How The Big Bang Competition changed my life

Winning UK Young Engineer of the Year at The Big Bang Competition in 2018 was a life-changing experience. I was 18, still at school, and had no idea quite how many doors it would open.

My winning project was called The Plybot, a low-cost, flat-pack 3D printer that could fit inside a pizza box when unassembled. It took just 20 minutes to put together and cost £49 to make, while delivering the print quality and speed of machines costing more than £1,000 to produce. I'd been building 3D printers since I was 13, constantly experimenting with ways to make them cheaper and more accessible.

While studying maths and physics at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School in Cheshire, I heard about The Big Bang Competition through a family friend. I first entered in 2017 with a combined 3D printer and CNC milling machine, finishing as a runner-up in my age group. I returned the following year with The Plybot and won.

That moment changed everything.

Opening doors

After winning, I took a gap year in 2019 to turn my work developing 3D printers into a business, collaborating with a global team of 8 people. I also returned to The Big Bang Fair, this time to see other young people's inventions and share advice from my own experience.

But perhaps the biggest opportunity came when I decided to apply to Stanford University in California to study computer science.

Winning The Big Bang Competition was the cornerstone of my application. Stanford is incredibly competitive, particularly for international students, and I genuinely believe I wouldn't have been accepted without that achievement. It gave me something that demonstrated not just my interest in technology, but what I was capable of creating.

From inventor to entrepreneur

Studying at Stanford opened up new opportunities to develop my ideas and explore entrepreneurship. I went on to receive support from start-up accelerator Y Combinator to develop Forfeit. Forfeit is an app designed to help people maintain habits by introducing financial consequences if they don't follow through.

That idea evolved into Overlord, an AI-powered accountability tool that helps users stay focused and achieve their goals. Today, I live in New York and am continuing to explore new business ideas, including technology that could help people manage addictive spending behaviours.

The Plybot itself is still back home in England, sitting in my shed. But the experience of developing it, entering The Big Bang Competition and winning has stayed with me.

An experience that changed my life

I'd recommend engineering to anyone who enjoys solving problems and creating things that could make a difference.

It's one of the few careers where you can genuinely change how people live or interact with the world. And with advances in AI, there are more opportunities than ever to turn ambitious ideas into reality.

What makes The Big Bang Competition so special is the chance to meet young people from all walks of life who are using their creativity to solve problems. It's a place to experiment, be entrepreneurial, learn from others and have fun.

Some of the best weeks of my life were spent around The Big Bang Competition. Looking back, winning UK Young Engineer of the Year didn't just recognise something I'd created. It helped give me the confidence and opportunities to pursue everything that came next.