, and enhancing our service field skills. We feel they are proud of us.”