Manufacturing Engineer Review

I enjoyed working for Rolls-Royce a great deal, as I was able to work on many different projects utilising different aspects of manufacturing and engineering. Through this I was able to work with, and learn from experienced engineers in different areas. I enjoyed the variation in tasks and projects the most, as every day was different.

It was hard to feel valued by colleagues at the start, but as the year went on and I was able to get to know colleagues and work with them, and show that I was willing to work hard and complete tasks to a high standard. Then I started to become much more valued, and developed really good working relationships with people in my team and people in other teams.

My management team were very good at supporting and guiding me when I needed help and support. However, during my year my management team went through many personnel changes and restructuring. This made it very hard to get that level of consistency as I couldn't develop that full relationship as it was constantly changing. However all of the management team that I worked for/with we all very supportive.

First few months were really slow and I didn't have much to do. This was mainly down to not having the required level of understanding and technical skills to complete most tasks on my own, and therefore needed someone to show me how to do it. After that I became really busy, because I then had my own packages of work and was tasked with completing them on my own.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. I was tasked with looking after a high profile new product introduction package, I was put solely in charge. This seemed very daunting at first, but as the year developed and I got more experienced I was able to fully own this package of work and was left to manage it with only a small amount of input from management.

The technical skills will be useful to some extent as they are good engineering and manufacturing skills to have. These skills will be much more useful if I return to the company after completing my degree as some of them are very specific to the company/area I was in. However even if don't join the company these skills, along with transferable skills (communication, team skills, presentational skills etc) will still be very useful and is a good platform for the rest of my career.

There was a very good atmosphere in the office, it was a big team but everyone got on really well, and was a great bunch of people to work with. Even though everyone was really busy as the office was a bit understaffed, the mood in the office was always a positive one with everyone willing to chip in and help out when required.

There wasn't a huge amount of structure involved in my placement. I was basically brought in to work on a package of work, and was given a mentor who I could go to for help and advice, other than that there wasn't much structure. Even though this was the case, I feel it still worked well as I was able to ask for help when I needed it.

There was a great deal of time from experienced people invested in me, I wasn't just given tasks to do, someone would work with me and explain it, and explain why it was important so that I could learn to be able to do the tasks on my own. I was also sent on training courses and included in the general training activities to bring me up to speed with many skills.

My manager, supervisor and colleagues are giving me very good feedback and are saying that they will be endorsing me for the graduate scheme/direct entry role. I will be informed of the outcome of this within a few months of finishing my placement, but I feel that there is a good chance that I will receive an offer to join the company.

There was a good association of graduates, interns and apprentices, that put on many events including nights out, ski trip, sky diving, go karting, paint balling, wine tasting etc. This activities were organised at a regular rate and were also subsidised by the company to make the cost a lot cheaper. This association was well run and is a great credit to the company.

I was based in Derby, and the cost of renting and essentials such as food, utilities, entertainment and social aspects are very reasonable priced. This made it a very good place to be working as an intern as I was able to save money to support my final year(s) at university.

Derby as an area has a pretty good night life. There are many good pubs, bars, and clubs in the city centre, and most of these are within a very small distance of each other. There were also regular nights out with work, where we went to many of these clubs and bars as a big group and this made it very enjoyable.

This is related to the point above about the good graduate association. They were constantly organising events and activities that you could get involved in, and these were always very reasonably priced as the company subsidised them. You could also suggest an activity if you wanted to take part in something specific.