Thousands of components that come together to become a car, undergo thorough and rigorous testing standards that have become hallmarks of reliability, safety and performance !

Dhrumil Gohil, our next pathbreaker, works at Jaguar Land Rover Structural Battery Test Laboratory (UK),where he is responsible for running tests on batteries as well as making sure that the lab is prepared for any audits that happen in future.

Dhrumil talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his journey from being fascinated with cars, to doing his masters (Automotive & Motorsports Engineering) at the University of Brunel (UK), and being on the Brunel Motorsport racing team for a design competition at the Silverstone F1 circuit.

For students, never deviate from the goal you have in life. Paths might and will always change. However, have a clear vision of that one goal you were passionate about and always take the toughest route!

Dhrumil, Your background?

Talking about my background, I work for Jaguar Land Rover and it has been a long journey till I reached here. I grew up in a small town called Jamnagar and did my schooling over there. Later on, I moved to Pune for my studies, where I did my diploma in Electronics and Telecommunication. After that, I went on to pursue an Advanced diploma in Automotive Mechatronics with Mercedes Benz, thereafter I did my BTech in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, I used to work for ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) after which I pursued my MSc Masters in Automotive and Motorsport Engineering.

Back in school days, I used to play a lot of games such as volleyball, badminton, shotput, cycling, and used to be involved in a lot of extra curricular activities. I had participated in state level and national level sports back in my school days for cycle racing and badminton. I used to and still have a lot of hobbies such as stamp collection and coin collection, oil painting etc. My father was a doctor in an oil refinery back in Jamnagar. Since childhood, I was very fascinated with cars as I grew up in a small town. There were only two Mercedes-Benz cars in my city, a C Class and an old E Class which used to fascinate me a lot. One of them used to belong to a good doctor friend of my dad and then I came across a modified car in my city, which was, I think, built by a famous car modifier DC. Back then, I used to think that this was a Ferrari, but unfortunately when I grew up, I came to know that it was a modified car. Back then in the 90s the internet was new for us and I used to browse through all sorts of cars and sports cars that encouraged me to get to where I am today. My passion towards automotive technologies and cars never faded throughout these years and is what inspired me to work hard.

What did you do for graduation/post graduation?

I did my graduation in Mechanical Engineering And post-graduation (MSc) in Automotive and Motorsports Engineering from Brunel University of London

What were some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and unique career in Automotive Engineering?

I have had a lot of mentors in my life that kept changing. I never had one constant mentor in my life. There were key events and turning points in my life that transformed me to what I am today. It doesn’t matter who your mentor is or who you follow, your goal should be what you want to do in your life. The main event in my life was when I lost my dad and it was the worst period that I have faced till now, when I failed my 12th grade. However, after failing, I did not give up. I did my diploma and then continued to work hard towards the only goal that I had, which was to work in the automotive industry that I grew up loving.

I was always inclined towards the automotive industry, engines and automotive technology. After finishing my diploma, I wanted to develop myself in order to land a career in the automotive industry. However, I was not as much interested in core electronics (I did my diploma in Electronics) as much I was in the mechanical aspects of the automotive industry. So, I tried getting admission in mechanical engineering but was not allowed in major colleges. After several tries, I was denied admission. While applying for admission, I came across a friend who was pursuing diploma at Government Polytechnic Pune. Government Polytechnic Pune (GPP) and Mercedes Benz (I) Pvt. Ltd. (MBIL) have joined hands to conduct an ‘Advance Diploma in Automotive Mechatronics’ (ADAM). The Automotive Mechatronics Centre (AMC) is a collaborative effort of GPP and MBIL which intends to address the requirements of automobile sector through ADAM.

He suggested that I go for that as I was a huge Mercedes fan and I wanted to pursue automotive engineering. I appeared for the entrance exam for this diploma and got a chance to pursue the course for a year, which changed my whole perspective of automotive engineering. I got to work on Mercedes cars, engines, electronics and transmissions. It was one of the best years of my education. The course is run by Mercedes Benz India in collaboration with Government Polytechnic Pune (Mercedes has different centers in India where they run this course for mechanics working at the service centers across India, however one can do this course independently as well). The admission criteria for this course is diploma or 12th with the entrance test to get admitted to the course.

There were several experts in the industry who shaped my career. One of the key people in my life, I would like to say, was Lewis Hamilton, as he grew up all the way in F1 from ground zero, and he is a seven time world champion today. That’s what I learnt from him. I have been following him for 10 years since 2015, the China Grand Prix. I have seen him winning always, but before the seven world championships, he went through a lot of difficulties as a child, his father used to work three shifts a day to make him practice, and the consistent hard work that he did throughout all these years made him one of the greatest F1 drivers in history. He was one of my biggest inspirations in my career

How did you plan the steps to get into the careeryou wanted? Or how did you make a transitionto anew career? Tell us about your career path

I started with an internship at ARAI during my Engineering. For this internship, I had approached a Manager at ARAI and requested for a 6 months internship. At ARAI, I learnt about certification testing in the automotive industry. I was responsible for testing automotive electronics for their mechanical strength and durability.

Thereafter I was offered a contractual job at ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) to work for Symposium on International Automotive Technologies (SIAT). I worked with the conference managing team to manage the conference and look after the technical presentations and the scientific publications. During this period of time, my work was appreciated and I was given an opportunity for a graduate apprenticeship at ARAI. I continued working there for a year before going to pursue masters in Automotive and motorsport Engineering at Brunel University of London.Though it is expensive to study here in the UK, I applied for the scholarship to study at Brunel, so I was granted around 30-32% discount on the tuition fees.

The university is named after a famous British Engineer called Isambard Brunel born in 1806, who was famous for building bridges and many other engineering marvels. He was a civil as well as a mechanical engineer. I chose Brunel university because it was in London and the only university in London to offer Automotive + Motorsports engineering masters. London being well connected to other cities and nearer to Silverstone, I selected Brunel University. Also, their research in Automotive Technologies, specifically in Engines is one of the best in the UK. Automotive and Motorsport Engineering is the MSc Masters course I did at Brunel university, where I learnt about all automotive technologies with respect to Motorsport engineering, from design to planning to finance that goes into Motorsport. Talking about projects, we worked mainly on the Brunel Masters Motorsport racing team where we participated in a design competition at Formula UK competition at Silverstone F1 circuit. We designed a Formula student car for the competition and presented the design to the judges at the event.

I developed a great skill set in testing automotive electronics for mechanical vibration and environmental testing. After finishing my post graduation, COVID struck and the industry was in a bad position. However, during the lockdown, I did not stop myself from learning, and went on to do an online course on Electric Vehicle design and analysis wherein I learnt about electric vehicles and what goes into making them and modeling them. After a year and a half in lockdown, I was finally placed at SGS India, Pune where I used to test automotive electronics in various ways such as different electrical tests, mechanical and durability tests. Thereafter, I worked at STPI MOTION Center of Entrepreneurship for 2 years, wherein I used to manage laboratories that were developing prototypes for electric vehicles in collaboration with start-ups working in EV mobility. I learned a lot about EVs while working at Motion CoE.

I also worked at Metapower, a company owned by one of my professors at Brunel university. Though I did not actually work there professionally, I volunteered for researching and publishing papers with my professor and I published my own paper with him including co-authoring 3 more papers with him.

Finally after that, I am currently working at JLR in Structural Battery testing . Here, we test EV batteries for mechanical vibration and for environmental compliance. The position I am working in is a blend of all of the past experiences at ARAI, SGS and Motion CoE. I was able to build my career path through all the collective learnings and experiences of my previous jobs.

How did you get your first break?

My first break as I described earlier, was working at ARAI and performing well during internship and getting an offer for working at SIAT conference and then a graduate apprenticeship.

I was trying to apply at JLR since long time. As I had experience in vibration testing, I came across multiple positions at JLR for vibration testing and validation testing engineer. 5 of my applications were rejected, with one of them going through technical interview, however the 6th application for a test engineer went through after an interview. I applied from India and they took my interview online, and invited me to join the company right away including a full sponsorship for the job to move to the UK.

What were some of the challenges you faced?How did you addressthem?

Challenge 1: finding the right job according to my past experience. There are not a lot of openings for the field I am working in right now as it is niche and one needs a good experience for vibration anddurability testing. Not a lot of people came forward to help or refer me, I myself had to go out and search for the work. I had good support from my seniors at ARAI, and maintaining good contacts/relations always helps.

Where do you work now?

I work at Jaguar Land Rover in their Structural Battery Test Laboratory, Gaydon, UK.

I am responsible for running tests on the batteries as well as making sure that the lab is prepared for any audits that happen in future. I have been working here for one year now and it has been a wonderful year at JLR.

The problems we solve as a team is how the batteries are to be tested, in communication with the design validation team. All batteries have their own set of tests to be carried out.

What are the skills required for your role? How did you acquire them?

Skills needed for the job are, prior experience in vibration testing, good knowledge about batteries and their function, charging and discharging techniques, knowledge of the equipment used for testing, and knowledge about automotive testing standards laid out by the automotive governing bodies and governments.

What is a typical day like?

My typical day goes in preparing and monitoring tests, and preparing for the audits and documents related to audits for the lab.

Things I love about this job: Great work and life balance and a lot of training provided by the company to develop the skills for the work we do, and the opportunity to work on the things I am passionate about.

How does your work benefit society?

Testing is mandatory for each and every component that is fitted in a car. Thousands of components come together to become one car and each and every components has to go through rigorous testing. There are several types of testing done on all the components of a car such as structural testing, electrical testing, EMI, EMC testing etc. Another important part is auditing which makes sure the quality of testing is right,. There are mainly 3 types of audits, namely, Health and Safety, Environmental and a Quality Audit. These audits make sure that the people working in the lab are safely working in the lab environment, making sure the environment of the lab is as per the industrial standards and the quality of testing is as per the industrial standard and we adhere to those standards. At JLR, we never compromise on the quality of the testing that is carried out in the company and hence comes the customer satisfaction with the highest quality of product.

Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!

At JLR, I was given an opportunity to work on audits that will happen for the lab in future, as the lab is new and is not being subjected to any audits currently. I was able to successfully handle the task that I was given as I am developing myself for auditing skills. This has helped me a lot in learning about audits, the processes and documents that go in for the department for audits.

Your advice to students based on yourexperience?

Never deviate from the goal you have in life. Paths might and will always change. However, have a clear vision of that one goal you were passionate about and always take the toughest route, make sure there are no shortcuts, money will come and go, however the experience and learning are more valuable.

Future Plans?

I am currently where I planned my future in the past. Each and every automotive enthusiast would love to work for their dream automotive company. I wish to work for Ferrari one day, however, I would love to develop myself more into auditing and testing as I grow with JLR.