8/6/2024 Katelin Chong
Written by Katelin Chong
AE student Ana Bojinov is beginning her senior year this fall at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Since her sophomore year, she has worked for the Talbot Laboratory Machine Shop on campus, though the experience is not entirely new to her. Bojinov’s family owns a machine shop where she was first introduced to the line of work.
“My family immigrated from Bulgaria and my parents opened up a machine shop here where we service a lot of different clients,” she said.
At her family’s shop, International Revere Machining Corporation in Chicago, Bojinov’s father mainly trouble shoots tools that are not working properly, fixing them through machining for his customers.
“I spent a lot of summers and weekends hanging around, watching him fix stuff for people,” Bojinov said. “That's actually one of the things that got me interested in engineering, seeing behind the scenes how things work and are made.”
Bojinov received her position at the Talbot shop through an application at the start of her sophomore year. After interviewing with the shop supervisor, Dustin Taylor Burns, and receiving the position, she started out with small tasks around the shop.
“Then, as I started learning more about the details of machining, I got trained on the machines to make parts as well,” she said.
Getting hands-on experience in the field helps Bojinov develop more skills, and gives her a lead for her resume.
“When I've had interviews for internships, I've talked about my experience in the machine shop,” she said. “It's something that a lot of people find interesting —because it's something not a lot of people do and because it shows I understand the process that goes into making things.”
Throughout the school year, Bojinov is typically in the shop for a couple days per week, spending a total of five to seven hours there. Working there has given her the opportunity to look deeper into the work being done when dealing with machinery.
A lot of times when engineers design things, they're not thinking about that process,” she said. “So understanding what is feasible in a machine shop really helps with that.”
At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bojinov is part of the Illinois Space Society and RASC-AL, which stands for Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage, where the mission is more theoretical compared to the machine shop. Since she now has experience on both ends, she hopes to pursue a career that combines them.
“I definitely want there to be a mix of the two,” she said. “That's what really interests me, is taking the theoretical ideas and figuring out how to make them.”
Bojinov is still involved in her family’s shop back at home, making sure to do whatever she can while she is there.
“Over the summer, I had an internship, so I can’t go back as often. When I do go home, I definitely stop by and help out where I can,” she said.
Bojinov recommends others join student organizations like ISS where they can get a chance to have hands-on work. In turn, this can open even more opportunities.
“Even if you don't have access to a machine shop, a lot of machinists are very open,” she said. “Everyone I work with in the machine shop in Talbot is very open and would love to give advice on anyone's design. It's better to ask for help than to design it and make it poorly.”