- Bodywork group member (Year 1- 2013/14): member of design team for main body of STAG I.
- Head of Aerodynamics (Year 2- 2014/15): Main role included the design and manufacture of the bodywork. Introduction of sub group design teams surrounding aerodynamic components and introduction of CFD to team.
- Operations Manager (Year 3- 2015/16): Head of Business Team in charge of sponsorship and marketing for the team. Responsible for business presentation at competition. Also responsible for team logistics getting team members to and from European competitions.
- Team Leader (Year 4 – 2017/18): Responsible for day-to-day operations of the team. In charge of team’s schedule and budget for the year, and stakeholder management with the university and major sponsors.
What made you join the competition?
I heard about the competition just before going to university when I interviewed for an IMechE Undergraduate Scholarship. I was talking to my interviewer about some of the previous competitions that I had been a part of, and he then told me about how Formula Student was a step up but the university equivalent. He said that was convinced that the University of Southampton had just started in the competition in 2013 and from then on, I knew that I would go on and join the team. It’s probably no surprise that within the first month of being at Southampton, I was a member of the team and well, the rest is now history.
What was your biggest challenge during FS and how did you overcome it?
I think one of the biggest challenges that we faced every year was making sure that the car was built with enough time to complete a successful test phase prior to competition. A lot of the time, we found that it was the things that were outside of our control that had the hardest impact, especially with manufacturing constraints; whether it was general quality of components, or delays with being able to use machinery.
Last year, our Technical Director, Assistant Technical Director and Heads of Departments put a substantial amount of time into designing and building high quality tooling which increased the overall quality of the car and decreased the actual fabrication time of all components. This also meant that we were able to complete a successful shakedown and some basic pre-competition testing to highlight any potential issues on the car and correct them to be able to go into our competition with a car ready to compete.
What's your current role and with which company?
I’m currently on the graduate scheme for Babcock International based at Devonport Royal Dockyard in Plymouth, where I’m a Graduate Mechanical Engineer. As part of our two year graduate scheme, we complete a variety of placements that can last between three and four months in different business functions, including project management, design, and production.
Since starting in September 2018, I’ve worked on Design in Mission Systems, and in the Asset Management team for Strategic Infrastructure. One of the things I enjoy about the graduate scheme is the ability to move around the business and to learn new skills. Moving into different roles has also allowed me to develop my own network across the business too. The graduate scheme also offers the capability to meet the competencies required to become a Chartered Engineer, which is an aspiration for me over the next 5 years.
As well as completing our day-to-day work, we are also encouraged to join the STEM community within the company. As part of this, I am now the STEM Co-Ordinator for Primary Schools, where we go into local schools to encourage students to consider careers in both Science and Engineering.
How did your experiences at Formula Student help prepare you for your first role?
The experiences that I had from Formula Student definitely helped to set me up for my first role. Formula Student was one of the first major projects that I worked on where I made mistakes. Making those mistakes allowed me and the team learn about ourselves but also how to overcome them as well. Also, making those mistakes in the Formula Student environment was a lot better too, because you’re less likely to make them when you get into your first role.
As well as the technical knowledge that you gain from competing in the competition, a lot of the skills that I developed were in the ‘softer’ skills; teamwork, communication and stakeholder management, whether it was with our university or key sponsors.
The experiences that I gained from Formula Student really helped to set me above a lot of other candidates when I was applying for my industrial placement year too. Having the academic requirements for a role is mandatory, but having the hands-on experience enables you to be able to demonstrate that you’re capable of delivering something, on top of having the academic knowledge.
What skills and knowledge do you see as essential for young engineers to succeed in their future careers?
I think the essential skills that young engineers should strive to have are strong communication and teamwork skills. In most engineering projects that I’ve been a part of, you’re almost always working in teams. It’s also important to understand what type of team player you are as well. Are you someone that gets on and gets things done or are you someone who tries to shape a team? This might help you understand what future roles would be best suited to you too.
On top of the skills, it’s important to stay up to date with new and emerging technologies too. This can be done through ‘extra’ reading, through experiences that you’ll learn from by doing projects through university or Formula Student. It’s also good to become opinionated about current affairs within industries that you’re interested in. Formula Student is a good example of this, especially with the development of the driverless aspect of the competition over the next couple of years and how these innovations might lead to market innovations in the years to come too.
Your own technical capabilities are also essential - strive to be well rounded when it comes to software packages too. Look to develop yourself when it comes to CAD and coding software too, as the more you have to offer companies, the more likely you’ll be successful.
What advice would you give to young engineers seeking employment post-grad?
The first piece of advice that I’d give someone seeking graduate employment is to look to do something that you’re interested in and enjoy doing. This might be to do with car design, project management or logistics. Also, think about the things that kept you most motivated whilst at university – was it design work, or manufacturing components?
When it comes to actually applying for jobs, make sure your application makes your stand out from the crowd. Everyone else will have graduated with similar degrees to you so what makes you different? Is it your Formula Student experience and the skills you learnt, or an internship you did during your second year summer? When it comes to interview, it’s good to be able to answer questions relating to your experience from the wealth of experiences you’ve gained.
Finally, the competition can be an excellent time to network. With other teams and competitors to companies that exhibit in the paddock, so make the most of any ‘free time’ you have at competition by speaking to fellow students and as many companies as you can.
What is your fondest moment of the competition?
I think there are two memories that really stick in my mind when I think about Formula Student. The first is seeing the first car that I helped to build make its way around the track in the sprint on the Saturday. It was touch and go if we would actually make it through scrutineering, so to see it actually race was very rewarding.
The other memory that’s probably my fondest of the competition actually took place at the last ever Formula Student competition that I took part in, Formula Student East last summer in Hungary. In every previous attempt that we’d attempted an endurance event as a team (8 to be precise), we failed. The 22km had always gotten the better of us. However, in my last event for the team, we finally completed the endurance event, and the feeling of doing so was absolutely incredible. I couldn’t have wished for a better way to end a great five years with the team.
Other than that, looking back now and seeing how the team transformed from the team that I joined back in 2013 to the team that I left in 2018 is extremely satisfying. Taking a team that just about turned up to competition on time to becoming a team that was now competitive is something that I’m quite proud of.
Please can you provide a recommendation for anyone thinking of taking part in the competition!
If you are considering joining a Formula Student team, then I couldn’t recommend it more. The skills, friends and memories that you’ll create will stay with you forever. The only recommendation I would suggest is to join with as much enthusiasm as you can. It’s one of the best university engineering projects that you can do which is as close to a real life business that I can think of.
The other, and this goes for any competitor too is to read Matt Brown’s ‘Race car: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE’. And if you don’t have the time to read it, this quote perfectly sums up what Formula Student means to most of us that’s competed:
“When you spend all of your time doing any one activity, that activity will become more important than anything in the world to you. If you give up so much of yourself for a quest, there will be a part of you which will live in the excitement of, and die in the failure of that endeavour. It is blissful and unfortunate, it is terrifyingly exciting, and it is endlessly adventurous.
Our quest was one of race cars, and it is the same story for anyone who has ever been part of a Formula SAE team. We get addicted. We can’t help it. It is part of our love for engineering and our drive to be the best. People wonder why we are obsessed and we wonder why they’re not. Someone asks us why we spend 70 hours a week building a race car and we just look at them like a dog looks at a clown.
Why? What do you mean, why?
Because race car.
That’s why.”