Harvinder Singh has always found learning how things work fascinating. So much so that he studied Level 2 Engineering alongside his GCSEs before coming to South & City College in 2012 to study a Level 3 Electronic Engineering Extended Diploma.

During his time at college, not only did Harvinder work hard at his studies, but he also got involved in as many extra-curricular projects as he could. Harvinder explains: “I believe that it is important to not only build your skills but also appear attractive to potential universities and employers – to have subjects to talk about other than just studying and working part-time.”

Whilst at college, he was involved in Comenius, a European project which involved renewable energy generation. As part of a team, he designed and produced a prototype wind belt and presented findings to the other participating colleges in Turkey and Aston University undergraduate students. South & City College now offers a similar project for students in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering.

After college, Harvinder went on to the University of Birmingham to study a BEng with honours in Electronic Engineering with Business Management. After graduating in 2017, he had a wide variety of career options and chose the path that seemed the most lucrative. The start of his engineering career saw him spend the next few years in the industry working for BMC Software: a company with 10,000 customers worldwide, including 84% of the Forbes Global 100. He became a consultant working on mission-critical systems for a variety of blue-chip clients before reaching a plateau in terms of being creatively challenged.

From his role in industry, he then came back to South and City College as a tutor, where he now teaches engineering apprentices at the Longbridge campus, helping them achieve their Level 3 Engineering Diploma.