What university did you attend?
University of Birmingham.
How many year did you compete in your Formula Student team?
Four years – 2011, Brake Lead and Business Case; 2012, Project Manager; 2013 & 2014 Team Mentor/Photographer.
What is your current role?
CLE Systems Design Integration - Graduate Engineer at Rolls Royce and CLE Future Programmes Assembly Commodity Strategy – Graduate Engineer
What is your fondest memory of FS?
My fondest individual memory of Formula Student is from my first year at the competition in 2011, when I was responsible for delivering the business case. We not only achieved our best result for a long time in this event, it represented how much we had learnt and developed as a team. We had received a lot of responsibility as a group, due to team members graduating, and we had successfully designed, built and competed with our car at a very competitive event. As a group we learnt an awful lot during that year and this was a big reward for our hard work. This then helped us in the following years to improve as a team.
My fondest team memory is from my final year at university where I acted as a mentor to the team. The team delivered a tremendous project and it was really pleasing to see a number of people that had joined the project when I was part of the leadership team, doing so well. The car was well engineered and helped us to complete our best endurance finish for a number of years – despite the weather's best efforts to stop us!
What was your biggest challenge during your Formula Student project?
Project planning! Everyone has an opinion on what should be where and what it should look like. I found this the single hardest thing I ever had to do while I was involved with Formula Student. A well thought out and detailed project plan can make or break the quality of car that a team delivers. I think the biggest difficulty we had as a team was that we didn’t plan soon enough and we didn’t plan cohesively enough – meaning that each part of the plan was different from the previous one. If you can balance even some of those aspects into a cohesive and effective project plan which the whole team can work to then you’re heading in the right direction.
What did Formula Student teach you?
Teamwork is vital to this being a success. Whether that is in the lab, designing and building the car, or on the campsite at the competition cooking dinner for your team mates. Having a camaraderie between yourselves is the single most important thing as it will mean you will be able to deal the with biggest of challenges, but it also makes the successes even sweeter. The relationship and skills you build during your time on Formula Student continue long after you graduate as well. Either visiting old friends and joking about the good old days or when you are faced with a real world challenge in the workplace and you have to rely on your team working skills.
How have you applied your Formula Student experience in your current role?
During my first placement on the graduate scheme at Rolls-Royce I have had to work hard on planning a package of work. I have been able to use the skills I developed and what I have learnt from Formula Student about planning and team work to develop a plan that everyone can work with. This has led to the project getting off to a great start and developing some really useful information.
Why would you recommend doing Formula Student?
Formula Student is full of opportunities for everyone – whether it’s doing detailed engineering, leading a team or getting sponsorship. It allows you to develop a wide range of skills and makes you a better engineer for it. You will get to visit some wonderful places as part of Formula Student and gain experience of working with industry to deliver your project. It also allows you to develop an incredible network – whether that be a close group of friends you see every day or friends from around the world who you see at the competition every year.