Christopher Browne designs sonar equipment for navies around the world. Find out more about his job in the defence industry.
Can you tell us a bit about your job?
I work as a mechanical design engineer for a defence company. The area of the business I work in designs, develops and supplies sonar equipment to the Royal Navy and exports products to navies around the world. My primary role is and providing projects with design support, but I also specialize in stress analysis, particularly finite element analysis.
Can you describe a typical working day?
A typical task involves receiving or developing a requirement specification for a product we wish to design. From this an initial design can be developed. This design is then finalized and manufactured. Prototypes of the design are tested before putting the product into service with a full set of safe usage instructions. So depending on the phase of the design I am working on that day I could be writing up requirements in Word, creating concept designs using, engaging with sub-contractors to get a design manufacture, testing prototype products or observing first fits of products looking to improve them and verify the usage instructions.
Why did you choose the career path you have taken?
I have always had an interest in engineering and mechanical engineering was the most comfortable fit. The company I decided to work for made the work I would be doing sound very interesting and offered a very strong graduate development programme. For me the main criteria in choosing to work for the company was varied and interesting work and the opportunity to develop.
What qualifications do you have?
I obtained a 2:1 BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering with Aeronautics from the University of Glasgow. In the first couple of years of my career I obtained a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the Open University.
