Ollie Pawlaczek
Alumnus
- Course
- Automotive Engineering BEng
- Subject area
- Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering
You are at square zero so just try and take on all opportunities with an open mind and don’t be afraid to ask questions, people will always want to help you if you have a positive attitude. Although doing a placement may seem like adding a year to your studies, it is worth it. As much as you learn what you want to do, you also learn what you don’t want to do which I think is also really important. The skills you gain, exposure to real-world problems, then all the people you meet will really help you stand out when looking for the next step after university.
The application process
I heard about the placement on LinkedIn, the application required the usual cover letter and CV. Following this, there were 5 x 20-minute online calls on a variety of aspects including technical and soft skills.
From previous interview experience, I had prepared for lots of technical questions. There is an endless amount of different technical questions you could be asked, but if they ask you to ‘describe a stress-strain graph for a brittle material’ and you have not brushed up on these basics it can go pear shaped quickly. Especially for placement roles, they want to make sure you have your basic engineering principles down, the technicalities needed in the role can then be built up from these foundations.
My placement and university experience
For my placement year, I was in the Mechanical Design for Internal Combustion Engine team at Red Bull Powertrains. I started in the Materials team. Then I rotated to more design-based work in the top end team and got to work on projects and release designs for Bottom end and Structures teams when needed. The Materials team involved failure analysis, investigating how parts had failed during testing and creating reports for the business to ensure processes and/or design changes were made to avoid repeat failure. This involved analysing the failed parts using a range of techniques including SEM imaging. The design work I completed was mostly for the Top end team, this covers the valvetrain for the first-ever Red Bull PT V6 engines.
This sounds very cliché, but the people I met over the year helped me understand the level I want to get to and what kind of professional I aspire to be. If you show you are enthusiastic to learn and ask questions, people were very generous to take time out of their day to help me learn and understand the various parts of the business as well as teaching new skills.
The training provided was also great, I was fortunate enough to receive formal training on using the Scanning Electron Microscope, Geometric Dimensioning + Tolerancing, and also NX CAD and FEA.
Overall, the best part of the placement was the satisfaction of releasing a design, then once it was delivered seeing it run on the engine. Seeing all the success of Red Bull Racing from behind the scenes, getting to see the trophies and drivers and talk to people you have watched on TV was awesome.
Personally, I did not find the transition from study to work very difficult. This could have been due to having various jobs between finishing school and throughout uni so my understanding of a work environment was there. Another reason would be the welcoming environment at RBPT, all the managers and colleagues were very welcoming. Most places will have social aspects like 5-a-side or running clubs which I would really recommend getting involved in to help build relationships outside of the workplace. This can then help ‘break the ice’ if you require help from them back at work by naturally taking away any nerves or hesitation to ask a question.
Organisational skills from placement really helped me on my return to university. Having to manage multiple projects and track progress across the projects was a skill I had to learn quite quickly on placement. When coming back to uni, this helped when managing progress through the various modules and coursework deadlines.
My career
It's fair to say without my placement, I would not be going to my future work role. Although uni gives you the technical principles and skills, when you looking for graduate roles, the main of the conversations in the interviews were elaborating on the skills and experiences picked up on placement year. It is fairly assumed that you will have been taught all the relevant modules at uni, what makes you stand out is the experience and attitude gained from the placement year.
The skills and competencies gained on placement like CAD and FEA will definitely help with my career. The soft skills from having to deliver presentations and attend meetings should really help me be a confident member of the team from the start.
The company I am going to get to work on a really wide range of projects. From motorsports to mining and most in between, Fortescue WAE will allow me to develop my skills whilst learning about an array of industries. This will also help me further understand what I want to specialize in later in my career. The company is currently going through a lot of change with lots of investment which I am excited to be a part of.