Engineers and designers from DCA visit Stratford Grammar School

A group of engineers and designers from DCA visited Stratford Girls’ Grammar School to tell them about the challenges and opportunities that a career in product development can offer.

DCA’s staff discussed their favourite products and talked about the different routes they had taken from leaving school to working at the UK’s leading product design consultancy. As Rob Bassil, DCA’s Technical Director, explained: “We really wanted to show the girls that there are exciting careers to be had for engineers and designers in product design. When considering their A level or university choices, students often picture STEM subjects leading to a job in a traditional large industrial organisation. We wanted to open their eyes to some of the other options.”

During our visit, we explained the training and qualifications needed to secure a job at DCA and described a typical day working at a design consultancy. We then talked through a series of project case studies, illustrating these with product examples familiar to the girls.

Andy Palmer, Head of Design Technology at the school, commented afterwards: “The girls have been referring to DCA’s visit in lessons; the real-world examples have been really useful to aid understanding”.

DCA hopes that such visits will strengthen links with local schools and universities, and inspire the next generation of world-class engineers and designers.