Pre-University Trainee Review

I really enjoyed the placement and thought it was an invaluable experience. Not only did I find the placement academically stimulating, I also had a lot of fun. I thought 9 months would be a long time but it seemed to fly by and I genuinely looked forward to going to work almost every day.

My colleagues were always keen to utilise me and made me feel like I was making a real contribution.

Everyone was very generous in giving up time to teach me new skills and advice in all the work I was doing. Senior people gave up a lot of time to make sure I really understood the ins and outs of any project which I was working on. They were always friendly and understanding, and very patient with the fact that I only had A level knowledge.

My work load varied from day to day. There were some days when I was bored and some when I was extremely busy and this reflected the project I was working on and so is understandable. I enjoyed having the variety and the balance between the particularly busy days and slightly dull days was fairly good.

I was very impressed with the amount of responsibility and independance I was given throughout the placement.

The skills I gained during the placement are very relevant to my degree (general engineering) and have already come in use. I learnt a lot about stress analysis at the material point through doing FE analysis which is a topic covered in my degree course. I also learnt how to use Matlab which is a skill that will be very useful both in my degree and in the future.

I thought the atmosphere in the office was very good. Everyone was very focused and there was a good work ethic. I found people took their work very seriously, but there was still a lot of fun. There was a good sense of community and the office had cake and tea together once a week which was always a nice break.

The placement was fairly well organised. I didn't get any feedback until the end of the placement which was slightly due to lack of organisation. However throughout the placement there was a series of work lined up for me too do and it was organised well so that I got to do a large variety of work.

The company gave me a week's worth of training when I first joined which taught me how to use the various essential pieces of software which the group uses. Individuals also invested a lot of time into teaching me new skills. For example I got taught how to carry out a vibration site survey to the point where I could do one completely myself.

I would really like to go back and work for the company in the future. Employment prospects are very appealing, both as summer internships and as a graduate. The company seemed keen to have me back in the summer for placements. The graduate scheme looks really good and is something I would definitely consider.

There were about five other placement students which I ate lunch with frequently and occasionally went out after work with. There was also a good social scene with my colleagues. We out to the pub after work most weeks. There were also organised social activities monthly, including cycling at the velodrome, bowling and going to an exhibition.

The cost of living for me was not expensive for me as a lived at home during my placement and commuted in. The area was expensive though and likewise socializing was expensive as well.

The nightlife in the area was good on weeknights although quite dead on weekends. It was quite expensive though and so I didn't experience much of the nightlife during my placement.

There were quite a few opportunities to get involved with other activities outside of work. I played netball for the company against other companies in the area which was a lot of fun. I also played softball with my team in the company in the summer. However, it was quite hard to find out about these opportunities when I first joined.