Inzpire Host Lincoln UTC Students
09 Dec 15
News
Inzpire Limited recently hosted two Year 10 Students during a week of work experience in our Mission Systems Group. Marthese and Ralph, both from Lincoln UTC (University Technical College), enjoyed a varied week where they got a behind the scenes look at GECO and the processes involved to get the product to market.
Here, Marthese and Ralph tell Inzpire's Marketing Communications Manager Becki Hall all about their week;
Why did you want to do your work experience at Inzpire Limited?
M: I wanted to be somewhere where I would have the opportunity to talk to people from different backgrounds and sectors. I looked on the Inzpire website and saw how varied the roles were and thought it would be a great place to get an insight in to a number of different careers.
R: Having seen a presentation from one of your employees about the use of computers for forensic purposes, I looked at your website and saw that you had a range of employees, from ex-military, to systems engineers to those who have had successful careers within the engineering industry. I thought it would be a good place to learn about many different roles and routes into employment.
When you started your week with us, what did you want to gain from your work experience?
M: I just wanted to have a better idea of what options I could look at in the future, both for A-Levels and future careers. I wanted to get an insight in to what I might like to do, and equally what I might be good at. I had hoped that I would be able to come away with some more ideas of jobs to research.
R: I wanted to gain a general idea of what it’s like to be in a work environment and hoped I would have the opportunity to talk to Inzpire’s employees about the pathways they took to get to the jobs they have now.
What have you gained from your work experience?
M: I have learned so many things about jobs that I didn’t even know existed. I have discovered many new areas of computer science, which is a subject I am studying at school. In my time at Inzpire I have been shown things that I didn’t even know were possible to do; I have learned how to do technology updates and what they can lead to! On a personal level it has helped build my confidence, as it isn’t always easy to fit in to groups of people but I have gained the confidence just to throw myself in at the deep end. There is no point in just sitting around quietly in these environments; by being so quiet at the start I was limiting myself.
R: As well as gaining a huge amount of technical knowledge, my week has helped me recognise that it is possible to have fun at work! Not all jobs in computers are dull, and you don’t have to have a job where all you do is stare at a screen doing the same thing all day, every day.
What has been the best part of your week with Inzpire?
M: The talks about computer security and encryption were really interesting to me. We got in to talking about how computer investigation can be used for solving crimes, such as trying to track people down, or searching through computers for evidence.
R: Getting to meet people from lots of different backgrounds; some are ex-military, some went straight from school to work for big companies, and some went from school to University. It has been reassuring to see that there are many options to consider, and that if one path isn’t right for you there will always be other opportunities to get to where you want to be.
What was the most interesting thing you learned in your time with us?
M: Learning how to do coding. Jake (Romanowski) showed us how to plan missions on the GECO system, going in to tiny details such as the weight of fuel and people on the flight. I had no idea things like that were possible through coding.
R: Talking about what security procedures are required on networks and even buildings to work in an environment like this. Most people mind find network security boring but I thought it was great!
Has your week at Inzpire helped you make any decisions about what you might like to study in the future, or do as a career?
M: The conversation about computer investigation and ‘legal hacking’ really opened my eyes; although Inzpire don’t do that, their Mission Systems team are knowledgeable about the use of computer systems in general. With their help, I have gone home and done research, and found a website where you can practice things like this legally and learn what might be required when searching for information during a criminal investigation. Being here has really helped me pinpoint that I want to go in to the investigative side of computers.
R: It has a lot. Finding out where people have come from in industry has helped me with researching different roles. I am still looking at all the different roles out there, but I am pretty sure I want to go in to working with computers now after my week here.
What has been your favourite task of this week?
M: Bryan (Head of Programmes and Delivery, Mission Systems) set us a task to come up with an idea for an area where GECO could be used in the future, and asked us to make a presentation on it. I came up with the idea for GECO Space; helping in the exploration of space, tracking stars, satellites and plotting new discoveries.
R: I came up with a similar idea, but for underwater exploration. Some areas of the ocean are so dark that it is difficult to plot during exploration, but GECO could be used to map the ocean floor.
What has been the most useful task of this week in terms of your personal development?
M: The Mission Systems Project Manager set us a hypothetical scenario where a client had asked for a new feature to be added to GECO as soon as possible. We had to think of all of the different processes involved in that, then had to go round each individual person in Mission Systems to find out how long their part of the process would take. We then had to investigate if any of these elements could be completed quicker, so that we could try and cut down the time. I think with all the investigation we did we got the timings down by 2 weeks from the original estimate.
R: This task was useful as well as fun; it helped us with our confidence as we had to be able to go up to people whilst they were working, ask them to stop what they were doing and provide us with information. It forced us to talk to people.
What has your overall impression of Inzpire Limited been?
M: It’s not too strict! Everyone has fun, and whilst you can see everyone is professional, people are also laughing and joking whilst they were working, and it was amazing to be part of that kind of team. On the first morning I was so nervous, I was too scared to even say yes to a cup of tea! But the atmosphere soon made me relax and it was immediately obvious that I was somewhere where I easily could get involved.
R: It’s obvious that the company and its people are very dynamic. People don’t just sit around, everyone is always busy. But, like Marthese said, everyone is laughing and joking at the same time.
Do you have any further comments on Inzpire and the week you spent with our Mission Systems Group?
M: Inzpire, and GECO, are still very much evolving. Looking at the website I thought they had done everything they could, and the product couldn’t be made better. But GECO is constantly being updated, changed and improved. Inzpire are growing as a team and Company, too! I feel good that I have been able to help them in updating some of the tablets; the updates we have done may even be used on Apache, and that is a real buzz.
R: Inzpire is not like other technology companies. There is a whole process here, from collecting the feedback, to creating the updates, to building the coding, to updating the tablets – Inzpire does everything. What you see on the screen is only the final element.
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