Summer Placement Review

I very much enjoyed my placement at EDF Energy to the extent that i wish to continue to work with the company when I graduate. It was a great opportunity to learn new skills and meet very interesting and inspiring people. It showed me that the work I was doing at university could really translate to working the real world.

My colleagues made me feel very welcome from day one. At no point did i feel i was not valued or was patronised by any of my colleagues. They made sure I was comfortable and kept busy each day but never put any pressure on me to do jobs I wasn't experienced enough to do. They even gave me a lovely lunch at the end of my placement which showed how kind they were.

In each task I was given to do I was given lots of guidance by my supervisor but at the same time given the space to work through problems on my own to enhance my learning. This made me feel very comfortable knowing as I knew if i came upon any problems I could ask my supervisor to explain or give additional information on the subject which she always did no matter how busy her day was, which i very much appreciated.

Every day on my placement my supervisor would check that I had enough work to keep me busy throughout the day but not too much to overwhelm me. There was a good amount of projects which would either last a week or run throughout the time I was there. It was great to see a project from start to finish, knowing my work had been used as part of a real project.

As a few weeks past I had learnt a lot about the company and the technology which allowed me to understand the tasks going on in the office and enabled me to take on my own projects without much supervision. I was able to produce a report on the project I had been working on which was reviewed by my supervisor and showed to the group manager.

I gained many skills which are very valuable to my studies such as report writing and leaning about the technology. Also working in a professional group of very experienced people has showed me the day to day life of engineers and how to take part in professional meetings which I can transfer to any job I get following my studies.

There was a great atmosphere in my office which allowed me to interact with other colleagues and learn from their experience and also see how they deal with problems on a daily basis. The atmosphere also allowed me to work hard each day and feel comfortable enough to ask questions and participate in office meetings where appropriate.

The placement was very well organised as it is understandably difficult to get access to a nuclear power station i didn't expect it to be so seamless, but I was quickly introduced to the system and able to start my projects from day one without any problems. I also had the option of different projects to do depending on my interests which was great.

A graduate job with the company would be a great opportunity to start my career. After enjoying working with them as a placement student a graduate placement would allow my to continue to enjoy the company and progress my career through their great training facilities and many different stations around the UK. It would give me a chance to work with the great people I met on placement.

EDF Energy support many great charities and have many different events happening throughout the year that you can support any take part in. This allows you to meet different people that you might not normal see on your day job and become closer to your colleagues. All staff were very friendly and encouraged me to participate in different events.