Summer 2026 has been an incredible blur of hands-on engineering, professional growth, and deep dives into personal projects. I’ve just had my first week back at university, and I wanted to take a moment to look back at everything I’ve built, learned, and explored over the past few months.

R&D Internship at ProtoGT

If you’re one of the people who recognises me from LinkedIn, you probably know that I interned at a small engineering firm called ProtoGT this summer.

I worked alongside an experienced engineering team researching and prototyping solutions to client challenges, ranging from designing multipurpose electronics cabinets to getting hands-on with hardware and production software.

Moving from abstract software concepts to physical, real-world hardware constraints taught me resilience. Troubleshooting unexpected roadblocks on the fly required a lot of independent research and rapid iteration. It gave me a massive appreciation for system design, bridging the gap between theoretical computer science and physical engineering.

Truth be told, the 3 weeks I’ve spent designing a new company website taught me more about practical software engineering than a whole semester of coursework ever did.

The best part? It doesn’t end here. What started as a summer internship has moved towards some additional part-time work, allowing me to continue collaborating with the team at ProtoGT as I head into my second year.

Personal Projects

Outside my internship, I spent a lot of time completing some personal projects to continue my upskilling process.

Most of my work centered around the ESP32, an incredible and versatile microcontroller. Alongside prototyping a mock avionics bay complete with multiple environmental sensors and SD card redundancy logging. I also built a custom ESP32-powered Telegram doorbell notifier to bring a bit of IoT practicality into the mix. My new room is a loft space, and I don’t always catch knocking at my door, which is why I made the IoT doorbell!

University Initiatives

With the new term kicking off, I’ve been eager to get involved with student communities that match my engineering interests, joining initiatives like StatsSoc as the Inclusions Officer and TinkerLab as Edge AI Community Lead. Big things are coming soon for both, so stay tuned!

Looking Forward

My time at ProtoGT and the projects I’ve tackled this summer have given me an incredible foundation. As I step into the new academic year, I’m more excited than ever about my long-term career goals in space software engineering.

I’ve applied for several Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) for this academic year, ranging from rocketry telemetry teams to scientific weather balloon experiments. I believe that the foundation that I laid this summer has set me up to succeed for these projects and for future internships and my placement year.

If you’re a student looking at grabbing an internship or diving into an ambitious side project: do it. The hands-on experience accelerates your learning faster than anything else!