Any engineers out there?

teknokid · 10 Oct 2012 at 15:29

As the title says- any automotive or motorsport based engineers out there?

I'm currently in the my second year of studying motorsport engineering at Oxford Brookes and am currently in the midst of organising my placement year in industry. If anyone can offer me any advice that may help me get my 'foot in' so to speak, it would be appreciated.

chet84 · 10 Oct 2012 at 15:56

What modules are you doing within that course? It will give us a better understanding of what areas you will be better equipped to work in.

teknokid · 10 Oct 2012 at 16:28

chet84 said:
What modules are you doing within that course? It will give us a better understanding of what areas you will be better equipped to work in.

Stress analysis, Cad/product design, dynamics, thermo, maths, electronics and materials.

Cheers

Ging3r · 10 Oct 2012 at 19:25

I'm currently working at Millbrook Proving ground as my placement year, so feel free to ask any questions

teknokid · 10 Oct 2012 at 20:22

Ging3r said:
I'm currently working at Millbrook Proving ground as my placement year, so feel free to ask any questions

oooh. what uni are you from? what sort of stuff do you do? What would you say got you the placement? tips etc?

Ging3r · 10 Oct 2012 at 21:03

From Portsmouth doing Mech eng.
I'm based in component test lab, so loads of cyclic & vibration tests. Job logs, writing reports, helping build & design rigs etc.

One thing for placement years i would say is get your applications in early. There isn't really much that can make you stand out from the crowd in terms of experience, so they more employ on competencies. So try think of scenarios where you've had to think on your feet, or show leadership or organisational skills.

Millbrook applications open through the Vauxhall scheme in the next couple of weeks

Appelhanns · 10 Oct 2012 at 21:35

I did my placement at Triumph Motorcycles and have been back full time for a few months now. It's great here, especially if you're into bikes.

Simon · 10 Oct 2012 at 22:35

Automotive Engineer working for BP Castrol

teknokid · 10 Oct 2012 at 22:59

Appelhanns said:
I did my placement at Triumph Motorcycles and have been back full time for a few months now. It's great here, especially if you're into bikes.

Ooh, that does sound cool - what degree did you do? what sort of stuff does your job entail?

Ging3r said:
From Portsmouth doing Mech eng.
I'm based in component test lab, so loads of cyclic & vibration tests. Job logs, writing reports, helping build & design rigs etc.

One thing for placement years i would say is get your applications in early. There isn't really much that can make you stand out from the crowd in terms of experience, so they more employ on competencies. So try think of scenarios where you've had to think on your feet, or show leadership or organisational skills.

Millbrook applications open through the Vauxhall scheme in the next couple of weeks

Thanks for the advice - I've already started polishing up my CV - I intend to get my applications in soon!

Simon said:
Automotive Engineer working for BP Castrol

Sorry for the repeated question, but what sort of stuff do you do in your job?

DB_SamX · 10 Oct 2012 at 23:02

I know that McLaren near Woking offer summer placements. When I was at uni in Southampton, a couple of the Mech Eng students worked there.

teknokid · 10 Oct 2012 at 23:03

DB_SamX said:
I know that McLaren near Woking offer summer placements. When I was at uni in Southampton, a couple of the Mech Eng students worked there.

Yeah, that's one of the ones I intend to apply for - as I'm a motorsport student my options aren't quite as wide as the mechanical and automotive guys (and gal)

gurusan · 11 Oct 2012 at 03:56

I dropped out from the motorsport course at Oxford Brookes, but when I was there I chose not to do a placement year....however I have a friend who did one at Red Bull and is still employed there AFAIK.

teknokid · 11 Oct 2012 at 09:27

gurusan said:
I dropped out from the motorsport course at Oxford Brookes, but when I was there I chose not to do a placement year....however I have a friend who did one at Red Bull and is still employed there AFAIK.

oh no, what made you drop out?

That's good to hear about your friend though, Im looking to apply at red bull anyway

lucky13 · 11 Oct 2012 at 14:18

Mechanical engineer, I design Wing mirrors for production. Company I work for design and produce 25-30% of the worlds wing mirrors.

gurusan · 12 Oct 2012 at 02:17

teknokid said:
oh no, what made you drop out?

That's good to hear about your friend though, Im looking to apply at red bull anyway

There are a lot of reasons I dropped out, however I would have been much better off finishing the course.

Year 2 is quite challenging, especially the dynamics course. Be self driven, work hard, and find a good study group and you'll get through it all.

As far as my other friends from Oxford Brookes, one is working for ABT sportline and the other for Santander, obviously not doing motorsport related things.

Me, I'm working at Oracle in rack server manufacturing and love it, but the lack of a degree is definitely a handicap that I'm having to overcome.

Blackhawk47 · 12 Oct 2012 at 03:34

I have two friends that have done/doing motor engineering. Both seem to have enjoyed it very much with a keen interest in Motorsport/mechanical etc. One landed a job with Ford's rally team not long after finishing.

The other I'm not sure about as I haven't seen him for several months, though I meet up this weekend, if you have any questions I could pass on?

Appelhanns · 12 Oct 2012 at 11:13

teknokid said:
Ooh, that does sound cool - what degree did you do? what sort of stuff does your job entail?

I did mechanical engineering.

I'm on a chassis team so can be designing anything other than the engine. The job varies a lot depending on what team you are on and what stage of a project you're in and can encompass everything from 3d modelling and drawing through to testing components or assemblies.