“I grew up in a small town on the north coast of Northern Ireland. My Dad’s love of cars perhaps explains why I grew up with a passion for cars too and understanding how they work. Choosing GCSE subjects at 14, I already knew what I was good at and I did well in Maths and Physics.  I was already thinking about a career in engineering.  I looked at Tech’ College courses for after GCSEs but I was considering University, so A Levels seemed like the way to keep my options open for that. 

I was able to choose four AS Level subjects – Maths, Physics, ICT and Technology – and carried all but Technology on to full A Levels.  I had heard somewhere that there would be a shortage of engineers but my school didn’t seem to be able to offer much specific advice on engineering careers, so I set out to research myself.  I had friends who were doing Apprenticeships instead of A Levels; they had been able to buy great cars already, so I was jealous of that!  But I felt like geography was an important factor: there aren’t too many engineering firms near me, so I wasn’t sure I would find an Apprenticeship locally enough doing something I wanted to do.

The challenge in Northern Ireland is where to go to university. We’ve got two great Universities here (Queens Belfast and Ulster) but we can also apply to Universities across the UK.  It wasn’t a clearcut decision for me.  I had been over to London and also had a brilliant night out with friends on my 18th in Newcastle. I decided to make Queens Belfast my first choice, but Newcastle was my second choice.  Of my group of eight close school friends, in the end only two of us stayed in Northern Ireland for university; the rest went ‘over the water’ to universities in the mainland UK.  I was accepted to Queens. Belfast is such an up-and-coming city and I lived with some great housemates, so I had a great time.  From a practical point of view, although I had moved out of home, my parents were still only 1½ hours away - and I wasn’t having to pay for flights to get home!

Of course, my degree was great too.  Queens Belfast ranks highly as a university, and I had been accepted on to their 5-year integrated Masters Engineering Degree.  This meant that I ‘skipped’ a first, bachelor degree and got to do a year in industry.  The first two years of the degree had required modules to cover the engineering ‘basics’, topics liked the fundamentals of engineering dynamics, thermodynamics, CAD, Maths etc.  Most of us then went on our placement year in the third year, to gain practical experience and help decide on the projects and modules we wanted to choose when we came back in years four and five.   I chose a placement based around internal combustion and engine development, a great opportunity to combine my passion for cars with my degree.

Back at Belfast, one of the things we did in year four was a group project. I chose to be part of the Formula Student* racing team. We designed a suspension system for the car – working out stresses, costing, performance etc.  Then, in my final year, we had the option to do another linked project.  Again, thinking about cars, I chose high-fidelity simulation, taking my knowledge of dynamics a step further.  I had also been lucky enough to work my final two summers from University with a great company in Wisconsin, USA, working on car construction.

I finished my Masters in July 2020, all set to return to Wisconsin to take up a contract with them for ten months, and to do a bit of travelling, before returning to find a graduate job in the UK in September 2021. Sadly, the pandemic restrictions meant I couldn’t get a visa or a plane ticket, so I felt like my plans had stalled.  However, I spotted a postgraduate study programme working on Artificial Intelligence, so I enrolled on that instead, knowing it would be a great opportunity to expand my knowledge of programming.   It gave me the chance to explore automotive simulation, which means you don’t have to build a real prototype to test its performance and materials.  The postgrad’ course is also giving me that chance to explore other specialisms that interest me, such as telemetry and the power train, so I can experience lots of areas before I think about specialising in any of them. I’ve also spent a lot of 2021 working with Formula Student and supporting what they do.

After my postgraduate course finishes, I would love to work in the automotive industry as we are seeing so many changes and developments already. For example, autonomous driving is going to be massive for transporting goods and people.  It will blur the lines even more between mechanical engineering and programming – and bring ethics into the programming.

The leading technologies at the moment are electrification and hybridisation. These are really important because the automotive industry – and the world – needs to meet the carbon emissions goals. It will be engineers who have to step up and deliver these goals.  And it’s not just the fuel that’s the issue, we need to decarbonise the materials and manufacturing process.  When I was in the USA, I got to meet a team who can test how much emissions the paint on your car gives off.   We do need to think of everything: for example, what new materials can we use that can be recycled after a car has reached the end of its useful life?  It’s going to be a massive task for industry in general and it will be engineers and scientists who are best placed to provide the answers.

My advice would be, if you don’t know what you want to be in life, do an engineering degree as it prepares you for so much.  If you do have strengths and qualifications in STEM subjects, it’s fairly easy to step into aeronautics, programming and other related areas, so engineering is a great generalism. Engineering also teaches you lots of transferable skills, too, from teamwork to analytical thinking.  The best engineers bring lots of skills.

Choosing a career is definitely a balancing act: prioritise what you’re interested in and what you enjoy but also think about what the world needs and where your skills could fit.”

*Formula Student - https://www.imeche.org/events/formula-student

Editor’s note: Since we conducted this interview, we are delighted to report that Jonny has found a great job in Automotive Simulation at US-based company Rivian, helping to make the next generation of electric vehicles.