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Ganish Girilal

Find out how studying at the University of Birmingham helped Ganish achieve his career goals.
My name is Ganish and I studied for an MRes Hydrogen Fuel Cells as a distance learning student in India. I am currently employed as a Vehicle Line Programme Manager with Aston Martin, where I focus on Powertrain and electronification.

My Journey to Aston Martin

I have always been interested in cars, so naturally automotive engineering and motor sports engineering was was always something that I was keen to get into. Since working with different OEMs from about 2007 onwards I've seen a lot of change within the industry and in particular over the last 8 years or so I've seen that wave of electrification coming into the industry so I wanted to upscale myself um and add the electrification experience into my portfolio.

 

How studying at Birmingham prepared me for my career

University of Birmingham is well recognized within the automotive industry for fuel cell engineering so there are a lot of collaborative projects which happens with the university and because of that exposure, I've been able to take a lot of transferable skills from my course. A lot of the modules were relevant to what I'm currently doing as a lot of the things that I studied um they are applied day to-day in my current role.

 

Why did I study at Birmingham?

I was able to attend most of the lectures from home and I was able to fit it around my full-time employment. The fuel cell course in particular aligned well with my experiences and the course had the benefit of flexibility. I was interested in  the automotive industry and specifically have an interest in the electrification and fuel cell within electric vehicles. The course itself is very specialized so I was able to look at my own requirements and this course filled my skill gaps specific gaps. The course had the right level of support from the research network within the University. It was a very positive experience.

 

My advice for current students

My advice to current students who are looking to pursue a career in automotive would be to if you're doing a masters try and tailor elements of the course to fit into the role that you're looking for. You will have the opportunity to do that when you are picking the modules, so almost pick a target role that you're looking for and then pick and choose the elements within the course which could give you the skills at building into that career. If you're starting to get an interest in an area, explore that, believe in your guts instincts and pursue it. Find out what skills gaps are there in the industry and and work towards tailoring your learning towards the skills gap, that way you are likely to be more successful.