My top three tips for getting the most out of University:
1. Join the subject society
2. Do a year in industry or a 3 month placement in the summer (the more experience the better)
3. Ask the third years about their projects as the group projects are very similar each year so will give you a good idea of what you’ll be doing if you pick similar.
Why did you choose to study at the University of Liverpool’s School of Engineering?
I chose to study at the University of Liverpool because of the ability to do a year in industry/ year abroad
Why did you choose your Engineering course?
I chose engineering because even if I decided not to do engineering, the skills I learn are very transferable, which gives me wider variety of job prospects.
What have you enjoyed most about your student experience?
I have enjoyed getting involved with the variety of societies and sports teams available and tried a lot of new things due to the vast amount of opportunities for students.
How have you found the learning experience at University?
At the start learning from lectures does take some getting used to but everyone is very helpful and the course tutors are always happy to give you some pointers
What skills have you developed? What challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
I have definitely developed my time management skills due to the large amount of coursework that you get at the end of each semester. Juggling coursework, exams and Christmas definitely is a challenge. However during my year in industry I have gained a lot more than any degree can provide. Skills such as teamwork, communication, interpersonal skills and also technical skills like CAD, British standards, academic knowledge on the product you’re working on and many others associated to running a business and how you as an employee fit into the business.
What do you get up to when you are not studying?
When I am not studying I work as a math’s tutor/student ambassador, which the university helped me get or I am at a society event such as their themed nights out, movie nights or games nights.
What have you enjoyed most about living in Liverpool?
Liverpool is a great city to live in as even away from campus there are whole areas such as smith down road with lots of students so you never feel out of place. Shops, gyms and parks are also dotted around the city so you’re never further then 15 minutes away from any of them. Liverpool also has a brilliant bus service that is affordable with their student bus passes. Even coming back at 3am in the morning there’s always a bus nearby.
Where did you do your industry placement, and what did you do?
I did my placement at Gardner Denver and worked in 2 departments. 1 being Drum in Bradford, which involved doing CAD modeling and testing for a few of the transport compressors. And the other being at Nash in Nuremburg where I got to work in an international team developing 2 new vacuum pumps. The day to day tasks that I did during the placement involved creating models, technical drawings and organizing the billing of materials. I also got to do some hands on testing, which involved running compressors and manually altering the cover to impacted performance.
What have you personally got out of your placement in industry?
My placement has given me an insight into what I want my future to look like. Working in a company is nothing like anything I have experienced at university and it has changed how I want my career to look. For example I would much prefer to work for a conglomerate company rather than a big company like Airbus because you get a much more diverse job role and work in smaller teams. I also want to do as many CAD and DBT modules in university as possible so I can practice the skills I have learnt while working.