Undergraduate Engineer Review

I really enjoyed My placement at jaguar land rover. The area of the business i was working in and the team I was assigned too in ( Automated driving in Vehicle Engineering) is probably one of the most up and coming and exciting parts of the business and it was great to be a part of it and know that I have helped shape the future of automated driving technology.

Once I settled in and I started to speak out and interact with more members of the team, it was great being able to talk and discuss problems and know that you opinion and the contribution to technical discussions was being taken on board by the people I was working with.

Whenever I had a problem with a piece of software I was working with or was struggling to get my head round a concept, the people I was working with and those above me were great and really helpful in offering support and explaining where they could or simply pointing me in the right direction to go and find my answers.

Most of the time ( probably about 95% of it) I had plenty to do that I could get stuck into and was engaging and interesting. Although there were times between finishing tasks and my main point of contact for work leaving, I had little to do for about a week before I was reassigned and I picked up other projects from other colleges and team members.

I was given some responsibility in the sense that I was designing an experiment and we went and conducted it and completed risk assessments and the necessary paperwork. I was not leading and I had to be supervised whist experiments were done. I was responsible for analysis of the results from a few experiments and making sure they were presented in a useful way.

I have definitely learned a lot more about communicating with adults with varying degrees of technical knowledge and communicating with people who have a different views or ways of thinking and still being able to communicate my point clearly. My matlab and simulink skills have definitely been pushed and developed and my understanding of how systems engineering and software development works is much better now. All of which I expect to be used and of use in the future.

The atmosphere was a bit strange since there was a hot desk system. Everyone sat in roughly the same place although they moved around and you were often sat with complete strangers from different teams. However overall everyone was very friendly and always hold the door open for you. My team members were all friendly so when we were all sat together is was quite fun.

It was very well organised to begin with. There were a load of inductions to begin with to get us up to speed with the way the company worked and what its values ect were. I was assigned a manager before I started who had a project for me to do. I was given a grad to act as a 'buddy' and show me around and be someone who i could direct my questions to.

I was given full access to all of the companies e-learning tools during my stay. This meant i got to go on several relevant courses like beginers Python and a course on softare engineering in the automotive industry. I was also able to go on a driving course which means i now have sufficient permits to drive JLR vehicle on site in case we needed to do experiments.

It would be great to get onto the grad scheme here at jaguar land rover and i would be very keen to pursue a career here, especially if it meant i could continue to work on automated driving features. I have been given an informal offer to return but confirmation and an official letter will not be sent for a few months.

Unfortunately I was not part of any socialising during my placement here. Most undergraduates live together in the halls of residents and form groups and go out together with the people they live with. However I lived with my grandparents about 45 miles from my place of work so it was not particularly feasible for me to meet and go out with much. My team did not really go out much after work hours together either.

I guess due to the lack of socialising, i did not really have many costs relating to that. My cost of living was also quite low since i did not have to pay for food or accommodation. Just transport.

I have no idea what the night life was like as i didnt really experience it. Although I have heard mixed reviews.

Where I lived there was very little to do outside of work since i was living in a fairly small village in the middle of nowhere. However i did find a boat club sort of near by which provided me with some entertainment.