Where are they now...

We caught up with Pascal Loose, 2016 MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduate to find out what he's up to now.

What was the best part of your undergraduate course?
The most useful part of the course was something I only realised I would miss after graduating: the lab. Working as an engineer in a professional environment I realise how lucky I was to have access to so much equipment and resources. Of course, I didn’t know that in my first and second year.

My favourite part was the broad spectrum of choices of courses we got. This became more apparent in my third and fourth years where I was able to choose a project where I developed a smart watch app and did a course in Design Engineering.

What did you learn at Imperial in and outside of the course?
People always reminisce about how they developed as a person in university and I would have to agree with that. While at Imperial I made some great friends and overcame challenges I didn’t imagine I would. I learned a lot about myself, including the fact that I actually enjoy being an engineer. I always thought an engineer is someone dealing with the same material all day, but there is so much more variety and there are some branches of engineering that allow you to be creative.

Tell us about your time working for Imperial College Union.
I took a break from studying after my third year and was elected Deputy President (Education). It was a great and a unique experience as I got to work with some of the most influential people within the College and be involved in many projects. Working for the Union helped me to take a step back and look at what I want to do with my degree. But a word of warning for anyone thinking of taking a break when studying: university is like a marathon and when you take a long pause the last miles become even more challenging. I don’t regret working for the Union, but in hindsight I would have done it after graduating.

What have you been doing since you graduated last year?
In my final year, I discovered the area of design engineering and I wanted to gain more experience in this field. When applying for jobs, I came across Bare Conductive, which was founded by four design engineers. I applied, got an internship and was hired a couple of months later.

Other than that I’ve moved house couple of times and joined a dancing group. As a dancer, I have performed at the Troxy in East London and on stage in Trafalgar Square.

Tell us about your role at Bare Conductive.
My official title is Junior Engineer, but as it is the nature of a start-up I have many roles. I work in customer service, develop prototypes, help out with research, write new technical content for the website, represent the company at fairs around Europe, lead workshops, and create social media content and so on. As a side note, working in a start-up seems to always impress people so it’s a great conversation starter.

What would be your advice for current students?
Aim for a 2:1 and you’ll be comfortable and you’ll have a great time. Grades within the degree class don’t really matter; so don’t fuss too much if you get 65 instead of 67. It’s far more impressive for recruiters to see what you have actually done in your studies rather than what you have learned. So if you can, take as many subjects that have tangible results, like developing code or designing new hardware. You can always learn stuff later from books, but you only get access to the resources once.

Find our more about our undergraduate courses in Electrical Engineering

Find out more about Bare Conductive