William joined Randle Engineering for two weeks work experience at the end of July. He is currently studying maths, further maths, physics, & computer science at Alcester Grammar School and will be going into Year 13 in September.
We asked him to write about his time with Randle and the knowledge he had gained from it:
My Work Experience
‘A recent survey showed two thirds of employers look for graduates with relevant work experience because it helps them prepare for work and develop general business awareness. Importantly, one third of employers felt that applicants did not have a satisfactory level of knowledge about their chosen career or job.’ – UCAS website
Despite how nervous I was starting my work experience, everyone on the Randle team was very friendly. They made sure I understood both what I was doing and how my work would be used to help new employees better understand the physics concepts that they would be using on a daily basis. I felt like my work would make a real contribution to the company and everyone there, whilst still not feeling like I was pressured to complete any task or being rushed for a deadline.
During my 2 weeks at Randle, I always felt like I had creative control over the projects I was engaged in, whilst always being able to ask for help if I didn’t understand what I should do. The team collaborated to give me projects to work on that were relevant to my interest in Computer Science despite it not being Randle’s main focus. I worked on developing my excel skills, using VBA coding to create animations in excel, exploring new software using Python to create models, and creating a guide to use the new touch screen display.
This experience has been useful to me as it has shown me how my academic studies can be used in the workplace as I was especially pleased to see my knowledge of complex numbers from maths come in handy when working with real world simulations. I was able to talk about the tasks I was doing to make sure they were within my capabilities whilst still challenging my skills as everyone was very understanding if I found it too difficult.
I was very impressed with how the team focused on giving me a greater understanding of many different elements of work as they went out of their way to teach me both the engineering theory that they use as well as the business skills needed in creating deals with customers and planning how to deliver their models. This has helped me gain a better understanding of the direction I want to go in my career and what areas of Computer Science I enjoy the most.
My time working with Randle has far exceeded my expectations of work experience as I have gained valuable knowledge to guide my future career choices instead of being put on tea making duty as some of my friends have been doing.
Peter Benzie, Senior Consultant Engineer, mentored William and said the following:
‘It has been a pleasure to host William for his work experience. William exceeded our expectations and was able to complete the tasks that he was given to a very high standard. Williams ability to pick up the tasks and then work independently was very impressive. The work that William has completed will be integrated into our tools and adds an excellent visual dimension to what we had before.”
