Noi Kotev - Starting a career by going the extra mile

Starting a career by going the extra mile

Going from study to an exciting career is what every engineering student hopes for, and Noi Kotev did just that

Noi was one of the SAE-A’s interns during 2021 and as many of the association’s engineers will be aware she reported on the viability of Australian engineered zero emission vehicles. As a mechanical engineering student, she saw the potential of gaining practical experience and contacts for her career move in 2022.

“I made some really good contacts, but on top of that, the content itself is things that I love. I’m passionate about automotive, obviously. I think zero emissions is, of course, the future,” Noi explained. “So, looking into the future of that and working with the Society of Automotive Engineers and being able to communicate with engineers, which I never would have the chance to do [without work experience] was just awesome and amazing.” Building on the work done by program director Murray Longe, the SAE-A recruited research interns Noi and Evan Favos – both active Formula SAE-A team members – to do required market research. Noi was then in her penultimate year of Mechanical Engineering (Honours) at Swinburne University of Technology, and passionate about sustainable engineering and the environment.

Noi worked with steering group member Jim Griffin, of Multimatic Engineering Australia, to implement a market study proposal he defined for the project. She investigated the market’s needs and aspirations to determine the basic soundness of the SAE-A ZEV project to potential supporters and investors. Realising that it is important to grab all possible opportunities with both hands – Noi is also in the powertrain team working on Swinburne University’s Formula SAE-A car – she threw herself wholeheartedly into chasing prospects for the right job. That came about through the SAE-A’s online careers expo during which she caught the attention of PACCAR engineer Claudia Bautista, Engineering Operations Manager. Not long after, she found herself working full-time as an engineer in the chassis layout team for Kenworth trucks at PACCAR Australia.

“I was really lucky that they had an opening in the Kenworth chassis layout team,” said Noi. Explaining why she has fallen in love with the job, she said that not one truck is identical to another, and so there’s an engineering drawing for every single one. And the drawing is essentially what the customer has requested for different components, but she then must take into account what the truck is going to be doing. Because if a truck is going to be carrying fuel or if it’s going to be carrying cattle, it’s going to have different requirements. So, then it’s designed according to that. Enthusiasm is not something that Noi is short on, and her willingness to do extra work has paid dividends and has fed her appetite in discovering and doing more in engineering. Her current passion is working with CAD, virtual reality and augmented reality and she does that in her personal life as well as her work life, saying there could be nothing more rewarding. “I’ll go and learn all different CAD software. It’s just because I love it. And when I come to work, I design a new truck layout,” she said. “If it’s a fuel carrier, maybe a heavy

rigid, then we’ll design the truck to have the components that it requires as well as the components that the customer has specified. “And then we combine all of that and we figure out how things are going to be laid out. So that’s where the term layout comes from. We follow the engineering rules and then allocate things accordingly on the chassis.” Adapting to both working full time and working with trucks has been a lot easier than Noi expected. “I didn’t think it would be as easy as it was to adapt to it,” she said. “I think what made it easier was that it’s CAD and that I’m familiar with CAD. It wasn’t so much that I had to know trucks beforehand, it was more applying the engineering rules that were set out.

“If you come from Swinburne, PACCAR is a really good space because everyone knows that you’re straight out of uni and they are all kind, and you are in a team with Sanat (Dunung). He’s amazing. He’s very understanding.” Sanat is the engineering operations layouts department supervisor at PACCAR with whom Noi works and she is also very pleased to be among other ex-Swinburne engineering students who work at PACCAR.

After work Noi is completing her final year at Swinburne and is still involved with the Formula SAE car that the university is developing. For the first time this year Swinburne will be competing with two cars one of which is an autonomous vehicle which Noi is very excited about as she has been working with the emerging use of virtual reality for the project. “I’m looking if we can use augmented reality and virtual reality as an engineering tool to see if we can have a look at the vehicles through virtual reality headset or through an augmented reality app on an iPad,” she said. “So, when I had to do my honours thesis, I thought that’s something I really want to be researching. Even working full time, I get to do my uni work afterwards and on weekends. I love working here, what I love most is the actual designing it’s something that I really wanted; I wanted a job designing and in automotive, the fact that I have that is just incredible.” As for the future Noi sees so many opportunities within the company and hopes to possibly move into the powertrain design area but as she says that’s a long way down the track. For now, she is learning and developing her skills in the industry of which she has always dreamed of becoming an integral part.

Noi Kotev and Sanat Dunung.

CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS!

FORMULA 2022

8-11 DECEMBER 2022 WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY RURAL CITY OF BENALLA, VICTORIA

WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US FOR THE 23RD YEAR OF FORMULA SAE-A IN THE CITY OF BENALLA

Formula SAE-A is Australasia’s premier design, construction, and on-track student event highlighting the performance of electric and internal combustion cars from leading university teams around the world. This year some teams will take the opportunity to demonstrate their autonomous vehicles. Being a volunteer offers you a great opportunity to experience all the action with 800+ students; see the latest global automotive technologies at play and share your passion and experience in the industry with the next generation. Join in the excitement with industry leaders, motoring enthusiasts and students at this epic event for one, two or all three days! Volunteers are supplied with on-the-job training, commemorative attire and meals. Plus take satisfaction in knowing that your involvement is helping advance the development of our future engineers, as well as supporting the local region and SAE-A.

To learn more visit: www.saea.com.au/formula-sae-a Complete the online registration form: www.saea.com.au/volunteer-formulasaea For more information contact: Isaac Baldry - ph: +61 475 517 244 e: isaac.j.baldry@gmail.com SAE-A Office Phone: ph: +61 403 267 166

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