Jeremy Fong Control Engineer at Rolls-Royce

MEng Mechanical Engineering with Aerospace, 2016

I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with people from diverse cultures

What is your current job?

I secured a place on a graduate scheme with Rolls-Royce, based in Birmingham, UK. I am a Control Engineer, responsible for producing control systems for aircraft.

How did you find your current job?

Southampton University actually played an important role with my application. I found out about Rolls-Royce through the IT, Science and Engineering Fair held by the University’s Careers and Employability Service. Also, I had my CV examined by a practitioner at the University’s drop-in service and attended a mock assessment centre to help me in my preparation for Rolls-Royce’s assessment centre.

What advice would you give to current students to help them secure their first job?

Choose companies which you really want to work for so it motivates you throughout the application process. Thoroughly check your CV for errors and when you have successfully been invited to an interview, just be yourself and enjoy it! But of course, make sure you do enough preparation for the interview.

Why did you choose the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus?

I think a small student-to-lecturer ratio encourages two-way learning which is especially important for Southeast Asian students as we tend to be more quiet and passive learners.

What were the best things about studying at the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus and UK Campus?

In Malaysia, I realised that university is not school so there would be no more spoon feeding of knowledge and I had to take responsibility for my own learning and build a strong foundation to be a good engineering student.

In the UK, I couldn’t think of any better supervisors to have – Professor Phil Joseph and Dr Michael Kingan, were always there to help me even when that meant having Skype calls after office hours. I also got to experience different cultures and expand my world view, something which can’t be taught in books.

How did you find the transition to the UK Campus?

I was pretty scared of making new friends and how to actually fit in but my time abroad was the best experience of my life. I enjoyed group assignments because I got to work with talented people from diverse cultures. We respected each other’s ideas, we knew when one of us should take charge and when one should listen to others.’

What did you most enjoy about your degree programme?

I enjoyed the opportunity to work with people from differnt cultures in the classroom through my group assignments.

Jeremy also appeared in our Southampton Connects Alumni & Supporters magazine.  You can read his article here .