Placement engineer Review

I have really enjoyed my work at National Grid throughout my placement year, the only reason I give 9 stars instead of 10 is because my role wasn't directly matched to my degree discipline. That being said I was still able to branch out and find opportunities where I could apply what I had learnt during my studies. Overall I really enjoyed my placement year, I got involved in much more than just my day job and was able to learn about some amazing things.

Throughout my year I always felt valued and included, I could not have asked for more support. I feel that over the year I contributed towards something much larger than myself, and the lovely send off which I had from my colleagues at the end of the year really brought that home for me.

Whenever I needed support or guidance I always had people I could call on, and it was that support base which really helped me through my ups and downs throughout the year. I cannot commend these people enough and would rate the support I received across the company as second to none.

I think that it's quite a difficult thing to assess how busy you are per say, however I would have to say that there were never moments where I was waiting in idle. I think there were definite peaks and troughs in workload, and planning around these really helped me to develop further. However back to the question; every day I learnt something new and got several steps further ahead with my tasks. I think that overall I had a near perfect balance of business so to speak.

I believe that much like with the ascent of great rulers, responsibility grows with time. I started off my placement year working on smaller projects, and learning about the workings of the business fist. Then towards the latter part of the year I was working on things which had a much greater degree of responsibility and involved interaction all across the business. I think that this way of slowly being introduced to higher levels of responsibility allowed me to develop without being too overwhelmed at first, and brought the perfect balance to the year.

The soft skills which I have developed whilst on placement will stay with me for life and are already proving a massive advantage when returning back to my studies. I think that before you have 'real world' experience you think that everything is about your technical knowledge, however once you have gone into industry you learn that there is much more to develop than just that. When dealing with students now who have not done a year in industry you really realise the difference in level of maturity. I would say the main skill I have developed this year is my people skills, and I believe that this has set me up for a great start with my future career,

The general atmosphere in the office was really friendly, I never felt left out and was able to organise one to ones with various individuals across the office whom I had not previously met. There was a good balance of professionalism and banter across the company. My colleagues were all very open and this really took the edge off for when I first joined.

I think the placement scheme was very well organised, the year was broken up into 4 reviews and this helped to bring structure to the year and also run in line with University requirements. I have spoken to many friends at University who have been on placement and not had any formal training or structure and for this reason I think the scheme is really great.

Throughout the year I experienced many degrees of formal training, such as: driving awareness, gas quality technical training and communication awareness courses. As well as this I was able to develop continually throughout, with the use of regular one to ones with my manager and business coordinator. I received lots of on the job training and by the end of the year had built up a good knowledge base on the workings of National Grid with respect to both gas and electricity.

Future employment prospects are very promising, I have been offered a place on the graduate scheme and look forward to my return when I have finished my studies.

There was a great social scene amongst both colleagues and placement students; we all kept in contact via whatsapp and facebook, and met up for socials on several occasions throughout the year. We still keep in contact now that the year has come to a close and I am sure I will remain friends with many of the placement students from my year at National Grid.

I thought the cost was very reasonable for both living and socialising, Leamington was also a great spot for pokemon go and lots of other activities. It had everything you needed so you didn't need to travel to surrounding cities which was great. The town itself was rather pretty and historic, plenty to do there on a weekend if you had friends/family over to stay.

The nightlife was fairly quiet which was nice, but there were still things you could do and places you could go if you didn't want to sleep.

Plenty. There were so many things you could get involved in, in and around Leamington! I think because I had more personal time than when at University I threw myself at a different hobby every month to see if I liked it because there were that many things you could get involved in. To name a few: fishing, dancing, archery, running and sailing.