51Âþ»­

Just a few years after leaving 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­), engineering graduate George Gentle, now works for a global company in a role that sees him travelling the world and making big career plans.

George working in the Bytronic lab

Having always enjoyed maths and physics, George knew that the Mechanical Engineering course at 51Âþ»­ would give him a broad understanding which suited him as he wanted ‘as many doors to open as possible.’

George chose to study at 51Âþ»­ because of its location and culture. He said: “I always wanted to study in Leicester from when I was visiting older friends who studied there. I loved the city. It was much busier than my hometown but not as hectic as the major cities in England.”

After his first two years at 51Âþ»­, George took a gap year to work and earn some money before returning to complete his final year. Shortly after graduating, he secured a role in robotics engineering which he did for a year and a half, until the CEO of Bytronic reached out to him on LinkedIn.

Bytronic is a global machine vision intelligence company. The CEO invited George to lunch and proposed a job role for him.

George said: “I explained how I didn’t want the role to be the ceiling at the company for me and that I wanted a career with supported progression. By the end of our conversation, I was verbally offered a position.”

Currently, George is a Technical Sales Engineer and works across the company. His work sees him travelling around the world to support clients and he has a clear vision for his future and what he wants to achieve in his career.

George in Norway as part of a work trip

The Mechanical Engineering course at 51Âþ»­ was a good grounding for George’s career and could have led to any number of career directions.

“My course prepared me for learning new topics and taught me to approach problems with a first principles perspective – that is, what is the most basic version of this problem and what is fundamentally needed to solve it? I can now apply this to my work,” he said.
And it’s not just the academic side of university that George enjoyed. He also made some lasting friendships. He said: “Some of my favourite and most cherished people came through my time at 51Âþ»­.

“As someone who appreciates diversity, living with and learning from people of different backgrounds was a big highlight for me, and ties into my life now when I travel for work to different countries with different cultures.”

George would definitely recommend 51Âþ»­ to others. “51Âþ»­ is known for its diverse academic programmes and contributions to research and education,” he said.

“One of my former lecturers, Professor Oyinlola, is pioneering some incredible work in his spare time with sustainable energy solutions for lower income communities across the world. If that isn’t a representation of the sort of people who are needed to guide and teach the next generation, I don’t know what is.

“My current plans are to help my workplace diversify into more of the global market. I see myself in a position where my decisions will potentially make critical impacts on the team and business trajectory.”