Components and Programs Engineer Review

My placement as a whole was good and enjoyable - however there were defiantly times when I felt as though I was "done with it now" and wouldn't be benefiting anything anymore from staying on for the full year. I can see that the company itself is excellent and would like to continue working with them – just not in this current position.

Only partially valued. Even though most of my colleagues were friendly and nice, there were some who didn’t make me feel valued particularly. Some of the older staff who were electrical engineers (I’m a process engineer) often made me feel daft or stupid for not knowing things that they would consider to be “basic” knowledge.

Support was readily available from my supervisors and the management team. Even though they were often busy with other jobs and plant activates – we always had a brief in the mornings and could discuss problems if we required support. Other colleagues were also available to help out with projects instead of just my supervisor.

Appropriately so. Some days were busier than others and occasionally there were times when I did have to wait on other people’s responses or to be free, however during these times there were usually other jobs I could be getting on with in order to fill the gaps. If I did find myself short of work I could always ask the team for anything they needed help with.

I was involved in several different projects during my placement and had different levels of responsibility on each of them. Some projects I was merely helping out with someone else’s work whereas some I was encouraged to take charge off and make my own. Overall I think the amount of responsibility I was given during my placement was less than I’d hoped for – but fair considering the nature of my work.

I managed to develop skills into different engineering types than I would have done during my degree. I believe that these skills will definitely help me in any future jobs – or grad scheme positions – that I apply for. There wasn't much work that I think will actually benefit me during my final year of my degree – but the experience was none the less valuable.

The general atmosphere in my office was friendly but busy. Due to the nature of the plant in which I worked at there was often some sort of emergent issue of high priority task going on. There were several younger people in my office who i became friends with. The atmosphere itself was good and postie - there were just a couple of people who weren't always 100% friendly.

I would say average. Unlike what i believe the grad scheme is like with official jobs pre-setup to go to for a couple of months each - however on my placement it sort of felt like I was just put into a position and the work that I would be doing was thought up after.

The company definitely invested in my. I attended quite a lot of different training course - both general and specific that would help my with my job and also with just a general understanding of the plant and the company as a whole. I have also been offered the possibly of a place on the grad-scheme - however this has not yet been decided as i believe there is an assessment day first.

I would very much like to return to this company. I would probably prefer to have a job further in the south (as that is where the majority of my friends and family are) however i imagine that there is a chance to travel a bit if need be.

I manged to live with some of the other placement students and so we always had a good time away from work. There were also other placement student at a site very near to us form the same company and so at weekends and things we would often all hang out. I think if i had been on placement here by myself it could have been a very different story.

From being in the south of England most of my life and moving up north i found everything to be a lot cheaper. The classic "how much is a pint" question was about £2.80 which I would consider to be extremely cheap. My rent - despite not living in the nicest of areas - was very cheap, and the house itself was perfectly acceptable to what 4 students on placement would expect.

As a lot of my friends from university were still in the south I would often go back down at weekends, however on the occasions i stayed and went out there was always fun to be had. There are a lot of good pubs nearby as well as clubs, sports bars and a comedy club.

Some but not many. The guys from my office play football on Mondays together - but its not really my thing. Other than that there wasn't much else to get involved in - unless i was going to get involved in other general clubs.