Profile

Generally my work involves working with farmers, agricultural dealers and other companies to price, design and produce a ‘scheme’ of equipment for those requiring conveying and drying kit for grain, malt, barley etc.

When the grain comes in from the fields after harvest it needs to go through a process of drying, this is where my company comes in!

We provide machines, like chain and flight conveyors, belt and bucket elevators and driers (those massive silver machines you occasionally see in fields around the country!) so that the grain can be dried and then taken down the next stage of the production line before it becomes a part of your packed lunch in the form of your sandwiches or even your parents friday night pint!

My role is to work with the farmer, dealer and our area sales chaps, to design and price the best system for the farms/factories requirements not only using mathematical skills, but also using computers skills in word processing, spreadsheets and AutoCAD in which I will draw up a 2D layout of the scheme to show them how the grain will flow through the system.

One thing in common for every single day is good administration skills and time management. I have found as an engineer these are vital of you are to get a project to the customer on time.

I need to be organised with my paperwork and my time. You can be the best engineer in the world technically, but if your paperwork skills fall apart no amount of technical ability will rescue me.

When I arrive at 8am each morning I will assess what my workload is for the day, I will plan, in my notebook, what I need to achieve by lunchtime and usually have post is notes on the wall in front of me with my morning targets.

Being dyslexic I need to have everything clearly in front of me and can’t rely on my memory.

As I hit a target I can remove a note and continue with the next task. It’s very satisfying to see the amount of notes reducing.

The same process is repeated for the afternoon.

So my advice, be prepared to learn about time management, it will hold you in good stead for whatever career you peruse but especially as an engineer!

I would like to donate the money to the Exeter unit of the Sea Cadet Corps to help fund new training equipment for the cadets studying the engineering specialisation.

The Sea Cadet Corps is open to young people between the ages of 10 to 18 and as a part of the training syllabus, cadets can undertake an engineering specialisation. For many cadets this is the first real contact they have with engineering and finding out how and why things work. Cadets in the Exeter unit are fortunate enough to be taught by two qualified and actively employed engineers.

As a charity the unit needs to fundraise for the vast majority of its resources, especially engineering resources and they would like the money to go towards new training resources to allow the cadets to get more hands on in their engineering education.

The Sea Cadet Corps is open to any young person, thus any young person has the potential to come into contact with engineering through the organisation, you don’t have to want to join the Navy or Royal Marines to be a cadets in fact most cadets never go into the forces and go on to persue careers in all kinds of areas, not least engineering which was introduced to them within the corps.