OnStar Testing and Application Sustain Undergraduate Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement here at Vauxhall Motors. There have been a lot of challenges, but there have been more ups than downs, with a great and friendly community within the tech department. It was a great experience which I would recommend to anyone planning on going on a placement year.

I felt very valued by my colleagues. My opinion was validated, and my ideas were carried out and taken into consideration. As well as this the friendly nature of the team with genuine concern and understand helped a lot. I felt as if I was bringing value to the company even though I had only just began and started to work alongside them.

There is a lot of support from managers, to supervisors even to the colleagues who sit next to you. I have had countless questions to ask and I was always met with either and answer or help to solve the problem. There was a lot of flexibility as well, as my questions were not limited to the scope of my job, I could ask any question, whether it be about work, life, tech, or even future employment. They were all willing to help and provide useful insights.

I’m fairly busy on a daily basis. At the start, like any other job it’s a bit slow, but then it begins to pick up as the time and your experience grows. In the beginning, I started with one small role to carry out at first with supervision, then independence. Then slowly I was given more training and more responsibility, before being left to manage my own projects and tasks.

I was given a lot of responsibility straight off the bat. As soon as i learned enough i was given the opportunity to lead my own investigations and carry out my own tasks based on the given project at the time with minimal to no supervision, but rather trust that i would be able to complete the task.

I have developed a lot of technical and business skills, as well as interpersonal and social skills while attending the undergraduate scheme at Vauxhall. The knowledge and skills I’ve gained from: Coding, scripting to even project management and more, will help I’m more than just final year projects and courses, but also in future employment.

The atmosphere overall was great! There was always a sense of liveliness around the office, from the small teams out of the way, to the bigger teams clumped together, everyone felt connected and close. Different sectors would go for coffee together and there’s always a conversation going on, even with the workload. It’s very relaxed, yet professional.

The placement year was very well organised for the most part. Because of the long history of placements that they have ran at Vauxhall, they know what they’re doing in terms of undergraduate engagement and activities, and it felt very organised and fleshed out. The only downside was late starters missed out on a lot, and there wasn’t really anything internally in place to catch them back up, apart from some documentation.

There is a huge opportunity for personal development at Vauxhall, you feel as if the company is investing in you to learn a role and gain some skills in order to be an effective employee for the company. As well as this they enable you to grow and branch but offering unlimited access to their library of learning materials to learn any skill you could want.

There are some future employment prospects here at Vauxhall, but it’s very dependent on the team and department you are placed with. It’s important to fit well and be effective at your job when hoping to be called back for a job. And although there are some opportunities, there are still limited spaces and roles available.

The placement students are very social here at Vauxhall, and from the start, they are encouraged to be social and outgoing even though we work a fulltime job. There’s a 2 week handover period which also functions as an undergrad freshers, which really helps the department meet and become social. There’s also a social committee that helps create events for the undergrads.

The cost of living was very manageable there are a lot of cheap options nearby, and a lot of places that are convenient for shopping, but at a slightly higher price. Its recommended to have a car whilst working for Vauxhall to get around Luton town to have better access to some accoms and better supermarkets. The cot of socialising was also fairly cheap, there are a lot fo good pubs and clubs in lutona dn the surroudning areas. The drinks aren't too expensive, and the cost of a return train ticket to the surrounding towns are as cheap at £3.

The nightlife itself around Luton town is not very good. There are some clubs and a lot of pubs, but nothing that compares to university and a city nightlife. If you’re coming from there, then this will be a let-down. The saving grace for all of this is how close London is which will allow you to go to London nights out, and still come back to Luton to rest up.

There were a lot of opportunities to get involved at work. The offered a lot of activities for their employees from quizzes, football, badminton and they pushed healthier alternatives like a bike scheme which allows employees to get discounted bikes to cycle into work as well as promoting London to Brighton type activities. As well as this the tech centre hosted a lot of employee engagement activities which takes a day off work to enjoy tem building exercises and games.