Joe Lambon, year in industry
Joe Lambon is a fourth year "Physics with a Year in Industry" student who did a placement year with Cummins during the lockdown year 2020-21. Joe is also a WRIPA ambassador, promoting the activities of the WRIPA consortium to Nottingham students and here he is sharing his experience of the placement to inspire other students to pursue a year in industry.
Hello!
I am a fourth year Physics with Year in Industry student, undergoing my final year of studies after having completed a 12-month placement with Cummins. This year, I am one of three WRIPA ambassadors from the School of Physics & Astronomy who is helping promote career-thinking amongst my peers.
Being in the position where it’s necessary to engage with post-university planning, I’m finding the conversations I’m having with those around me highly relatable. With there being so much uncertainty, it can be daunting to ponder the future. That’s why these activities are important.
In my second year at university, I had neither any real idea of what I wanted to do, nor any experience that made use of my skills as a physicist. Only after attending several of the school’s career-focused lectures did I have my first thoughts about where I might actually want to go when I finish my degree. This is when I started spending time browsing websites such as Gradcracker, searching for opportunities that might be of interest.
The applications I sent off took hours, which was honestly the hardest part. Twenty-plus of these later, I received an offer from Cummins Turbo Technologies. I was unsure whether this role in mechanical engineering would suit me, nevertheless I accepted it. Fast forward twelve-months and I can say the experience gained is invaluable. Whilst I learnt a lot in terms of professional, networking, and engineering-specific skills, I’ve found that the most important lessons relate to my confidence in where I want to go next. There’s a lot I want to remain the same in terms of company-ethos and work lifestyle from what I had at Cummins, however throughout my year I discovered a passion for programming.
So, although I was fortunate enough to receive a graduate job offer and final year-sponsorship, I’ve decided to pursue a career in software instead.
I hope in my time as a WRIPA ambassador I can encourage uncertain students to give something a go and start shaping their futures too.