Tomorrows Engineers Week

It’s Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2025, and this year’s theme is, ‘Dare to Discover.’

Dare to Discover is all about showing young people that you don’t have to get it right the first time and the importance of trial and error in engineering; encouraging students to become robust and adaptable problem-solvers.

As part of this year’s celebrations, we spoke with Chloe Wing, an East Anglian College engineering student and Skills Weld Competitor. Chloe shared her thoughts on what it means to ‘dare to discover,’ reflecting on her own experiences of trial and error during her studies, and the valuable lessons she has learnt along the way.

What made you get into engineering?

So, it was the three taster days that we had from the motor vehicle course. Darren brought us in so we could have a go at welding. I did one join, and I already knew that I loved it. It just took one press of that MIG button and I was like, “yeah, this this is what I love. This is what I want to go into.” I did a few more and when the day’s come to an end, I thought, “I don't want to leave. I don't want to go back to my course, I want to keep doing this.” So I had a chat with Darren and he sorted me out and I knew that's what my future was.

What do you enjoy most about engineering?

What I enjoy most is when I come to a stump, when I get put on challenges, because I don't like an easy task. In engineering, we have so much hands-on work and all them like instances, like, if something doesn't go your way or if it doesn't go how you want it to, you've got to really put your mind to it to go around - and I get put to challenges every single day, so that's probably my favourite part about it.

As a student, what are some problems you have faced while learning and how have you overcome them?

As a student, it's a little bit difficult because we have limited materials, limited things of how we do our welds and all how we do everything, because you can't exactly match what it will be like in industry. But there's always a way to overcome it. We've got the resources to make like jigs and G clamps and everything, so we can do the full positional welds and anything like that. So, it's all just about figuring out a way how to get yourself to be able to do that kind of thing. It's just trying to match industry. So, you know what you're going to be doing because, simple things on a table, simple, like flat welds on a table is not going to be what you're doing in industry all the time. So, working your way around that and getting yourself in position ready for when you're not doing the easiest and you're on your hands and knees - that's probably something you've got to focus your mind to.

What lessons did you take away from overcoming these problems and challenges?

Lessons that I’ve taken away is that not everything is an easy task. Not everything will go the way that you want it to, and you have to put your mind to things. You have to use creativity and problem-solving skills to figure out how to push yourself, how to get what you want out of it, because not every job is going to be an easy one that you can just go ahead and do; it's going to have difficulties and it's going to be something you've got to really teach yourself to do. You've got to teach yourself all types of problem-solving, and how not give up when something's not as easy as you want it to go, and know that, in the end if you put your mind to it, you'll get the job done and it will go exactly how you want.

Any specific problems you can think of...?

So, one specific problem would be when my lecturer was pushing me even further after I'd learned my 6G. We wanted to try out 6GR, but with the way that our bays are designed, it was getting a little bit too cramped and I couldn't fully get myself in the proper position to get that weld done. So we put our minds to it before, “what could we do? Can we extend the G Clamp? Can we somehow weld something onto the pipe so that I could access it without bashing my helmet off the wall and crashing into things?” And the train of thought is just, “what is the first step we can do? What is there that we can maybe make to make it easier to access, easier to see? Is there anything we can do?” And eventually it was just as simple as putting a plate onto it to extend it out so I could reach and I could do my weld. All it takes is just a bit of creativity to it; it's not always a difficult task where you're having to make something massive to change the bay completely. You just have to put your mind to it. And we came up with something and I could get it done.

As a student who is constantly learning, what would you say the importance of trial and error is to you, and what are some new skills you have you learnt as a result?

Trial and error is probably the most important thing, especially as a student when you're learning, because when something goes wrong, you can always learn from mistakes. You can look at what went wrong and you can get from there to where you want to be.

I've had many welds go completely wrong and I’ve looked at them with my lecturer and we've gone through issues that have caused the problems and what I could do next time to improve and get better. Problems such as in the industry, such as, if you're welding, you have tolerances for when you're hand-fitting stuff and then welding them together. If the heat bends that, and your tolerance is out, you got that wrong - and that's trial and error. But then you also know then to, after, you've got a kind of change it with your mind because you know that it's going to bend from the heat. So you change that tolerance yourself to something bigger and greater.

Because of the error last time, you know that it's going to go wrong, it's not going to be the measurements they want. So you know to change that and it will be where you want it to be. Trial and error is just something that helps you learn that problems happen and there is a way to overcome them, and you know what you're doing wrong because you're not going to do everything right on the first time. You're never going to do everything right. There's always something that you can teach yourself when looking at something that's gone wrong, so it can go right in the future.

What advice would you give to young engineers and other fellow engineering students when they face a problem similar to yourself?

When you face a problem, don't let it knock you back. Never let it stop you from thinking that you can do it, and that it's never going to go well. You can always improve from mistakes and just because things going wrong, it doesn't mean it's the end for you. You can get better and you will get better. You just have to really put your head down and think about it as you're still learning. Nothing's going to go right in the first days or weeks of learning; you have to go through that process of trial and error to figure out how to get yourself to the point where you want to be.

I faced problems. I faced a lot of problems actually, when I first started, and it did stump me a little, because I wasn't in the right mind for it. So, when welds were going completely wrong and they weren't getting any better, I was ashamed that I wasn't getting any better at it, and all it took was just a little thought that “this isn't going to be how it is forever.” You've got to really just focus and think what you're doing wrong and what you can do better, because then, when it does get better, it's a massive relief on your mind and it will never stay bad. We all have off-days. I've been welding for quite a few months, and I still face problems. I still face issues and I have off-days as well, but I don't let them stump me and that really gives me positivity, and it makes me continue because I know that everyone faces it, and it's not just you. It's not anyone. It's not your mistakes, it's what everyone goes through. You just have to learn from it and push yourself through anything that goes wrong.

Have you ever experienced a project not going to plan and, if so, how do you stay motivated when a project doesn’t go as planned?

The main project that I had big, big problems with was when I was first practising for Weld Skills and I had to learn 6G, and that was my first ever time going on to stick welding and such professional TIG welding; all the angles, all different positions, everything. It just wasn't going well for the first two weeks. But I kept myself motivated by – personally - I listen to music because it helps me get in the headspace of when I flip this visor down, I'm just going to do it. Go with the flow. Go how I have been. You're not listening to anything else outside. You're just kind of locked away in your own zone. You're focused on what you're doing. And if a weld stresses me out, like when it was blowing holes and nothing was going well, take a breather. Don't continue when you're stressed, take a breather, go speak to someone you know.

You know, personally, I always speak to my lecturer because he has so much experience with welding and the industry and things going wrong, and he just really gives me that boost of “it might not be going well now, but if you just keep going and doing what you're doing, it will eventually.” And I think that just stuck in my mind that, if he has that motivation and he thinks that I can do it, I know that I can as well. It just helps to sometimes stop yourself for a moment; let yourself have a breather, and speaking to someone that you know will give you that bit of, like, pride in the work you previously have done, and knowledge that they have on your skills. You know that you can eventually do it. It's just more, motivation is key when you're welding, especially when things are going wrong, because you never want to kick yourself when something hasn't gone to plan. You want to keep yourself in that space and you want to keep yourself going and you'll eventually get it.

What’s the most exciting project you’ve worked on that pushed you to think outside the box?

The most exciting project, was part of the Weld Skills joints. It was the aluminium pipe to plate, as it was my first few goes at aluminium. I've never really touched it before that and I knew it was very different to the mild steel, which is what I was used to. It's the first time that I did it. I was just like, “let's wing it. Let's go on the settings that I know and see how it goes.”

I then found out that it was not really how I wanted it to go, and I found that it was a much faster process than steel, because of how quickly it melts. So I had to kind of think, “how am I going to settle myself in to go in the pace that I need to for this, especially when going around the curve?” And my settings were completely off so I thought, “I'm going to have to get loads of plates, do loads of joints and, as I go through them, lower or raise the amps, go slower or go faster when feeding and moving,” until I really found my comfort, and how I was going to be able to do it without failure and I found the perfect setting, the perfect speed for myself to get that weld to where I wanted to. This is the first time that I'd ever had to properly play around with the settings to find what I wanted to and be able to do it properly, so it was more or less, wing it at first to see how it goes and see how it feels, and then, in stages, figure out my personal preference for everything so that I was comfortable when it came to the day where I had to do them.

What would you say to students or young people wanting to participate in SkillsWeld?

My first words of them would be to go for it. It's such a good experience to go through. It may seem a little nerve wracking because you're entering a competition, but it's the fun of being able to learn and do new types of welding, new joints, anything you haven't done or have done, and going up against other competitors; you can learn from them as well. You get to speak to them at the end of each round, and you can have a nice chat with them. If you're not happy with how your weld is, when you see theirs and you're a bit jealous of how much better theirs are, you can always speak to them and figure out what you could do to improve. You could follow in their steps because in that competition you've got experienced and inexperienced. I was very new to it when I joined and I was definitely nervous when the rounds got more and more serious. But, when I did it, I found that it was extremely fun. I loved every part of it.

It was something that I learned a lot of lessons from. I got my confidence up with my welds and it's just, overall, a really, really, really good experience for people, especially new learners that are getting into the engineering industry. I think everyone should just go for it. It's just something you could go for no matter how experienced or inexperienced you are.

How would you inspire someone to dare to discover and start their own engineering journey?

Well, engineering, from my point of view, is one of the absolute best industries to go into, because not only do you get so much enjoyment out of all the hands-on work that you get given, you obtain so many skills and you learn from every single project you do. It's not an easy job to go into, but it's something for people that love challenges and love proper, proper, hands-on, dive-into-it work.

I absolutely loved it from the first time I stepped into it, and I know many people that definitely will as well. I got inspired by my lecturer telling me all his stories from when he was a welder and I thought that is what I want to do that is something that I want to experience in life. Engineering just gives you so many opportunities to experience big projects and so many different things in life. You get everything from it and, especially if you want a challenge and want things to improve your skills and improve your thinking, it's definitely the industry to go into.

Watch the full interview here

Discover more about Tomorrows Engineers Week: Tomorrow’s Engineers Week - Tomorrow's Engineers