Summer Placement Review

The placement was a way for me to experience an area of engineering that I had never really considered before. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the work to be much more interesting than I had anticipated, even though it was in a different area to that which I'm studying at university.

The other people on my team were welcoming and never made me feel like the work I was doing didn't matter. They were all happy to explain what they were working on and answer any questions we had. The graduate students helped organise a two day induction and social events for placement students.

There was a two day induction for all of the placement students initially and then when we actually started in our individual placement teams, there was further introductory training, for both the company as a whole and the project I was working on. Throughout the placement, my manager was always willing to talk through any issues I had and point me in the right direction.

I was given a set of objectives to complete, which made up the majority of the work that I did. However, there were also team meetings to attend and I even got to go out to one of the new build ships for the day. If I ever felt like there wasn't any programming I could be doing at a specific time, I was always able to find research papers or presentations that were related to the project I was working on that I could look over.

I was responsible for completing the objectives set for me, for researching and programming, and for my own time management as the placement was flexitime. However, due to the nature of BAE's work there was a lot that placement students couldn't really be cleared to do themselves. Despite this, it never seemed like there was anything we couldn't ask about.

Although the content of my placement wasn't directly related to my course, the programming language I used for development was the same used in my university coursework. So even though it was used in a different context, the knowledge was definitely transferable. As for the experience working in such a large engineering company, I feel like I was able to learn a little bit about the different roles and disciplines more so that I had a better idea of what I did and didn't want to do.

The team I was working in was quite relaxed as they had no pressing deadlines at the time I was working there. The people were friendly and seemed to function really well together, so there wasn't any tension or uncomfortable situations. My manager was happy for me to use my flexitime, it wasn't discouraged in anyway, as long as the hours were made up elsewhere.

In general, the placement was very well organised and the only snagging point was how long it took to get IT systems set up. There was a full load of work waiting for us when we arrived, and after security clearances were sorted, we had access to almost everything we needed within a week of starting. There is a dedicated Early Careers team who organise and oversee the placement students, along with the graduates and the apprentices.

The company paid for me to complete an online training course in the programming language I was using.

There is an established trend of placement students returning to the Graduate Scheme after completing their degree. The company were quite good with providing information about how good performance on a placement could lead to a fast-tracked application for entry to the Grad Scheme and the graduates working in the office were willing to talk about their experiences on the program.

The placement students are encouraged to socialise out with work, and the graduates helped to organise events throughout the placement. After an early finish on a Friday, placement students often organised to go out for lunch or to go to the pub later on at night. As some of the students move to Glasgow just for the placement, they are all willing to organise things to do.

Glasgow is a student city so has plenty of bars, restaurants and clubs that are generally pretty busy and affordable.

There weren't really any groups or activities organised by the company. There was an opportunity to help to organise the end of placement conference.