Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

My main responsibilities can be divided into two parts. The first one is creating the compliance reports for certification of the Trent XWB, the engine on the Airbus A350. These reports are fundamental to prove to the aviation authorities (FAA and EASA) that the engine is safe to operate and meets all the regulations (such as noise, pollution, etc.). The second part is to ensure the engine’s in-service maturity, i.e., to come up with a full range of tests and other validation strategies to prove that the XWB does what Rolls-Royce promised to the customers, that is a reliable and durable product, and a profitable engine, both for us and for our customers worldwide. This involves not only working with several different Rolls-Royce teams on my site and in other sites, but also with Airbus, giving me an excellent overview of the entire project.

Fortunately, because of the nature of the programme, there is not a typical day in the office! Some days, it is all about getting your head down and writing as much of the reports as you possibly can. There are also quite a lot of meetings, some of them with the whole Development team, which are usually great to understand the large scale opportunities and issues. But by far the best days are the ones I get to create my own experiments to prove in-service maturity. This involves getting in touch with a lot of our specialists (and thus getting a lot of new knowledge), being really creative and innovative not only with the experiment itself but with the cost and time, and finally seeing it being tested, which can range from a simple notch test to a full engine run!

There are several things I really like about my work. Firstly, the type of cutting edge technologies and tests I get involved with on a daily basis, meaning I can create and be part of things that were never made before, be creative and innovative, and help people all over the world to travel faster, more safely and in a more sustainable way. Secondly, the knowledge that I am working for a company with such a rich heritage and tradition of excellence and innovation in aviation, something which is quite important to me. Likewise, the global nature of the projects I get involved with means I am in daily contact with a lot of different cultures, ways of thinking and doing things - something that provides me with huge cultural and professional knowledge and experience, a fundamental characteristic of anyone that wants to be a successful modern engineer. Finally, working in aviation has been my prime choice since a very early age, so making that dream a reality is an incredibly satisfying and rewarding feeling.

To me, there are only two challenging aspects. The first one is, because Rolls-Royce is such a huge company, sometimes is difficult to see how your contribution fits into the overall end product, and how your work is actually making a difference and improving the products and the company. Secondly, because my team is split across several sites, it can get difficult to ensure everything fits together nicely and on time at first try, which can lead to a sense of frustration and powerlessness sometimes.

What drove me to this specific role was the huge amount of in-depth technical knowledge that I not only gained but was exposed to, the opportunity to work on a brand new engine from the first engine test to entry into service, the very nice balance between technical work and customer/airframer exposure, the opportunity to see my own work go from a report to a full engine test, and see how people genuinely trust me and my technical judgement.

Some examples of the skills I use as part of my job are: conduct investigations into in-service issues; liaise with Customers, International Partners, and Specialist groups within Rolls-Royce plc; create requirements documents for new parts, redesigns and tests; investigate forecast studies from airframers, engine manufacturers and independent sources to identify possible future operational hubs and their impact in the engine operations; CAD modelling of engine parts and support equipment; project and people management; how to use lean techniques to improve services and manufacturing; how to conduct and lead risk management activities.

With a few exceptions, there is very little mandatory training, but the company makes every effort to support any training that you identify as part of your development plan, by providing a never-ending and always improving offer of courses (both on and off site). Personally, I have been to engine familiarisations, introductory sessions to functions and their processes, and to training on failure investigation topics. I particularly enjoyed the courses on Systems Engineering, Root Cause Analysis, Failure Investigation, and Project Management.

Professional Excellence Graduate Programme at Rolls-Royce plc, covering six 3-month placements across several departments including (since September 2012): TP400-D6 Development Engineering, Helicopters Service Engineering, Joint Strike Fighter Systems Design (all three in Bristol, United Kingdom), Civil Small and Medium Engines Service Engineering in Indianapolis (USA), RB199 Design and Make Project, and Manufacturing Engineering Value Stream Management (the latter two back in Bristol).

Because I am still at a very early stage of my career I still do not have a plan set in stone regarding where I see myself moving to; this is made even more difficult when you work for a company like Rolls-Royce, where the offerings on career progression and business units are quite vast. However, I would like to spend some time in a customer environment (either an air base of a service delivery centre), and get more involved with activities such as Value Stream Management in Manufacturing and Lean Manufacturing techniques, and learn as much as possible about these two key competencies. This, hopefully, will help me to get into a Technical Leadership role (i.e., roles such as Chief Engineer) in an aerospace area where there is a good balance between customer focus and technical work, so I can help to provide the best products possible to the customers, but also ensure those products can be made in the more efficient way possible.

First of all, make a list of things you are looking to get from any job you apply to; this will make it easier to filter a lot of companies upfront and will dramatically increase the chances of you finding a job you actually enjoy and takes you down a path you actually want to take. Once you find the companies you want to apply to, read as much as possible about who they are and what they do (both from their own websites and independent sources), so you have a good idea of what to expect from them and it will help as a preparation for your interview. When you get called for an interview, make sure you research what previous candidates said about the interview (i.e., the topics, type of interview, what are the assessors looking for, etc.), so you can tailor your preparation and be much more relaxed on the day. Finally, make sure you review your applications and CV in the University’s Career Centre; they have excellent professionals there that will help you to stand out from other applicants from the application stage to the interview.