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An aspiring engineer chose to do his work placement week with us to help him decide which path he would like to follow. Enioluwa chose to do his work placement with us to see what engineering options are available and which ones he might be interested in as a career path. Manny, his coach for the week, was eager to show him around Wootzano and show him what he does as an Electronics engineer.
Here are some of the tasks he got up to during his placement with us: Monday
We started off the week showing Eni what we do best, Robots! Our Avarai system was demonstrated to him, along with a technical overview of how the system works and the main functions of the system. After a comprehensive safety talk, he was introduced to 1 hour of de-soldering practice with an overview of the tools and tricks that we use. He practised removing different types of components and was taught how to ensure the PCB through holes are cleaned and free of solder residue.
The last portion of the hour was spent with our Production Engineer where he explained his field in more detail.
Tuesday
Using the techniques learned from the previous day, Eni was tasked with soldering new components onto a board. He had to ensure the through-hole components were soldered firmly and trimmed down appropriately to provide a professional finish. He did extremely well with this task and our engineers were impressed! In the later half of the day, a research task was given to search for 10 given electronic components and then to explain/note their operation. Enioluwa excelled in the task by finding far more than the exercise required and noting the circuit symbols for each. Later, Manny explained to Enioluwa a typical schematic diagram, its purpose and why we grouped together sub-circuits to ease understanding. He further explained a PCB layout to help Eni understand the steps, methods and overall design steps for PCBs.
Wednesday
Three sets of electronics-based questions involving ohm’s law were given to Enioluwa which he displayed a good understanding of. He was able to calculate the resistor value required to safely light up an LED within its electrical parameters.
In the afternoon, he was interested in learning more about robotics and spent some time with our Robotics & Automation engineer who explained the basics of path planning.
Thursday
Two circuit simulations were demonstrated to explain the various features. His knowledge was then put to test when he was asked to explain and demonstrate how to use a power supply, multimeter, and breadboard. This led to him building his own circuit base based on the ohms law questions he covered the previous day.
Friday
Enioluwa and Manny went through around 2-3 programming tutorials which were based on resistors and LEDs. In this activity, he learnt how to programme a microcontroller to control multiple coloured LEDs. Enioluwa was tasked with modifying various settings and adding/removing code functions to control the LEDs in a specific sequence while regulating delays for each sequence.
So After a pretty intensive learning week, what did Eni have to say?
"I would like to thank Wootzano for a wonderful one week of work placement at your company. Although it was a busy week for them, from the start, their employees have shown nothing but great love and support towards my interest in the field of engineering. During the week, I have learnt many important skills like soldering and programming that will prove useful in my dream careers. Skills like teamwork and listening are valuable when working in a team to help create massive projects like Avarai. Nauman showed me a new field of engineering that I did not know about but it seems very fun. Hopefully with this work experience, I will be able to choose a path of engineering that I love. Thank you for all the suggested websites that will further my understanding of engineering like Online Ide, Fusion 360 and Arduino. Thank you once again for this work experience Deborah. I will definitely recommend it to any aspiring young engineers!"
We were impressed with Enioluwa’s progress, knowledge and enthusiasm during his placement and we see a bright future ahead of him, whichever field he picks.
Best of luck Eni from all of us in the Wootzano team!
