Undergraduate Engineer Review

I work within the research and development teams in Dyson. For 3 days a week I work on projects with members of the engineering department. I am in charge of my own project and have regular meetings with my line manager to ensure the work is progressing and to help remove any blockers I have. For 2 days a week I attend lectures provided by Warwick University for my engineering degree.

The course has helped me develop strong mathmatical skills, fundamental engineering concepts as well as the ability and confidence to apply them within the workplace.

This program is very intense. Not only do you have responsibilities within the workplace you also have university assignments and exams to do as well. I find that much of my time (inside and outside of work) revolves around dyson and university. That being said I've had alot of fun here. I've made strong friendships with the people on my course and in the workplace which has made it a good experience overall.

Being in the very first year to do this course meant that this were organised and run as we went along. We spent alot of time not really knowing what the next year would look or be like. This also allowed us to heavily influence how the course was structured and ran. The Institute team have been very open to feedback and have taken our thoughts into consideration when planning course.

There is alot of support in the Dyson Institute. There is a strong sense of community within our cohort and the wider institute. Everyone's really friendly and happy to help each other out. The institute provide so many provisions for your university work, workplace work, and for you wellbeing. All my managers have really tried to stretch me to learn and achieve as much as I can.

Warwick provide lectures for all their modules. These would usually be taught on Dyson site so other than those days there's not much contact with them. Most of your interactions will be with the Institute team who are brilliant. On the whole the support from Warwick isn't great. It can be quite challenging to get clarifications on their expectations of coursework and learning outcomes of modules.

The Warwick degree introduces you to the core concepts and mathematics of engineering. It starts as a general degree so you get a solid foundation in Mechanical, Electrical, and Software engineering which helps alot in the workplace. I've found that in most of my placements there is still alot of specific techniques and knowledge I need to learn in order to perform well in my role as the degree doesn't go into much detail.

Dyson has lots of clubs set up by employees for a host of different activities and sports. There are a few Institute specific ones as well. However compared to what you get at a traditional university it's very poor. The clubs aren't huge and don't have alot of funding.

Yes

The Dyson Institute is very challenging, it takes up a huge amount of your personal time and you are in a fairly small town for most of it. However the ability to tailor the experience towards the kind of engineer you want to be is unparalleled.

Make sure you want to be an engineer. Be honest when applying. Be passionate. Be sure you're happy with not getting the 'classic' university lifestyle.