Engineering You’re Hired! Or one step closer to being hired! - by Rishi Parwani

Sheffield is one of the very few universities in the country to offer a project week devoted to further developing our acquired engineering skills. ‘Engineering You’re Hired’ is the second year equivalent to the ‘Global Engineering Challenge’ which has been highlighted by my fellow ambassador, Muhammad Zainudin in a previous blog post. In this post, brought to you by yours truly, I’ll be sharing with you my experience of taking part in EYH.  

What does the week involve you ask so curiously? Essentially, we are put into multi-disciplinary teams consisting of engineers from different disciplines and given a project to which we have to propose a solution in the form of a pitch to a company who would fund the project. My team consisted of Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics, Information Technology and Business as well as Aerospace Engineers and we were asked to design a commercial electric or hybrid aircraft in response to the rise in use of hydrocarbons in the commercial aviation industry.

The project brief was open ended which really allowed us to explore many different conceptual designs. This was where our creative juices flowed best and the Aerospace geek in me was so excited to be part of such an enthralling project. Our first day consisted of coming up with initial ideas as well as considering different factors (i.e. Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) – this really helped us in deciding what we wanted in our final design and what we had to prioritise in order to ‘get the funding’ for our final presentation at the end of the week.

What I really appreciated about this project week and my given topic was that it genuinely gave me such a good insight into the career that I’m about to launch myself into after I graduate. I’ve always been fascinated by the Aerospace industry and taking part in EYH really opened my eyes to how conservative the industry can be which is no surprise given the safety record commercial aviation currently possesses. Not to mention how costly it is to get an aircraft into service. This week was all about researching the specifics and on average we learnt that it takes over 15 years from initially designing an aircraft to its first flight with total investments upwards of £6bn! I found this fascinating as I never really delved into specifics of costs and investments required for aircraft manufacture.

Without boring you too much with the technical details, our final design incorporated a blended wing body which is essentially an aircraft which has the wings integrated into the fuselage. They look like UFOs from certain angles and are really quite fantastic dramatically reducing fuel consumption (by about 15% which is A LOT in this industry) which is one of the main reasons we pitched this as our final design.

Every day of the week consisted of working hard on our final designs competing with other groups to be ‘granted the funding’ as well partaking in presentations in the form of a Boardroom. This would consist of a short 2-3-minute presentation so that our facilitators could monitor our progress throughout the week as well as ask us about designs and why we’ve chosen them as such. On the Wednesday, an industrial mentor partook in the Boardroom session and our team was selected for being the ‘Most Professional’ which really did motivate us for pressing on with the rest of the week.

Even though we didn’t win the best pitch in the end, my team and I had a great week learning more about the commercial aviation industry, coming up with the final design as well as refining our engineering skills. It was a pleasure working with them and getting to know them. I genuinely enjoyed being able to apply what I learnt in lectures and am even more excited about the prospect of being an Aerospace Engineer in industry as a result of EYH. My career in Aerospace is one step closer to taking off.

Meet Our International Engineering Ambassador: Rishi Parwani

Name: Rishi Parwani

Course: Aerospace Engineering

Nationality: British

Who am I and where I am from?

If I had to describe myself in three words, I’d say I’m a foodie, neat freak and a massive travel nut. Okay, that was more than three words but it’ll do. Hey guys, my name is Rishi and I’m a second year Aerospace Engineering student. Where am I from? Whenever someone asks me that I always give a different response because it’s one that makes a third culture kid like myself a bit nervous. Long story short, I’m half Indian, half Pakistani but born and brought up in the beautiful city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Why the University of Sheffield?

That’s a good question. Having grown up in a sunny country, why would I pack my bags and move to England? Personally, I’ve always wanted to experience what it would be like to study abroad. I chose the University of Sheffield mainly because of how the Aerospace Engineering course is structured here. I absolutely love how I have modules from so many different engineering disciplines as it’s given me such great exposure and I feel that are so many opportunities to practically apply everything that I’ve learnt here. However, I didn’t make the decision on the sole basis of academics. Of all the places that I applied to, I felt that I resonated most with Sheffield because not only would I get the chance to experience local culture, I would also be able to immerse myself in the international culture that the university is known for.

Why Aerospace Engineering?

I do Aerospace Engineering because let’s face it, it’s pretty cool to tell people that I do Rocket Science. Alright, jokes aside, I’ve always been fond of planes from a very young age. When I was just a few years old, my dad would drive me down to this parking lot near the airport and we would watch planes take off and land. Fast forward to over 10 years later, and we still do the same. I was hooked and I was always curious with how planes flew, how they were capable of flying long distances and I was just in awe so it feels pretty awesome that all that curiosity has lead me to this chapter in my life. My dream is to work for a commercial airline one day or anywhere where I’ll be exposed to civilian aircraft.

What do I love most about Sheffield?

I love how different Sheffield is to where I grew up. I love how green it is here, there’s an abundance of parks and green spaces and let’s not forget about how close Sheffield is to the Peak District. It’s just amazing that within 30 minutes you can be surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes in the entire country. It’s not only that though, I love the food in Sheffield too. Being a foodie means I always venture out to find new, quirky restaurants which Sheffield is just full of! There’s so many reasons to fall in love with this city. The people I’ve met here and the friends I’ve made are just absolutely amazing. Also, being the hilly city that it is, Sheffield has done wonders to my legs!

Advice?

If this is your first year in Sheffield, get involved in as much as you can! You’re probably tired of hearing this all the time but this is the best way to meet new people and even pick up a new hobby. Also, explore the UK! There are so many amazing cities and places to visit so make the most of your time in the UK.

MEET OUR INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING AMBASSADOR: Muhammad Shuja

Name: Muhammad Shuja

Department: Computer Science

Course: MEng Software Engineering

Nationality: Pakistani

Year: First






First, something about yourself?
My name’s Muhammad and I’m currently studying 1st year Software Engineering. I was born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Dubai, UAE. I did my International GCSEs and A-Levels in English Language School, Dubai.

Your favourite subjects at school?
Definitely Maths!

Why did you choose to study at the University of Sheffield?
I was amazed by the fact that the Sheffield University has won awards at some point in all categories, all the way from the best accommodation to the best Students’ Union in England. Apart from that, I planned to study in a city that was entirely different than the one I was previously living in (Dubai). I was looking for something not entirely made out of skyscrapers, but rather more greenery. And what could be a better choice than Sheffield?!

How easy did you find settling into Sheffield?
To be honest, it was a lot easier than I was expecting. I was hoping to get homesick really soon. Not to mention the fact that I was terrified about the culture shock I was expecting. Turns out I didn’t face any of those things at all. The University did make sure my transition was as smooth as possible. One of the best things they did was assigning a mentor to me who helped me out on all aspects of university. Yes, prospective students, you can get your very own personal guide to Sheffield. The best part? He/she will be on the same department as yours if not the same course!

Part of your course you particularly enjoy?
Most people usually think that Software Engineering is just programming, something which you could probably learn on your own. However, that’s not true. My course offers a lot more than that, stuff like Artificial Intelligence and Software Development Techniques all the way to Assembly Language Programming. The part I like the most are Artificial Intelligence labs. Each group gets a robot which we programme to do loads of cool stuff like responding to what you say and identify faces of different people and performing specific actions for each one. It does some basic Tai Chi tricks too!

Your opinion about the teaching and studying methods at the University?
It’s nowhere close to the ones at school. You get to be more responsible in terms of your academic progress. Though the lecturers are as helpful as possible, just viewing the lecture slides won’t do the job. You’ll learn through your own mistakes and you’ve got to do a certain amount of independent study before you understand concepts, and this keeps getting harder as you advance through your course.

The benefits of studying at UoS rather than another University?
As a student in Sheffield, you get to be part of world-class Russell Group University situated in a diverse community. You have a Students’ Union which makes sure your voice is heard no matter what your concern is. I don’t think any other university is as good as Sheffield at welcoming international students. The University also has the privilege of having an impressive employer satisfaction rate and also the best Students’ Experience for a number of years.

Advice to prospective students?
There is no such thing as a ‘stupid question’. Don’t be afraid to talk about anything that worries you. I’m sure you’ll always find someone to hear. Living on your own in a new country is never easy, but all it takes is some time and patience to find your way around it. Join lots of societies and have fun. Oh, and definitely try all the takeaways on West Street, each one is better than the other! Don’t forget the thing you will actually be here for … work hard and prosper!