Josh Bowen

I have seen a lot of universities where academic standing and proprietary research has a much higher priority than their students' studies. Solent has it right, however, with industry-focused courses and lecturers with diverse working backgrounds and experience.

The staff are extremely accommodating and easy to talk to, making Solent University a very comfortable learning environment – and I met some good friends while studying at Solent, both students and staff.

With a firmly grounded foundation in maths and physics, I felt confident that what I was learning would give me a good starting point in my career, which it has. I was even able to start my career during the summer breaks when I worked for a defence engineering firm.

This gave me a good standing for when I graduated, to then be selected to be involved in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership – a government scheme between the University and an outside private company, where I was involved in using the combined expertise of both parties to develop innovative new products.

I have since been taken on by the company, He-Man Dual Controls, as they were pleased with my progress and wanted to continue after the project ended. He-Man is a small company dedicated to producing dual control pedals for driving tuition vehicles.

As the electronic engineer for the company, a typical working day includes overseeing the entire design/development cycle of any new electronic products as well as developing our other experimental projects. I am also involved in technical sales logistics, which includes testing our products to pass different international market standards.

Each stepping stone in my career has been memorable so far, from one exciting point to the next, with a new set of challenges and a new opportunity to indulge my passion for engineering. Every challenge helps me learn something new that I can use on subsequent projects and the possibilities of what can be designed and accomplished are endless.

If you have the freedom to choose your career, then you should do something you love, ask yourself the question, would you still do it if you didn’t get paid? As with me, I love electronics and am constantly volunteering my own time for out-of-work activities, as well as my own projects.

And I am still constantly involved with Solent University as I find the staff members extremely friendly and open to collaboration and consultation.