‘The best piece of advice I could give would be to set goals of where you want to be along the years and how you are going to get there. Remember it takes little drops of water to make an ocean and so don’t be discouraged if the progress is slow, as long as you are moving in the right direction you will get there when the time is right’
Curtis Daniel Nii Adjei Ablorh-Mensah studied BSc (Hons) Biomedical Engineering and graduated in 2020. He currently works as an Onsite Service and Support Engineer at Wanstor.
How do you feel your time at Kent prepared you for working in the industry?
The biomedical engineering degree option had a wide range of modules which each had a satisfactory amount of focus on the practical aspects and applications of the modules. This in turn facilitated building a strong foundation of technical skills which I use in my job today. Aside from that, there were many instances where a project would require working in a team and at times, leading that team and delegating respective roles to complete the project in question to a high standard. This helped develop my interpersonal skills and ability to problem solve which are essential but overlooked skills in a workplace environment.
What did you learn in your degree that has been beneficial to you in your role?
During my degree the programming and electronics modules taken have been the most beneficial to my current role. Learning how to code in C in university made picking up the new language SQL a much easier and faster process. This is the language I use on a day to day basis when taking a look at the client databases or troubleshooting from the command prompt. The electronics modules have been extremely useful in understanding the components of all the laptops I work on and how best to replace components without damaging the motherboard.
What are your main responsibilities and tasks?
My main responsibilities and tasks involve providing technical support and assistance to every department within any client company that hires my firm. This involves proactively coming up with innovative ways to increase the efficiency of all tech related procedures and maintaining the existing software infrastructure. From time to time I also work with the security department to ensure all of the client company’s devices and accounts are kept safe from potential risk factors.
Are you working on any exciting projects that you can share?
The most exciting project I have worked on till date would be the complete migration of one client company’s servers and systems into another’s when they were bought. For that project I had the opportunity to work with and learn from a range of senior engineers and help mop up any bugs which came about due to the merge.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan on continuing my studies by taking a masters in Biomedical Engineering and focusing on biomechanics, from then on I will look to move on to a job role which relates more closely to the field.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to follow the same career path?
The best piece of advice I could give would be to set goals of where you want to be along the years and how you are going to get there. Remember it takes little drops of water to make an ocean and so don’t be discouraged if the progress is slow, as long as you are moving in the right direction you will get there when the time is right.
What was your favourite memory from your time at Kent?
My favourite memories from my time at Kent were revising with everyone on my course and the students from the other engineering disciplines. Whenever we were tired or anxious about exams there was always someone cracking jokes and having a good time which always helped cheer everyone up.