Meet the students: Yousuff Ansari

• 30th September 2019
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In August 2018 Yousuff joined Detectortesters as a Test Development Engineering Student, taking up the chance to gain valuable industry experience and support his studies towards a degree in Electronic Engineering.

Hi Yousuff, can you tell us a bit about your background?

I was born and brought up in West London, where I currently reside. London’s everything for me – I simply can’t do without the noise!

I’ve successfully completed two out of three years of my degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, which I plan to complete after the successful completion of my placement year here at Detectortesters. I am also a qualified Barista Maestro (someone who can make epic coffees) at the renowned brand, Costa Coffee, which I do part-time on weekends.

 

What surprised you most about joining Detectortesters?

I came to Detectortesters as a placement student, with the mindset of it being a small company and thinking that maybe I wouldn’t learn as much as I would have wanted to. I was completely wrong!  I don’t think any other company would have given me the opportunity to learn so well in so many different areas.

Being a student, I’ve always been used to the usual textbook theory that we get taught at university, however, when I stepped into Detectortesters, everything changed – in a positive way! I realised how much of a multifaceted company it was and that alone completely blew me away.

 

This is the real world and things are really different. Trust me on this one, Detectortesters has provided me with the foundation of industry.

 

What projects did you get to work on?

Well, on the engineering side of things I found that everything’s done in a certain way and has a procedure behind it. I’ve been working on two major projects in the company including the Solo 370 State of Charge Battery Test Fixture and the Solo 770 Battery Test Fixture. I have enjoyed being a part of the process and every single day has given me an insight to tackle different challenges in various ways.

 

How would you describe your experience at Detectortesters?

What can I say? Apart from the two and a half hour commutes daily each way, it has been an unfathomable experience – one that’s so great that working at Detectortesters helped me pass my driving test (wouldn’t have been able to do it with my part time job), significantly reducing my commute time. Now come on, you telling me that isn’t one rollercoaster of an experience?

Usually, students would think that university is what gets you industry-ready, but I somewhat disagree, speaking from the perspective of an intern. I think that you definitely need some sort of industrial experience, whether it’s for a week or a year, just to be able to understand what it’s really like to work for an actual company (learning how a company works and not just the engineering side of it). This is the real world and things are really different. Trust me on this one, Detectortesters has provided me with the foundation of industry.

 

Sounds like you’ve been on quite a journey! Would you recommend Detectortesters as a place to take up an internship?

I’d say that Detectortesters would be a great place to do a placement year or even work there! There was never a day where I’ve woken up and dreaded to go into work as it’s a very welcoming place and feels family-like. I have enjoyed every moment working here despite the difficult challenges you may face. That’s engineering for you. You get good days and not so good days. Most importantly though, I’ve found this experience to be very valuable for my future endeavours.

 

If you’re feeling inspired to work at Detectortesters or enquire about internships, take a look at our careers page for our latest available positions and contact information: