Junior project engineer Review

My placement gave me a valuable and enjoyable experience where I could improve my engineering capabilities whilst making a tangible contribution to the company and industry. It helped refine my desired career path and experience a truly global organisation. I was given responsibility and countless opportunities to learn, I enjoyed the challenge.

I immediately felt part of the team, staff were welcoming and eager to help when required. I was praised when I did something well and guided by experienced colleagues when I made a mistake. I felt an integral part of my team and that I contributed well to their successes.

I was given a great deal of support and guidance by senior colleagues, this includes both specific advice on how to best carry out the role and more general guidance from management with similar interests on how to best progress with my career. Both types of advice were extremely valuable to me.

I joined the team at a time when workload was high. This meant that I had the opportunity to quickly integrate into the team and contribute to executing projects. I enjoyed this challenge and learned how to do the role rapidly with the support of my colleagues. I had varied tasks which felt worth doing.

I gained responsibility based on my competency to do the role. Initially I was given small tasks as parts of larger projects which allowed me to learn the processes. By the end of my placement I was a self sufficient project manager, leading projects and contributing to every process in other high profile projects.

The skills I learned during placement will help me to be successful in every stage of my future careers. For example, my project/time management skills have improved significantly which has had a positive impact on my studies My "soft" skills such as communication and teamwork have also improved exponentially and will help me as I grow as an engineer. There are too many developments to list here, however I see the placement as an invaluable experience in making me a better engineer.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my placement was spending time with my colleagues. The atmosphere was one of constant relaxed progress. The office was a very pleasant environment where staff well-being was a priority. Although inevitably people got stressed, colleagues worked hard to help each and make life as easy as possible.

The placement was well organised, it was clear from my supervisor what my responsibilities were. There were also many opportunities to learn about an industry which I cared about. My progress was linear and substantial. However I think it could be constructive to have more refined learning objectives at the start of the placement.

The company was invested in my development, I experienced training in the following forms: - Had online seminars about the product, - Attended multiple training courses with colleagues to improve technical knowledge, soft skills and strengthen relationships, - Used online resources with a progression system to improve product knowledge, - Undertook personality tests to see how to best apply myself, - Learn about own well-being through mindfulness during course.

Future prospects are very appealing within the organisation. It is a global organisation so the opportunity for travel is a reality. The company has many areas which I am hopeful to explore. I enjoyed the work and the company values, there was also a lot of support for how I would like to develop.

I regularly went to the gym and bouldering centre with fellow placement students. I also went for meals with colleagues and as a reward me and my team also went for a track day where we drifted cars. During training centres there was a good social aspect where we would socialise after a day of training.

The cost of living was relatively high compared to where I came from (midlands to south). The rent for example was unexpectedly high, however there was still money left over to socialise and have fun. This taught me a valuable skill on how to manage my own finances and still enjoy my free time.

There were plenty of opportunities to socialise in Hemel Hempstead. However, I regularly went to London for nightlife. there was also a town not far from where I worked which had a good nightlife.

There were many opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work. I regularly met up with colleagues to play football and there was also a gaming community within my division who met up weekly to play board games.