Placement Student Review

I enjoy learning so in that sense I have really enjoyed my time at Caterpillar (Perkins Engines Peterborough.) I have learned lots about diesel engines, from the manufacturing and quality side to how we test and develop are new products. I had lots of opportunities to lead my own projects, which I really enjoyed compared to doing a side job that a colleague doesn't have time to complete.

I did although it is difficult to become an integral technically experienced member of a team in 6 months (I worked in two departments for 6 months at a time.) My contribution was valued and colleagues where grateful for the amount of time I put into projects that hadn't been looked at in a long time. I had lots of really useful constructive feedback, which some really encouraging pointers.

A mixed bag here. For my first 6 months I didn't have any clear direction from my supervisor. It was difficult to assess how I was doing when I wasn't able to sit down with my manager and discus what I was doing well and how I could improve. That changed when I moved departments. In the other team, my manager was very much aware of what I was doing, which coupled with regular catch up sessions meant I had much more guidance and support with what I was doing. So 3 out of 10 for the first 6 months and 9 out of 10 for the second 6 months.

There was a pretty good balance here. Some projects required lots of input from Technical Experts, so they dragged on a bit due to the workload of other members of the team. This was a bit frustrating as sometimes I spent a lot of time waiting for colleagues to get back to me with answers and help. But this was not the complete picture, most of the time I had a good balance of work on a wide range of projects some of which I lead and some as part of a bigger team.

For the first 6 months not a lot, I was mainly supporting another engineer in their project. I received more as time went on and as people saw that I was able to deliver good quality work. During my second 6 months, I was in charge of the projects so much more responsibility was placed on my shoulders. I feel that I was capable of more responsibility but the main limitation was my own knowledge, as lots of the technical information was very specific to the site, department and engine testbed that I worked on.

The learning for my degree is not related to technical knowledge. The key skills I have learned are project managing, communication with colleagues to find out necessary information. I have also had a great learning experience of all the processes and people running parts of the business that I could never of imagined where involved in designing, validating and manufacturing engines. These skill will help me with my final year project as it is team based. In terms of my future career, I have had a great insight into 'What it is like to work in an engineering company' and an idea of what I may want to do next.

In the first office I worked in, very quiet generally. However in our team we had a good vibe, I could go to anyone and ask engineering and career progression questions, and always get a useful answer. In the second office much the same but there was even more communication between different teams, which helped everyone to understand the constraints on different team members.

From my first manager, not a lot, I was really expected to go and find work for myself, along with other handover work from the prior placement student. From my second manager much more, he took much more interest in the projects I was working on, providing suggestions on how I could do things better and what I was doing well. He also laid out from the start his expectations and the projects that he would like me to start to work on. My overarching placement manager helped to organise other training opportunities, however I would of benefitted from more communication between my day-to-day managers and my placement manager.

There were lots of great training courses that we were able to take part in. These ranged from learning about how manufacturing processes are made more efficient to technical training on engine components. The only thing that could of been better was the fact that a lot of the software side was self-taught and it was not always clear who was the person who could help you out.

Reasonably, I would definitely apply for a graduate role as there are lots of opportunities to develop in a variety of departments in the business (manufacturing to component design to system design.) There is a lot of cutting edge research that is going on at the Peterborough site and therefore lots of chances to be involved in that work. The only downside is I am not yet sure that I want to work for a larger company (but that is just based on what I would like to do in the future and would apply to any larger company.)

The company took on about 20 placement students on my site, so there was a good crowd of us for social events. I lived with 4 of them, which was great. There are also lots of graduate roles so there are lots of younger employees in the business. This meant that there where plenty of social events with fellow colleagues.

There is not a great deal to do in the Peterborough area, but that didn't personally bother me. In terms of living costs: prices are relatively cheap in Peterborough and lots of the graduates and placements students live near together. I lived in a house with 4 other placement students which also brought the cost of living down.

There is not a lot in the sense of Nightlife in Peterborough. The city has a couple of pubs and clubs if that is your sort of thing. This is not really a priority for me so I can't really give an informed answer. That being said London is only 50 mins on the train and Loughborough a similar time away so if you want that student life it’s not too far away.

Yes there are lots and lots of sports activities. Practically every department has a 5 a side football evening. Other sports clubs include: football, cricket, golf, tennis, badminton, basketball. In addition the graduate and placement students organise lots of social events in the local area. There are also encouraging engineering in schools programs (STEM) that you will be encouraged to take part in.