Patrick Shingu, who obtained his BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2012 from CPUT is grateful to the university for equipping him with the necessary skills to do his job.
Shingu is working as a Test Engineer at Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden after he received a scholarship to study in Sweden where he obtained an MSc degree in Applied Mechanics at the University of Skövde in 2014.
“I am always thankful for the knowledge I acquired at CPUT and I have to say that it was a bit of challenge when I came here but through hard work I managed to complete my MSc in record time,”
He adds that CPUT gave him the skills necessary to solve engineering problems, to work both as an individual and in a team, to gather data and write an engineering report.
“Many of my subjects are tied up with my daily work, I use a bit of thermodynamics, mechanics of machines and strength of material and communication skills when it comes to performing tests and analysing the results and writing engineering reports.”
He says that despite it taking him some time he has adjusted to Swedish life where the cost of living is almost three times more than in South Africa.
“The weather does not do anyone any favours especially in winter where it gets darker around 15H00 while in summer at 22H00. The worst is if you live in the north part of the country.”
He adds that he enjoys the fact that employers tend to focus on their employees’ well-being.
“Employers do allocate a certain amount of funds in healthy activities like gym, swimming, massage, dancing etc,”
He advises students who want to succeed in Sweden to learn some Swedish since it would make it easier for them to integrate into that society, even though most Swedes speak good English.
“From my personal experience, I can advise those who are interested in applying for the Swedish scholarship to spend time working as tutors, part time lecturers and other extra curricular activities.”
