Recently, we were joined by local student Ava, who came to Cubik to do her Year 10 work experience placement.

"I wanted to work at Cubik because it is a local, private, friendly business. As a kid, I’ve had previous experience with electronics, and I thought it could be an interesting line of work to explore."

Throughout the week, Ava kept a diary of what she did and how she tackled the challenges she was set. Find out what Ava got up to:

Day One

On my first day, I arrived at Cubik to a warm welcome from Camilla (Business Manager). We talked about the company, what they do and the sorts of things I would be getting involved in. Camilla introduced me to the rest team who were all very friendly and made me feel welcome.

Once I was settled in, I joined the Monday Morning Meeting. This is where the whole business gets together to discuss the progress of each project and set the priorities for the week ahead.

I spent the rest of the day with the Business Team learning about each function including HR/Finance, Sales, Marketing and Project Management. Throughout the afternoon, I joined the Project Managers on several customer meetings, both online and in person.

Day Two

I joined Ian (Business Development Manager) to get a feel for the sales process and how new work is generated. We went through customer communications and looked how new enquiries are managed and subsequently onboarded when a project has been won.

I spent the afternoon with Paul (Managing Director) who set me a task to research computer chips, source alternatives and compare my findings. He then challenged me to research and plan a new project idea.

I also spent time in Design with Shannon (Design Engineer) looking at how PCB’s are designed and familiarising myself with the software that Cubik use.

Day Three

Today I went into Production, Cubik’s onsite manufacturing facility, where I built two sets of six PCB boards, used the wave machine to solder the boards and then put all completed PCBs onto the racks. We talked about some of the issues that the team come up against and how they are resolved to ensure the best quality product for the customer.

After lunch, I built another set of six boards and spent time with James (Senior Production Engineer) learning how to hand solder.

Day Four

On Thursday, I got to develop my programming skills! I started by creating a basic flashing pattern for the LEDs and then created a traffic light system using Arduino IDE. I then planned new code that selected letters and transferred it into morse code using LEDs to spell out ‘CUBIK2022’.

In the afternoon, I worked in the test lab testing insulating enclosures with Paul. I finished the day building two more PCB’s and practiced the hand soldering techniques I learned yesterday.

Day Five

On my last day, I was set the task of making a circuit board using the coding I previously created in Arduino IDE, and an enclosure. I worked with Shannon (Design Engineer) to design the board and hand solder the wires and components.

Next, I designed an enclosure using a 3D print creator app and set it up on the 3D printer. Whilst I waited, I built more PCB’s and continued practicing my hand soldering on extra PCB’s. Once the 3D printer had finished printing the enclosure, I removed it from the bed and fitted the board to complete my product and my work experience week.

“Thank you to all the staff at Cubik for making sure I had the best work experience week imaginable. I learned so much and got to discover all the interesting departments and decide my favourites. I now know what it is like to work in an office and production environment which has really opened my eyes to alternative lines of work that I might enjoy in the future!”

We loved having Ava at Cubik HQ! Ava got stuck in with all aspects of Cubik from building PCB’s and coding Arduinos to joining in with the infinite discussions and fan theories on Stranger Things 4. From everyone at Cubik, we’d like to wish you all the best with your studies and thank you for your hard work.