Driveline Rig Test Engineer Review

I have really enjoyed my time at JLR. I have a strong interest in cars, and even after spending a summer here the novelty of walking onto site in the morning and being surrounded by prototype cars, wrapped in camouflage, plus hundreds of other Jaguars and Land Rovers has not worn off. The opportunities available to those who seek them out are incredible!

My colleagues were generally very receptive and were confident that I could complete the tasks that they gave me. As they were generally not experienced with coding, I was able to offer some different skills to the team and they made me feel as though I was making a significant contribution as a result.

I did not have a great deal of contact with my team as they were spread around the sites by the nature of the job. However, I saw my manager and mentor at least weekly, and whenever I needed to speak to them they were more than happy to meet with me so that I could run through a list of questions or just have a general chat. They generally left me to my own devices if I didn't ask however, which suited me fine as I was happy to control my own experience.

At the beginning of the placement, there was not much for me to do and nobody set me any projects, so I was left to shadow colleagues and just try and find out what I could about the jobs people around me were doing. After a couple of weeks however, I managed to get myself involved in a much meatier project, and then as I got involved with more and more things I found myself with plenty of things to do, but I was totally in control of my own workload.

Towards the end of the placement, the engineer who was in charge of running the test cell went on holiday, and I was asked to step into his role. This meant giving instructions to the operators of the cell, and being responsible for the constant running of the cell and delivery of the correct tests according to the test plan. This was a lot of responsibility but it was a compliment that my manager thought I was capable!

I did a lot of coding within the google apps environment, which will be very transferable back into university, as it will aid me in planning, recording and presenting data for my final year project. It is definitely worth mentioning that JLR run an Employee Learning Scheme, through which every employee is entitled to £200/year worth of exterior training in the vocation of their choice; some of my friends did skiing, survival training, driving lessons, decorating, and all sorts of other things during or after the placement.

The company have a very relaxed attitude towards allowing you to use company time to pursue relevant training and development opportunities. In addition, the company runs an Employee Learning Scheme, which grants up to £200 per year to every employee, to spend on non-work related learning activities. This can be used on a huge variety of things such as driving lessons, skiing, even go-karting.

I have had a lot of opportunities to speak to current graduates about their experience so far on the graduate scheme, and it has all sounded very positive. It is renowned as one of the best grad schemes out there, especially for engineers, and everything I've seen would back that up. As far as I am aware, grad scheme employees get preferential treatment when it comes to promotions later down the line as well. The company is currently doing very well and expanding rapidly.

A huge proportion of 3 month placement students (basically everyone not already living in the midlands) stayed together in student halls in Coventry. This amounted to about 70 people. It was basically a re-run of freshers; it was really easy to settle in and make new friends as nobody knew anybody else so everyone was in the same position. The accommodation was suggested by the company so they had a direct impact on this outcome. As we were all living in close proximity, the networking opportunities and social scene were both absolutely unbeatable. Social & networking events were also organised at work in work time, which provided excellent opportunities to meet even more people.

The summer student accommodation is very cheap for the standard offered; I paid around £1000 for the 12 week placement (around £85/week for en suite with cleaning service). Coventry is just as cheap as any northern city; a pint of beer ranges from £2.20 in Wetherspoons, to £2.80 in the cheapest bar, towards £4 in the more expensive ones. Club entry is around £5. There are plenty of free museums (even free access to the British Motor Museum as a JLR employee) and lots of places to see.

Coventry has a couple of decent clubs and loads of bars. As a university city it offers the same opportunities over summer as students enjoy during the year. In addition, if Coventry gets old, Birmingham is a 20 minute train journey (£2.40 ish) away, and opens the door to a lot more options.