Student Stories

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”” –  Muhammad Ali

1. ​Could you briefly share about yourself and your current career portfolio?

Hi, I am Aqil. I graduated from Coventry University with a Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree with second upper-class honours in October 2021. While completing my degree, I was working full-time as an Associate Engineer. After a year, I became an Engineer in a semiconductor company. After I graduated, I pursued my career in a different industry, and I am currently a Project Engineer in the marine sector.

2. ​How has the programme at Coventry University helped you in your career and personal growth?

Working full-time and completing my degree part-time was definitely not an easy feat. I had to catch on fast in order to balance good time management between work, assignments and exams, and personal time. This made me learn the importance of good time management skills, to which I owe my attributes too. Through this experience, I also grew as a person and found many qualities in me as I am now able to make better decisions based on what is best for my future, allowing me to be more forward-thinking.

The numerous projects have taught me hands-on skills, and I have since improved over time with practice. These skills have proven to be very helpful in my career in the semiconductor and marine industry. The module that really resonated with me and I found it to be the most informative and helpful, was “Embedded Microprocessors Group Project”, which introduced hands-on and research skills that I can directly apply in real-life.

3. ​Could you share your greatest achievement or most significant project to date (if any)?

When I achieved distinction with honours for my final year project with Elderly Friendly Novel Home Automation System. Making use of IoT Technology, I applied the right theoretical and practical knowledge that I learnt throughout the programme to this project, making it a huge success. This project also gave me the creative space to design and implement IoT Technology and thus, made me realise that I do have a certain interest in the area of project management. As this is an individual project, I was able to discover more about myself and hone important project skills such as project planning and scheduling, and task and risk management.

4. ​Any words of advice for part-time students who are struggling to balance work and studies?

First, set clear and achievable goals you would like to attain in the next few years. Write it down clearly and display it in a place where you can see it daily. For example, I put my sticky note of goals on my mirror as that is one place I will go to every day. This gives me a clear direction and focal point in being steadfast towards achieving my goals. Second, prioritise important and urgent tasks over non-critical tasks. This will help with being focused and having good time management. The most important of all is to form a study group with a few friends for support.

5. ​What were the challenges you faced when you were seeking employment after graduation?

I started looking for a job early, specifically three months before my official graduation. During this time, I had received my final semester results and was waiting for the final transcript and certificate. Thus, I took the leap of faith and started to look out for any available opportunities early, and even though I did face a couple of rejections, it was a rather manageable journey with a few small bumps that I had to go over before managing to secure employment after my graduation.

6. What is your best memory of school life? Is there anyone you want to say special thanks to in PSB Academy?

The friendship and support forged with my classmates kept me motivated and grounded during my school life. Our common goal of completing the programme pushed us to help each other. I would like to personally thank the PSB Academy lecturers and Lab Engineers, Sarina and Adil, for their endless guidance and support given to me throughout the programme. During the Final Year Project period, they were the most helpful and were super generous with their pointers to help me produce better quality work. Special thanks to my study groupmates; Amin Juman, Ashhary, and Benyamin.