Research & Development Engineer Review

I found my placement quite enjoyable as I learned a lot and learned skills which could only be developed by getting experience in industry. I really enjoyed working with many different people as I was continually learning new things and developing my knowledge of engines and how emissions regulations are met. I'm always keen on giving myself a challenge and enjoyed some of the challenges that working between departments and within a large organisation provided.

My colleagues always welcomed and valued my contribution, as I got more involved with the team and proved my competence on some smaller projects and was given larger more important projects my colleagues really valued the work that I was doing as it directly impacted the work that they were doing so valued my contribution as me doing a good job would save them time and effort to complete their part of the project.

On a day to day basis I wasn't given a huge amount of guidance by management/supervisors. This wasn't a problem after I'd developed the skills I'd needed to confidently do the job I was tasked with but I probably could have done with more guidance at the start. I was always very aware that managers/supervisors were always willing support should you ask them for it but sometimes because they were so busy it was difficult to sit down and talk through concerns with them. I found it useful to ask to set up fortnightly one to one meetings where we could guarantee that we would have some time to sit down and talk through things so that I could get some support where I needed it.

It really depended on what I was working on but I it was generally a mix between being really busy when I was in the middle of a project as some of the work I was doing was high priority work which customer engines were awaiting, and sometimes when I was in between projects I really didn't have a lot to do. Generally the work flow was steady and I got to know after a while that if I was running low on work to make my manager aware so that he could get team members to get me involved in work that needed doing.

After I had proved myself after the first month or so with how I had completed my first smaller tasks I was given quite a lot of responsibility. I was left to manage some high priority work such as getting components re-worked for customer engines which were ready to be shipped - this work was required to prevent early failure of a component and it was quite a big responsibility getting these parts re-worked and delivered on time. I was also tasked with getting equipment up and running which hadn't been used for five years which involved working with a company in Europe to get engineers onsite and re-commission the equipment. This piece of kit also carried a big safety risk so I was responsible for looking after this and working with all of the relevant teams to get it ready for the testing and ensuring all safety procedures were in place.

People skills and general communication are key skills which I have developed during my placement, all which will help me during the remainder of my degree and beyond when I get a graduate job. From managing a few high priority tasks I've really learnt what people expect from you when trying to lead some work and what information they expect from you when managing a piece of work, this skill I believe will be critical in group projects in my degree.

The atmosphere was good in my office, my first six months I was in the research and development centre within a reasonably small office, this was a much quieter environment and many of the engineers would be on test cells or helping with other work meaning that a lot of the time there were only a few people in the office. The atmosphere however was very good and all of the team were very friendly and welcoming. My second 6 months were in the Product centre which was a much bigger and louder office with more going on, but much the same everyone in the team was very friendly.

I think more could be done to provide a more organised structure, I was surprised to see there was no real structure in place of what a placement student would do and there had been no work planned for me until I was there. My placement was split into two 6 month rotations and I feel that it would have been beneficial for the manager of my first placement to communicate with my second placement the sort of person I was and the level of responsibility they felt was appropriate from the work I'd done in my previous six months as when I changed departments it felt like I was back to the beginning where I needed to prove my ability to the team before being responsible for an important project. This only took about a month but was a month I could've provided much more input to the team than I actually did.

There was no specific training for my day to day job as the only real way to learn it was to get stuck in and be hands on with the job. I was however given plenty of opportunities for other training to extend my skill set and improve my knowledge for my job and to help for my future career. These training opportunities were things such as hazard awareness, safestart, engine appreciation (learning about engine components), Simulated Working Environment (which taught me about lean manufacture and how to improve efficiency) and greenbelt training which looked at six sigma ways to improve quality and to look at different methods on how customer problems are root caused.

I think that future employment prospects are quite appealing here, graduates are on a good salary and get to experience many different areas of the business by doing four six month placements before deciding which department they wish to finally work in after their two years. There are many perks with working for a big organisation such as Caterpillar and they will support MPDS so you can go for chartership which is also very appealing.

Yes, the YPUK held several events outside work as well as the placement students organising events themselves such as nights out, trips to the pub, barbeques etc. Also there were plenty of sporting opportunities within the company after work, there were football, cricket, badminton, basketball teams which employees attended on a weekly basis and were open to anyone to come along to and the good thing was that everyone was at different skill levels so it was all just a bit of fun.

I was one of a few of the placement students who lived locally so lived at home so I don't have accurate knowledge of the cost of living. From what I gauged from other placement students the rent on houses was reasonable for the area, however some people were paying a lot more than others because they'd left it until the last minute to get something sorted. The cost of socialising is very reasonable with plenty of options for things like pubs and restaurants to suit whatever your budget. Also a return train to London from Peterborough is only about £20 with a railcard so you can easily have a day out in London for very little money.

The nightlife is okay but not the best that's around, a few of the big clubs shut down a few years ago. There are still a couple of clubs in town however there are also many different pubs and bars as an alternative to going out clubbing some of which are quite nice.

Yes, there were many weekly sports teams which met up outside of work to have a bit of fun, this included sports such as football, basketball, badminton, cricket etc. so there was always something to get involved with outside of work. The YPUK and placement students would also have events or organise activities outside of work which you could also get involved in too.