What we did on our dream placement
Tuesday - We tested to see if our conclusion from Monday worked and learned about project management and leadership.
In the morning we delved further into the task from the previous day. We tested the specification of the I-beam and it's ability to hold the necessary weight on a program called 'Autodesk Inventor'. This involved designing an I-beam of the exact dimensions of the beam from Monday, as well as designing 2 pillars that would be present in the task, and then creating an assembly with the beam and pillars. Once created, the assembly was then put through a simulation which involved a force of 26 tons being applied to the beam and seeing how much it bent (how close it was to breaking). The simulation showed that the force caused very little stress to the beam, and the pillars could still easily support the beam.
In the afternoon we sat down with Mark Ritchie and he went through what its like to be a project manager and how he has managed to get from where he was in his teenage years to where he is now. We discussed all the important attributes of a leader and talked about what we thought the most important things are when leading a team. Mark told us about what university was like and how it came into play when transitioning into the world of work. Mark explained it is now quite common to be put through a degree by a company whilst completing your apprenticeship.
We also went through some of the possible questions we would need for our interviews with Richard and Lesley, and talked about what was going to happen in the following days.
Before finishing the day we had some time to recap on what we had learned and started to prepare a PowerPoint presentation that we would then have to use on Friday.