By Sangita Jayendran, Graduate Controls Engineer at Pearson Engineering Ltd
Fun fact about me:
I love to travel around, try out different cuisines and see if I recreate them in my kitchen. Mostly it is fun and exciting except of some kitchen mishaps. I love to sing. It just calms me down and is a quick escape from any stressful situation.
My area of STEM is important because…
My STEM area mainly focuses on Technology and Engineering. I think my area of STEM is very important because almost everything we do in our daily lives has something to do with technology and engineering. It helps us to gain problem solving and critical thinking skills. You can see engineering in the roads, bridges, buildings, cars, trucks etc. And with each day, there is an advancement in the technology. STEM has become a very integral part of our lives.
My Job: I work as a control engineer at Pearson engineering Ltd. Pearson engineering is a defence-based company that manufactures front-end equipment to be integrated to armed vehicles like tanks etc. For example, the dozer blades, ploughs, excavator arm etc are integrated to different armed vehicles according to the application.
As a control engineer, I provide control functionalities to this equipment to ensure accurate and smooth functioning of them. I bring in a level of automation to these products by using sensors to perceive the environment and automate the front-end equipment. I do this by developing python scripts/ code which send signals to the control system to actuate the equipment.
A Day in my Work Life: My typical day consists of me sitting down in front of my computer, do some research and developing some python script or code. And then go outdoors or to the workshop to test the kit with the control system to validate the code and performance of the equipment. When I go to the factory I am supposed to wear protection equipment like eyeglasses and ear buds to protect us from anything getting into our eyes and loud noise.
I work in a research and Development team and work with different teams across the company. Hence, I am required to have good communication skills to be able to communicate my needs and requirements to other colleagues from different team and vice versa. To do my job I also require basic knowledge of mathematics, physics, and computer science. I am also required to have a good problem-solving ability to approach any given task and come up with the solution. Before the start of any project, there is a brainstorm session on what factors is to be considered and how to plan the next steps. Once the plan is made, targets and goals are set for the upcoming year. There are regular meetings set some weekly, some fortnightly to review and discuss the progress, challenges of the project.
My Career Journey: I did my B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from SRM university, India. Throughout my four years of under graduation, I took up several optional courses, one such course was control system. This was the first steppingstone of my career in Control. I got interested in this subject and took some workshops to gain more knowledge. I also did two major internships and my final year project in this field. This piqued my interest further and I wanted to dive deep into this subject. Hence, I did my Masters in Control and Automation Engineering from Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
After I completed my masters, I got a job that I am currently working in. Before this I had only done some internships, but this was my first full time job. It is very exciting and challenging at the same time.