What skills does Formula Trinity teach you? What do you get out of a stint at the team trying to build Trinity’s first racing car? You may be helping the team compete, but the team is in equal measure teaching you some important lessons for your work in the future. Below, we can see how our members have learned from their time, and if you feel like this is for you, you can join us or our recruitment talk tonight! See you then!
I won’t bore you with all the technical things I’ve learned here, because there is too much to list, and the things I’ve learned about people are much more interesting. These are the sorts of people you are working with, and it is always encouraging to watch the people around you giving as much as you do. I have come across enormously enthusiastic people just entering college, up for a challenge, tackle challenges that are fit for a master’s student, and do a stellar job at it.
I have learnt so much in my time with the team. The world of formula 1 is such an amazing one and there is so much to learn from it. I’ve gotten a lot better at working with a team as well. Having our small separate department meetings every week and then the team assemblies ever few weeks really pushed me to work more on cooperating with others. I learnt a lot from my different team members as well. We all come from different streams of engineering and this brings great diversity of thought for me and everyone who joins Formula Trinity.
I have learned so much here at formula trinity it’s been unbelievable. I joined to learn about engineering but have also learned brand new skills such as speaking and presenting in front of people, managing a team, learning how a small organization works and so much more. I also gained skills in engineering that I would not have gained otherwise or until later years in my degree such as exposure to ANSYS and the finite element method, generative design, designing parts that can actually be manufactured and so much more.
It’s impossible to list all the technical skills and lessons I’ve learned from the past 3 years of working with the team, but if I was to choose one thing I learned, it would definitely be the idea that things don’t build themselves. There’s a lot of great things to build and develop out there, even for students, but they don’t materialise out of no-where, they require you to start working and build it. Simply, if you really want to build a car, the best way to do it is to stop thinking about how to do it and just start getting it done.
I have learned an incredible amount about the importance of keeping track of ones obligations. It’s never fun to get a nasty shock that a sponsor or a teammate has been expecting something from you or your group that you have been completely unaware of. While this on its face may seem obvious, it is nonetheless consistently remarkable how useful it is to have a simple list of everything that is outstanding for you to do, and maintain it consistently. Having that list always tabbed somewhere is always a reminder of your responsibilities.
My journey started after my 1st year of college, so I was still new to the whole realm of engineering and management. So naturally I learnt a lot and developed a plethora of critical thinking and engineering skills. My biggest outtake from this project is that there will always be road bumps and it is critical to anticipate these and to be prepared to adapt either by diverting resources or taking a new approach.
In the really early days we very disorganised, and we ended up making a lot of mistakes. But that is the only way you can learn. Since then we’ve gotten a lot better at structure and planning and its reflected in the quality of our work. We’ve even learned to adapt to unexpected circumstances, Covid being the obvious example here. Beyond that, it’s learning to work as a team and understanding people. These are things that nobody can teach you, but FT has given me the opportunity learn it for myself.
I think I’ve learned to be a better problem solver in Formula Trinity. The competition rules aren’t the only things that constrain design. You need to liaise with other teams, find out what they need, what would make their lives easier and how you can integrate your projects. This can force you to think about the larger scope of the project.
