James Bell
Alumnus
- Course
- Automotive Engineering MEng
- Subject area
- Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering
Doing a placement gives you a huge head start to your professional career and allows you to grow as a person in ways that can deeply impact the rest of your university experience and life beyond. I truly feel as though my life trajectory was completely changed by my placement, and I would do it again many times over to be in the position that I am currently. If you thrive with practical hands-on work, it is a fantastic opportunity to learn what you want to do in industry and to gain skills that can help you to make the most of your degree.
The application process
I heard about the placement on the Red Bull student placements website so I submitted a written application followed by a day of three online interviews.
To prepare for the interview process, I watched videos on the current F1 power unit and made sure that I could name all the components and their functions. This proved very helpful in the interviews where I was asked to describe and draw a flowchart of the energy in the power unit and also how I would design certain components given operational parameters.
My placement and university experience
For my placement year, I worked as a mechanical design engineer on the turbo and gas exchange teams. I started out designing 3D printed hose guides and an oil distribution block and then I progressed to designing a wastegate valve and several exhaust systems.
I also completed side projects including helping design tooling for the hybrid system cell block. I had to justify my engineering decisions, complete finite element analysis of my designs and I also wrote custom MATLAB tools to aid in valve design by shortcutting costly CFD valve flow simulations for quick design iterations. I investigated fault fixes for systems owned by the respective teams I worked in, and I represented the Hybrid Mechanical ERS department in the Bolted Joint Working Group.
The highlight of my placement was the people that I worked with, both on a professional and personal level. I enjoyed the time they spent helping me develop my engineering skills but also the time we spent talking at lunch and on walks was equally valuable.
The transition from study to work was surprisingly easy, whilst I felt like I'd jumped into the deep end at the beginning, after a steep learning period, it felt natural. This was strongly helped by how eager my colleagues were to help me and the welcoming atmosphere at work.
I was not a strong student when I left for placement, but I feel as though I gave 100% to my final year because my placement had shown just how far I could go. There is a clear difference between the professionalism and polish of my 3rd and 4th year work and my placement was the sole reason I felt capable to push for a first class degree.
My career
Put simply — if I hadn’t done my placement, I wouldn’t have got my graduate job. This is partly because I feel it is easier for a company to invest in someone who they already know and partly because my university work substantially improved due to my placement.
I have been back at work for two weeks now and it feels like I never left. The training I completed in my placement year has allowed me to jump right into my work again.
I was really excited about seeing the people I worked with again because truly they were and continue to be the best part of my job. Being surrounded by smart and incredibly kind individuals pushes me to keep improving and to make the most of my job and career.