PPE Stevenage Placement Review

The work was varied, challenging and enabled me enough free time to complete considerable university requirements during the day (dissertation, poster, skills portfolio, logbook). I had one year long project of my own, and supported other projects as and when they cropped up. Most days were different, which meant I got to develop good breadth throughout the year.

As an year long Industrial Placement student at GSK, providing you act appropriately, you will be given the same responsibility as a first year graduate would expect. This of course relies on you convincing others that you can handle the workload, and working the the same standards as a graduate would be expected. Despite technically being an SRG employee, there is no difference in workplace treatment.

Extensive support was provided, with many of my managers and colleagues spending their work time supporting my university outputs (e.g. poster input / dissertation feedback). I also received significant support on the other work I completed and it was always nice to have the backup card of 'being an IP'.

This varied. Due to my university requirements, some days I worked very long hours (my own choice), whilst other days I had the time to work on my ping pong skills.You can always find ways to be busy, such as self-learning, so there is never an opportunity to be board.

This again varies depending on how much work you take on, how quickly you complete it and to what standard. Lots of responsibility can be obtained, if that's your goal. Generally though, there is a maximum amount of responsibility you can obtain, due to being a contractor and being limited by the length of the contract.

GSK excels at developing its employees, in particular IPs are good as it's such a known entity at the company that training and development is very easy to come by. This also depends on your own ambitions, and ability to form a quality business case to justify your training in a business context.

Very chilled, arrive when you want and leave when you want (within reason, complete the 37.5 hours throughout the week, mostly as you like). People tend to bring in lots of sweets and chocolates for each other, and there are frequent gatherings where employees will meet over a lunch, for example.

Mine was very well organised, this will vary even within GSK due to managers though (better chance than a small company who might be inexperienced!). However, there is no guarantee of quality structure regardless of where you intern. My year was very research focused, which suited me due to having a dissertation to write, however, if your ambition was a hands-on experience, this wouldn't have been as suitable.

They were reluctant to invest, particularly towards the end where it was known you were leaving. When needed (and when a good business case was there), they did not hesitate to invest money though). They did have a caveat where technically they can't develop contractors, however, in most practical incidences this was not relevant.

Good if you can secure the future leaders programme, anything else to me probably doesn't pay enough for an engineer. However, that is not to say that it is not something I am considering for the future, as it seems like a very stable and robust working environment. Life as a direct entry pales in comparison to the FLP.

Pretty good, there are over 100 IPs at stevenage, though this makes it suitably cliquey. If you want to do fun stuff, people are always up for it (when they aren't going home to Mum and Dad). Generally, people will be more up for doing things than university though, due to lack of time and excess of money.

Rent in stevenage is £400-£700, drinks can be as little as £2.5 a pint, but can go above a fiver (London Prices) in some places. Overall, this is not an expensive place to live, but it's not cheap either. If you can find others to house with, you can significantly reduce the overall costs.

Stevenage is pretty dead, three places to go really (Drapers, Mulberry Tree and Bar and Beyond). London is an option, but good luck convincing anyone to spend the money to get there. Lots of people return to their university cities at the weekend to socialise with their friends still there.

I did a lot of activities outside of work, though this is totally up to the individual, and will depend on the location. Stevenage has a fair amount going on, although travelling between locations can be challenging if you do not own a car and a bike which can speed up the travel.