Student Placement Review

The tasks were very varied and I got to work on many different projects. I also got to go on site visits and gain some experience of meetings. I learnt to use many different types of software which was exceptionally useful. The environment at the company was excellent, not too serious.

It was hard to tell how useful my work was. Because of the nature of the work of the team i was in, I had to learn many different types of software (not just one as it would be in structures). Also i had no experience of the field or the software from my course and so everything was quite new. This meant i spent a lot of time learning, and perhaps not too much time being useful.

I was given excellent support throughout my placement with regular meetings and progress checks, It was made clear what was expected of me and any questions I had were addressed. My supervisors were very patient with me and seemed quite eager for me to learn and go on site visits, which may not be too productive from the company's point of view.

There were periods when I was extremely busy and felt like I needed more hours in the day to complete my tasks. Other days I would have nothing much to do at all. A few times I would log off in the evening after a day with no work and log on in the morning with 3 different projects, each with short deadlines. The project work itself was fun but it would have been nicer to have been more spread out.

Again, since I had to learn alot not having covered any of the material in my course, I needed alot of guidance. This meant that I didnt have much responsibility as I needed to report back after each short task. In some other disciplines I would have been able to carry out a larger project alone and then report back with my findings at the end. A low degree of responsibility was more due to the nature of the field, rather than the company.

Much of my time was spent on reorganizing the data resource and I dont believe the skills gained here were very transferrable. However, I learnt how to use 4 other types of software, and this will be extremely useful for me in my studies and future jobs. I was also taught, on the placement, alot of the theory behind the work which was also very useful.

the atmosphere was great both during and out of working hours. During work, the office was lively and not very serious. The dress code was also not very strict, and the start time wasnt very strictly enforced either. During lunch most people went to the canteen where there was subsidized foo and a ping pong table and table football. The graduates at the company also organised many events on the weekends or after work.

The organisation of the placement was very good. The offer was given out in february for a start in june (unlike many companies in the sector which give out places very late making it hard to plan the summer). My email and company account was set up well in advance and my induction was given as soon as i arrived (these things are not a given in the sector). HR checked in with me every few weeks to make sure everything was going well as well.

As mentioned before, the company invested alot in me. I was taken on several site visits and testing inspections (where I couldnt be useful, thus an expense to the company). I was given software and licenses not normally given to placements and taught how to use more than 4 different softwares. I was given lots of guidance and was allowed to sit in on meetings, again purely an expense to the company.

There were about 15 other placements and many new graduates at the london office and they were mostly keen to socialise and meet new people. in the last half of the internship we met up most weekends and did something after work most days too. The problem was that placement students all started at differnet times and so a different student would leave each week.

the office is next to oxford street so living and socialising were both very expensive. it is possible to live off the student salary but only in the short term. Rent makes up more than 50% of the student placement salary. The office was quite close to covent garden and soho so plenty of places to eat and go out, such as comedy clubs and bars. The City would have been much more boring.

the graduates at the company organised many sports events after work every week along with weekly tournaments within the company and organising company teams to take part in external competitions. There was also a company camping trip organised by the graduates to the peak district for a weekend. There are many such events organised through the year.