R&D Design Industrial Placement Engineer Review

I throughly enjoyed my placement, once the work ramped up and I got envolved with projects the year flow by. I worked on interesting projects across current European model range and some new development work too. The team I worked with made the placement further enjoyable. I would recommend the company to anyone in the industry.

The team I worked in where very welcoming and once I began to show them my skill set, I was quickly given more and more respect. This allowed me to work on more advance projects and have more individual responsibility. My team were all very helpful with my initial training and by the end of the program I would be regularly helping them out too!

Very good management and always supportive, I never felt like my manager and senior didn't have time for me. I was always given support and guidance for any issues that arose. I was additionally regularly reviewed as part on my university course and additionally comparing me to company expectations.

Once I had settled in, I always had things to do regularly having opportunities to do overtime should I want to stay late. I worked on multiple projects at the same time, this tested my organisational skills to prioritise my work load. Occasionally at the end of projects I had to find new work from colleagues.

I took on responsibility within the department for delivering targets and contributing towards our team performance. My responsibilities grew as I gained more experience and I was able to work independently on projects. I felt like the work I was doing was relevant and useful. I had regular reviews with other engineers and my senior to ensure that I was fulfilling my responsibilities.

I leant a lot throughout they year, I learnt most about the company, processes and the parts that I worked with. My degree helped me with the background knowledge and principles for the year. The skills that I have gained and developed will be useful back at university on how to approach challenges and problems

Great atmosphere, plenty of banter and jokes between the team. I could work seriously in the office for the most time but there was always time to enjoy socially. In addition there is a good coffee area where lots of the placement students would regularly have a drink to allow a bit of time away from the desk.

There was limited organisation of the placement year. After the initial introduction week there was no placement student training or team building activities we were all left to get on with our department and we could do any training activities that we wanted to do in addition to build our personal skills. I thought there would be more structure and activities to give us all base experience. The independence isn't a bad thing, as there was a lot to be gained doing the job.

As mentioned above, the formally arranged training was very limited but the opportunities where available and both my manager and senior where keen for me to complete multiple training courses plus we had quarterly performance reviews to help my development and find areas that I could improve with in. This paved the way for targets for the next meeting.

I believe I have made a very good impression on the company working with lots of engineers across the business. My direct superiors were impressed with what I achieved in the year, regularly performing above expectations in reviews. I would like to think there will be an opening for me in 12 months time.

Quite a few social events organised for placement and graduates, good bit of variety (not just nights out.) In addition, I made some good friends throughout the year that I intend on staying in contact with once back at university. We also had a few social activities planned in the year, which was good to have more relaxed time with our department colleagues.

I lived in Milton Keynes, very expensive area as it only about 30 minutes train from London Euston. It did come with quite a few perks being in a large city, also loads of parks, restaurants and shops. Much nicer than MK's reputation! Bedford is just down the road which is a much cheaper area if that's more your thing.

Loads of great pubs and bars in Milton Keynes for lots of budgets. Personally I prefer a more chilled out night out that going to a club, but the Milton Keynes area is great and has lots of great things to do.

Lots of social clubs and sports teams at the company that a regular advertised to employees mostly run by fellow members of staff. There is a gym at work and weekly fitness classes. In the summer, the tennis courts are used after work. The graduate and placement student occasionally organise events like mini golf and paint ball