Final notes from this year

Third year is coming to a close, so I feel like it’s a good time to blog about how this past year has gone – and how I’ve changed with it.

Back in October, when term began, we were still slightly in the throws of the pandemic. My mechanical engineering cohort is quite large, and so we didn’t have much in-person activity to go to (there were a few set seminars, with a minimum of one per fortnight, I believe). That meant most of our activities were online, which suited me for the most part. However, this was also the time to get stuck into our third year projects. Here, I do possibly think that the distance in communication between other people on my course led me to be less sure of how well I was progressing as compared to everyone else; we’d never done something as large as this individual project before! However, I remember really feeling that extra pressure because I needed to get ethical approval for my project, which was going more slowly than planned (there were a couple of hitches) and also the added panic of omicron emerging; I really thought the university would go into lockdown (or at least increase restrictions, which would require me amending and re-doing part of my ethical approval, which would waste more time). I had to re-adjust basically all pf my plans to accommodate these pressures and get approval and all data collected before Christmas – which was insanely stressful, but I was so thankful when I got it done!

Term one wasn’t all just 3rd year project, of course – my other modules were ‘Advanced Mechanical Engineering Design’, ‘Fluid Mechanics’, and ‘Precision Measurement and Control’, and ‘Engines and Heat Pumps’. This felt quite intense because in previous years, you would only have four modules at any one term (whereas we had the four modules plus individual project for this term). However, the difference was that a couple of these modules continued into term two (instead of having their exams/all coursework in first term). Even so, I found that I ended up learning new content and revising well into the Christmas break, and doing no work at all on my individual project. In future, I would really love to spread it out more, but with the uncertainty due to ethical approval this time round, I don’t think I could have done it any differently as time played out.

I found second term on par with first term in terms of third year project stress! – but I kept up with the module work slightly better as time progressed. This was, in part, because omicron could no longer interrupt my plans (as I had collected all data I needed) and therefore didn’t have to waste time on altering plans. It was also, however, because assignments for these modules were placed throughout the term and required a solid understanding of the modules content as time progressed. Term two was also when I was finally getting somewhere with the placement applications, and companies were contacting me for interviews/assessment centres, and it was term 2 where I was lucky enough to actually get a placement!

By the end of second term, I was completely tired out – and I can speak for most others in my cohort I think, by saying that. We all submitted our 3rd year projects and collapsed into the Easter break! Except, not really, because we had exams coming up in term 3, and three assignments to do in the meantime, which were each quite hefty in their overall percentages of their modules. We also didn’t know exactly when exams would be (we didn’t get the exams timetable released until the first week back after Easter). I can’t lie, they were scheduled to be sooner than expected! There was a bit of panic all around my year, I think. But, the great news was, exams were over fairly quickly, and were evenly spread out, which I was really thankful for. I especially appreciated that the worst module was out of the way first.

And so, we reach present day. After exams, my cohort still has one group project remaining. We are in the process of building our designed and prototyped ‘e-bike conversion kit’ design. Every other group is, of course, doing the exact same thing, so we have had to get to the build space early and leave late, and try and get a 3d printer before everyone else. I’ve newly learnt how to use the laser cutter and water jet cutter, and am now more confident with the 3d printers than I was before, so, even up until the final week of year 3 I am still learning new things. I feel like that encompasses engineering generally – you never stop learning useful new skills, and it’s a journey where you constantly get to figure out how to work out problems together and on your own.

So, over the course of this year, what stands out the most? For me, I’ve proved to myself that I can manage my own individual project, and hold myself accountable and be reliable in what I’ve set myself to do. It’s this pushing of my own personal boundaries that has made me more assured of my own abilities and ambitions. I’m genuinely happy that I’ve managed to make myself proud in this sense; no matter what the outcome, I can say with certainty that I tried my best this year. Even if I were to do badly, in a way, it wouldn’t matter because I know that I did everything I was capable of, and couldn’t do anymore. There, that was a bit of a cheesy note to end on, but ultimately it is true, and it’s what I came to university to do.

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash