Engineering Placement Student Review

Overall I would say that I enjoyed my experience, I feel like I have learnt a lot this year and it has been a good insight into the working world. There were times, however, where I really struggled with my placement. I am on an engineering placement and there were a number of occasions where I felt that the work I was doing was not related to engineering or my course at all.

When working with my first line manager I felt there was a real effort to get us involved in the department and to do work for different people so that we could get introduced to a lot of the team. Due to the nature of my work with my second manager in the last half of my placement, there was no interaction with anyone else on the team, which felt a little isolating. I have been lucky in my department as there are two other interns who I have grown very close to during my year.

When working for my first manager I received plenty of guidance and support. If there was a problem that I had with any of the work she would be willing to assist me; and before starting any work we would sit down and discuss what she would like from it and the best way to get the best results. When I changed to my manager I was left to my own devices a lot more, and there was less communication and support.

How busy I was depended on what projects I had going on at the current time. There were some weeks were I had multiple projects going on at the same time and it was a case of prioritises certain things and learning to multitask. However, then there were times were my work load was lighter and as well as getting my work done, I had time to do some further research into areas I had learnt about during my year. I would say overall there was a good balance.

In my placement year I learnt a lot of new skills which will help me in my future. Before this year I had not worked with Python, Java or Android Studios and I have now created Android applications and completed a whole project using Python. As well as technical skills I think the software skills I have gained from just being in an office environment for a year will help me in the future.

Sony run the SPY (Student placement year) program which was very well organised, the SPY program looks after all the interns across the two Sony offices. There were development days where all the interns met up and went to go and visit some of the other Sony offices and take part in activities and get to know each other better. Within my department I feel as though the placement was a little less organised. There are three students placed in my department, before one of the roles was clearly defined as a software role. However my role, and the other intern, were in roles which were less defined and we got involved in a variety of projects with no structure. It was good experience as we had the opportunity to get involved in a variety of projects and learn a wide range of skills.

I was not offered any 'formal' training within my department. There were department lead workshops which we could attend where everyone was invited along to learn something new. The most formal training that I received was during a handover period I had with the previous placement students where they went over some of the key skills that they thought we would need for our placement.

There is now a graduate scheme in Sony, including my department, so I feel that the future employment prospects within the company are improving. I know that some previous placement students have come back for graduate/permanent positions within the organisation across different departments. I think that the future employment prospects are stronger in some departments compared to others.

There is a really strong network of placement students at the office, in my year there were a total of around 15 students. We all got along really well and would meet up for lunch every day and meet up outside of work for drinks are to go out. As well as the other interns there are colleagues who were similar to our age who we would also socialise with.

Basingstoke is quite an expensive area due to the fact we were quite close to London. I was renting a studio apartment on my own which was quite expensive. Other placement students were renting rooms in houses which were cheaper. In terms of socialising, it depended where you went. There was a range of places that you could go to with varying prices.