Interested in mathematical problem solving but not sure which degree will fit you best? Given that engineering has now become very popular in our community, I've invited Olivia Wood, a 3rd Year Mechanical Engineering student, to share her top tips and insights - including during her internship at PepsiCo!
1) How did you decide Mechanical Engineering was right for you? What skillset do you need to succeed in this degree?
I was very indecisive about my course path. After studying biology, chemistry and physics at A Level, I decided I wanted to combine the research/analytical side of these subjects with maths and real world applications. Mechanical engineering made a lot of sense for me. The skills required to succeed in this field are applied design, mathematics and problem solving.
2) What advice would you give to a student interested in mechanical engineering? any recommended resources?
My advice to any aspiring mechanical engineers, especially women, would be to believe in yourself and have confidence in your work and your solutions. I have personally grown as a person in terms of self belief, over the past three years. YouTube is a great resource for all branches of engineering. I really enjoy Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and have found YouTube to be one of the strongest resources I’ve used. Project sharing sites such as GrabCAD are very usual when drawing inspiration for mechanical design modelling on SolidWorks.
3) Can you tell us a bit more about your internship at PepsiCo? How did you use your engineering/mathematical knowledge?
During my time with PepsiCo, I watched how an engineering team manages a manufacturing plant, with various teams working in unison to provide maximum efficiency and reduction of downtime on the production line. This placement was for six weeks during the pandemic so I was only on-site for four weeks but in this time I applied my analytical skills and cleansed data used for spare parts predictions.
Feel free to contact us if you'd like to hear more from engineering students and the mathematical skills required!