• Question: What was the first thing you made when you first started doing engineering

    Asked by ChristabelRS on 22 Nov 2021. This question was also asked by Aroney s.
    • Photo: Femi Olushola

      Femi Olushola answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      This is a good question to ask. I always had a curious mind and enjoyed mathematics and physics a lot. This encouraged me to start with building simple things. I recall one of my first technical projects, building an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) converter. However, in my real first steps into engineering, I actually started as part of a team in designing and simulating a tile manufacturing plant/factory. It had the conveyor belts, simulated mixer machine, and a host of other complex machine components. This worked well and was lots of fun.

    • Photo: Neel Pun

      Neel Pun answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      My first Technical project was to design a Wireless Vulnerability Scanning Tool to scan Campus local Network to get the exposed ports, the Local IP Address and MAC address of all hosts connected to the Campus Network. I used Ptyhon Script and Raspberry Pi to design the tool. It was challenging but very fun at the same time. Final product worked exactly as expected after a number of trials and tests.

    • Photo: Jack Bedell-Pearce

      Jack Bedell-Pearce answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      Technically, I think the first thing would be setting up my first local area network (LAN) for my friends when I was 13, so we could have a LAN-party and play a first person shooter game called ‘Doom’ together – a year or so later we were playing a real time strategy game called Command and Conquer. This was all before it was possible to play games over the internet.

      From a work perspective, the first proper IT engineering project I did, was installing something called ‘Small Business Server’ (SBS 2000) for a marketing agency I was working for. This was so the company I was working for could have its own file server (so we could share files with each other easily) and also a dedicated e-mail server (this was before the days of Office 365 or gmail). It took me a good couple of weeks to get it setup and configured properly but once it was up and running it worked really well!

    • Photo: Steve Bowes-Phipps

      Steve Bowes-Phipps answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      With my knowledge of engineering, I don’t physically make things, but I do make engineered solutions work better! I help to foster best practice techniques for looking after plant and equipment that go into a Data Centre and try and drive the best energy efficiency possible

    • Photo: Mo Shivji

      Mo Shivji answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      A super-hetrodine radio.

    • Photo: John Odejobi

      John Odejobi answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      The first thing i made was constructing a Power Module that can charge a phone

    • Photo: Amber Villegas - Williamson

      Amber Villegas - Williamson answered on 22 Nov 2021:


      The project I made in the last year of university was a remote photo-plethysmograph which sounds really fancy until you think of a fit-bit (or other watch that records your heartbeat). I designed a built a clip that you could attached to your finger (like they use in hospitals), or clip onto an animals ear and you would remotely see the heart beat.

      In school I made a plug in battery charger for AA-rechargeable batteries.

    • Photo: Jeico Castro

      Jeico Castro answered on 23 Nov 2021:


      Looking at the previous answers, mine is a really simple one and to be honest I find it really valuable.

      I didn’t have the financial firepower to buy anything to build something with but when I started working in IT – I started from the bottom and learnt how to upgrade hardware on a laptop and configuring it for use afterwards. It is very simple and can save a lot of money when it comes to your own machine or any family and friends!

    • Photo: Jordan Galloway

      Jordan Galloway answered on 23 Nov 2021:


      The first thing I made….. Probably a ‘mess’, when I first graduated I was very keen to get on and try prove myself and show what I could do on my own. The problem with this is you can miss out on a lot and you should work with your colleagues and peers. They have experience and a perspective that you may not. Working as part of a team means you can deliver a better service more efficiently.

    • Photo: Paul Jones

      Paul Jones answered on 23 Nov 2021: last edited 23 Nov 2021 5:32 pm


      Back in school i did an electronics class and I made a battery powered door bell for my mum. The good thing is that it worked…

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