Seven months in Germany

From June to December 2025, I worked at SchuF Group in Eppstein, near Frankfurt, through UL’s Global Co-op programme. SchuF designs and manufactures industrial valves, and I joined its Parametric Group for a seven-month placement.

Working with engineers

My main project was the Cv Calculator, an internal valve sizing tool that I built from scratch. I worked on the interface, calculation logic and unit conversions, using HTML and JavaScript within Configure One, with Octave handling the calculations.

Working with the engineers who would use it taught me how much there is to understand before writing the code. They explained the physics, tested features and helped me see which inputs and results mattered in their daily work. I learned to ask more precise questions, turn feedback into development tasks and test changes with realistic engineering data.

Debugging taught me to look beyond my own code. When data passed incorrectly between JavaScript and Octave, I traced the inputs through an unfamiliar intermediate layer, checked logs and worked with colleagues to find the cause.

A broader experience

Alongside the calculator, I debugged features in other programs, tried 3D modelling in SolidWorks and wrote PowerShell scripts to help manage files. With a colleague, I also worked on extracting customer requirements from PDFs using Power Automate and an LLM, turning them into structured JSON to prefill calculator inputs.

I felt like a member of the team from the beginning. I planned my work, presented progress and learned when to investigate something myself and when to ask for help. Over those seven months, I became more confident explaining technical decisions and working with people from different backgrounds. I left with experience of taking a software project from requirements through implementation, testing and feedback, and a clearer sense of the work I wanted to pursue.