Business Analyst Review

So far, my work placement has been eye-opening. It's been good to see exactly how a large organisation run their IT Team. It's amazed me the depth to which an IT Team goes in a manufacturing company rather than just supporting anything IT related. The work I have been given to complete is a mix of tasks but I’ve never been given a task I am uncertain on or uncomfortable doing.

All of the work colleagues have made me feel welcome and have helped me settle in very well. They are all very approachable and will always make time to assist tasks or aid in uncertainty. I do not feel as if I am looked down-upon or judged because I am not a full-time employee. I am also not given demeanial tasks either because I am a placement student.

My supervisor has been extremely helpful in helping me settle in to a new environment. I have been assigned a ‘buddy’ who I shadow and work alongside with in projects. We have weekly one to one sessions to talk about any issues in or out of work and provide guidance on where I can improve and my expectations in certain projects.

I find on a daily basis I am usually very busy with a constant stream of meetings and work tasks. I never felt as if I had completely nothing to do as if they were no project work I could be doing at the time there was always other tasks I could pick up to help out other colleagues.

My responsibility levels were very much varied but I was never babysat or told not to do a task because of me not being a full-time employee. I was given the guidance to set up meetings and from there I have been left to chair my own meetings and discussions.

I have definitely learnt many more skills since being on placement, a lot of which has progressed from what I learnt from my course. I have been involved with new software which I hope to push for the university to provide us with when I return next year. I am also more knowledgeable in project management which will definitely help me in any IT role I go into in the future.

The atmosphere in the office is always good and positive. There is always a level of seriousness but with a huge dash of laughter and fun. The whole office seemed more like a huge family and there is never any awkward atmospheres. Even when there are hard times pressing, it never seemed to show.

The placement set-up was well organised. There was never any issues throughout the whole process. All documentation which was sent for me to fill in was clear and self-explanatory. I liked the fact there was a 'meet and greet' event where all placement students met at a Caterpillar site so we could be introduced to each other and to the company.

There is a lot of time invested to aiding my personal training and development. Training sessions were set up right at the start of the placement year as well as many individual sessions to aid with certain tasks I had to accomplish for completing project tasks.

Future employment prospects seem appealing to me. I would happily carry on here in a graduate role and feel comfortable that I was making the best of myself and using my knowledge from my degree to my full potential. The work I am involved in is partly linked with my hobbies so I feel this role suits me would be more than happy to return.

The graduate placement students always set up lots of activities and social events. There are many nights out organised for the grads and placement students as well as fun tasks like a treasure hunt (with cars) There was a few social events organised within the team for local events such as a beer festival.

I commuted in so I wouldn't know.

Not sure as I was never there in the night time

An opportunity was given to placement students to be involved in helping local high school students, build a Lego robot which will compete in events with other schools.