At Delta Institute, we take immense pride in the diverse talents and unique stories our students bring to our programs. Every student’s journey is a testament to their passion, dedication, and the drive to push beyond boundaries. Today, we are excited to share the experience of Enzo, an 18-year-old from São Paulo, Brazil, who recently completed the Ferrari Work Experience Program 2024. Enzo approached this opportunity with enthusiasm and a desire to learn, and his journey is one that exemplifies the spirit of Delta Careers—embracing challenges, forging meaningful connections, and expanding horizons. Through his words, you'll get a glimpse into the highs and challenges of the program, along with invaluable advice for future participants.
Introduction
Hey, everyone! My name is Enzo, and I’m an 18-year-old from São Paulo, Brazil. In today’s blog, I’m excited to share my experience with the Ferrari Work Experience Program 2024 with Delta Careers. As someone who was highly anticipating this opportunity, I approached the program with both high expectations and a strong desire to learn and work diligently. Not only because of Ferrari's high prestige and reputation, but also because internship opportunities like this are extremely rare for high school students in Brazil. Despite not knowing exactly what to expect, I set two main goals: to absorb as much knowledge as possible and to give my best effort to every task. This mindset turned out to be incredibly beneficial, leading to an extremely positive and successful experience, which I’m delighted to further comment on throughout this blog!
Key Aspects of the Experience
Let me start by highlighting the key aspects of my experience, beginning with the remarkable people you’ll meet and work with. Delta effectively reunites talented and engaged students in this program, and through lectures and the development of your case study, you will have countless opportunities to learn a lot from them while also sharing more about your own talents and areas of expertise.
Learning from the Best
Moreover, through this program, you will be able to learn directly from the best professors in the world in your area of specialization. In my case, that was mechanical engineering, and I had two lectures every week with two professors from Imperial College London! Needless to say, you must take advantage of any time you have with your professors, as you are always learning when interacting with them! Make the most of your time with them by actively participating in lectures, asking questions, and utilizing office hours.
Navigating Challenges
Lastly, be prepared to be academically surprised! I, personally, have always had great interest in multiple STEM fields, such as math, physics, and computer science, so I took the Ferrari program to see if I’d find myself interested in mechanical engineering. As it turns out, I totally was! Interacting with professors and colleagues through meetings and lectures made me a new fan of Formula 1, the automobile industry, and all sorts of things related to this area!
However, as you may believe, Delta’s Work Experience Program is highly challenging, and thus some challenges may emerge during your experience. For example, the multiple weekly sessions, including lectures, meetings with the team coordinator, and team meetings, along with responsibilities outside of these sessions, can quickly consume your time if not managed well. Therefore, my best advice in that regard is to create a daily schedule so you can better focus on what is most important for each day.
Collaboration and Teamwork
Don’t think that you will organize these schedules alone! It is crucial that you maintain active contact with your teammates to define the responsibilities of each member. During the 4 weeks of the program, my best advice is to, during the first week, define with your group a team captain and a rough sketch on what are of the case study is each member going to focus on.
During week 2, as you guys start having more lectures and learn more about the area, you can alter some of the responsibilities of each member, focusing on what the group believes will be the best configuration to yield the best work you guys can possibly achieve! Once this is set, during weeks 3 and 4 is where the team members get their hands dirty to finalize their respective duties on the case study project.
The Case Study
Lastly, I want to emphasize how challenging the case study can be. There are many requirements your project must meet, and there are often additional ‘extra’ characteristics your work should include. In my case, for example, that was tradition: Ferrari has a very strong pride for its company and the values it represents, and therefore our team was aware that we would need to maintain the essence of these values in our work, besides all the other goals we needed to achieve with it. This is why I highly encourage active communication between the team members and the team coordinator; even though each member is going to focus on an area of the project, it is always good to hear suggestions and opinions from others that may improve your work, and this is why it is so important to keep everyone updated!
Final Thoughts
I know that Delta careers offers programs in many different areas besides mechanical engineering with many different companies besides Ferrari. Still, I believe the experiences, successes, and challenges I’ve shared can provide valuable insights into the Delta Careers experience as a whole. In general, I would recommend this program to either someone who has a clear passion for a specific area in the market or someone who is still indecisive and wants to further explore new fields. Independently of which description you relate to, rest assured that Delta Careers will offer a unique and challenging experience, connecting you with talented students worldwide, teaching university-level content, and providing the opportunity to work on a real-world group project.
Are you the next innovator?
Searching for a way to turn your idea into reality? Joining us in Delta Institute is the answer.
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- Virtual work experience programs in diverse industries
- Learning from industry professionals at a university level
- Project-based work on live projects from companies
- Referral letters and certificates from prestigious companies
- Building a global network of top students and industry professionals
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