Day One - Business

10am: This morning, Camilla showed me some of her work on the accounts. I didn’t realise how much there is to business accounting – it seems very complicated!

11am: Luke and Rory set me a task to make an infographic about technology. I chose to make it about robots, including facts about their development, from the fifth century BC to the present day. It talks about some of the most paramount leaps in ethics and developments in the field. Using my finite knowledge of art, I tried to use complimentary colours and gentle hues to draw people’s attention without being too garish.

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Day Two - Design

11am: I spent the morning with Will looking at software. It was really interesting to see how the syntax works in different programming languages, as I’ve only studied a few. It helped me appreciate just how much effort and expertise goes into every prototype and project. It wasn’t anywhere near as simple a process as I had originally thought and the amount of time and thought that goes into it all is amazing.

4pm: I did a circuit project with Eli, calculating the resistance using Ohm’s Law. I used a breadboard to move a circuit containing different LED’s with different resistances. We then connected it to the computer and wrote a program that made the LED’s flash as quickly we wanted. It was like a GCSE Physics lesson at school, only much more interactive! I feel like I’ve got a lot more experience in circuits and the application of computer programs. It never occurred to me that the two could be combined. Today has been a real eye-opener into the world of design and I think it has made me appreciate that experience is just as valuable as theoretical knowledge, if not more so.

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Day Three - Production

I spent the day in Production with Shannon and the rest of the team. In the morning we sorted, boxed, and packaged finished products ready to be sent to their customers.

After lunch, we shelved different electrical components and circuit boards. I also spoke to different members of the team about robotics degrees and sixth form options; apparently Plymouth would be a good university choice!

It was good to get a chance to put my limited theoretical knowledge into practice in a work environment; and talk to other people who have already made and experienced the choices I will have to make soon.

I have really enjoyed my three days at Cubik Innovation. Thanks to Paul, Mercedes and everyone else who helped me arrange this as well as all the staff who took timeout of their day to show me what they were doing. I looked for a work experience placement to tick a box at school; now I’m leaving Cubik with more experience and knowledge than I’d ever thought I’d get. Thank you for a great three days!