Why Engineering? A work experience view

2018 is the Year of Engineering. A national campaign to celebrate the world and wonder of engineering and increase awareness and understanding of what engineers do among young people. Engineering is a vital part of everyday life, from coffee machines and smartphones, to Mars rovers and artificial intelligence.

Some ways in which Diamond encourages young people to get into engineering include through open days; the facility hosts five every year as well as workshops for prospective students who are interested in the field of science and engineering. Recently Diamond ran Project M which involved collecting 1000 samples of calcium carbonate from 100 schools across the country. These samples were analysed by Diamond and the results were sent back to the schools to process. They were interested in finding out how different additives affect the forms of calcium carbonate produced. This project was the first ‘citizen science’ project at Diamond and allowed schools to really get involved in a genuine scientific experiment. This is just one example of how Diamond is very much community based and strives to involve local residents and really get people excited about engineering.

We asked a few of the students about what would encourage them to get into engineering. Their answers included, "workshops, open days, glimpses into day-to-day working life and more work experience opportunities like this as it shows you the kind of industry and atmosphere you’d be working in." The engineers and scientists we met advised us to keep our eyes open to new possibilities, things we don’t know, and to be interested in today's technology.

Throughout the week we’ve spoken to many staff members who have tried to persuade us to consider a career in engineering. They all agree that it is a rewarding work environment with many opportunities to grow and develop skills and expertise.

“The main thing is to develop a passion for what you are doing," said Professor Laurent Chapon, the Physical Science Director at Diamond, "continuing to be curious about what you do is the main driving force behind any success."

We were working with the Communications team for the week, which we both really enjoyed. The role of the Communications team is to ensure effective communications internally and externally through events, publications, PR, the website and other activities. We got to look at ways in which Diamond communicates its science through articles and talks. This then led us to produce our own article which gave us a taste of working in the Communications department.

This work experience has taught us how to work cohesively as a team, to be able to manage tasks and communication well, and given us good insight into fields of engineering we hadn’t previously considered as possible careers.