I’m being awarded the Best BEng (Hons) Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering Student Award at graduation – which is sponsored by Thales, the company I’m now working for – as well as The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Outstanding Project Award.
If you’d told me four or five years ago that I’d have gone from college to university and then be working as a professional engineer, I would have laughed. It just shows what you can achieve if you make the most of opportunities.
I’m the first person in my family to go to university and joined GCU in third year after completing an HND at City of Glasgow College. I have always been interested in technology but wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. I applied to study mechanical engineering and discovered I loved it. When I arrived at GCU it was a step up and a bit of a culture shock but I found that because I had been very focused on doing well in the HND, I already had a lot of drive to work hard and achieve, and I was delighted to be awarded a First in my degree.
I’d recommend my programme to anyone who is determined to work hard for a valuable, satisfying degree. It was really interesting and has been incredibly helpful in building my career. It covers fields that are directly linked to the real world and is very industry focused. It would probably have been more difficult to get this job if GCU hadn’t had such strong industry links and I hadn’t been nominated for the award supported by Thales. Those industry links help companies to identify emerging talent.
The awards are two of four I received while studying at GCU. I was also nominated to compete for the university in the Incorporation of Hammermen Award, and was delighted to win and subsequently be short-listed by the Incorporation for a Prince Philip Award, in which I was runner-up.
Doing well in my studies and competing for and receiving the awards really developed my confidence and I now have an outstanding CV and a brilliant, interesting job.
Aw that’s good son