How were you involved with the Formula Student competition?
I was a member of the Liverpool John Moores University Racing Team from 2011-2013. During this time I had a variety of roles, from designing an underfloor and cooling system; to driving in the acceleration events at competitions.
What's your current role and with which company?
I am currently an engineer in the Weight Management team at Bentley Motors Limited. As the name suggests this involves predicting and analysing the weight of vehicles throughout both the development and production processes, to ensure it meets performance targets.
This keeps my role really varied, as it can impact almost every system on a vehicle and throughout the whole development cycle from the early concept phase right through to production level vehicles.
What was your first full time role post-graduation?
After Graduating, I secured a position on the Graduate scheme at Bentley Motors. Over the course of the 2 year programme I undertook a range of activities throughout the business to develop both commercial and technical skills.
What made you join the competition?
As I am sure a lot of people do, I initially joined the competition because it looked like fun! Once I had joined however, I found it was so much more than that. Solving real problems, and seeing a project come together as part of a team was really rewarding.
How did your experiences at Formula Student help prepare you for your first role?
Being part of Formula Student allowed me to take the knowledge which I gained during my degree and apply it practically, to real situations. This helped me broaden my engineering expertise, as well as develop a range of problem solving; presentation and team working skills, which I use almost every day.
Formula Student also teaches you how to adapt quickly to a changing situation. Anything could happen during competition! So being able to plan, for these eventualities and be able to make robust decisions under pressure, are traits which are useful in any job role.
What advice would you give to young engineers seeking employment post-grad?
It can feel overwhelming applying for jobs post-grad, there are so many options it can be difficult to know where to start, especially when trying to find something to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
This is where Formula Student can be a real benefit. It can be a great source of experiences and technical skills to refer to. Try also to think of some wider ranging example beyond Formula Student to really show off that you are a well-rounded candidate. Remember your answers should be specific, and tailor them to the role you are applying for.
What was your biggest challenge during FS and how did you overcome it?
I felt the biggest challenge during Formula Student was the handover of knowledge through the team, especially with new and graduating team members every year. This sometimes led to either existing work being duplicated, or having to start from the beginning again and risk the same pitfalls from previous years.
There were two main ways in which I overcame these obstacles. Firstly: getting new starters involved in meaningful tasks from beginning, helped them to feel valued which encouraged them to stay in the team. This allowed the knowledge transfer to happen over a much longer period of time. Secondly: maintaining connection with Alumni proved most helpful. I found most were still happy to pass on their experiences or clarify any information which they had initially produced.
What is your fondest moment of the competition?
In 2012, the team had a fantastic competition, eventually finishing as the 2nd Place UK team. It had been a challenging lead up to the event, so to come away with such a great result really made it feel as though all the hard work had paid off.
What are you most looking forward to seeing in the next 20 years of Formula Student?
In the next twenty years I’m really looking forward to seeing how alternative powertrains and materials develop. Formula student is an environment where bold innovations are showcased, often pointing to the future of the automotive industry. It will be really interesting to see how the innovations seen in Formula Student are applied to the wider industry.
Please can you provide a recommendation for anyone thinking of taking part in the competition!
If you are thinking about it, then go and do it, you’ll never know unless you try!
On that point, try to get involved with different disciplines in the team whilst you are a part of it. Everyone was new to the team once and everyone there is learning (no matter how long they have been there!). Experience as much of it as you can and you never know, you might find you excel in something that you never would have considered!