Undergraduate Engineer Review

I enjoyed my placement a lot. I was able to learn both technical engineering skills and soft skills, such as presentation skills and project time management. I also got to work on vehicles, which is something I really enjoy. The colleagues were very welcoming and the environment helped me thrive and learn.

My colleagues welcomed me very fast and from day one I was given a job, not just sitting around and trying to figure out how the business works. I was assigned actual engineering job from the start, which meant that not only did my colleagues pay me the trust that I would do a good job, but it also allowed me to feel wanted.

At the beginning I was a little unsure of how many questions to ask. I didn't know much about the work environment and how the business worked. So I tried to ask questions when I really needed to, but I felt a little uncomfortable. My colleagues saw that, so they told me that it is completely normal to ask many questions at the beginning. My manager would constantly ask me how I was finding the job and if I struggled with anything.

I was given projects to work on, so during the day I would focus on one project. Sometimes these projects lasted a day, sometimes for a few months. But I always had a lot of background reading and working to do. I was quite busy all the time, and I liked it a lot. I prefer it that way, rather than sitting around, doing nothing.

I was assigned to many projects, so all the work that I did was actually used by my team and played a part in the overall analysis of the vehicle systems. So I had a fair bit of responsibility. Having said that, my manager would always check my work and make sure that I was doing the right things, but this is normal and I prefer to have someone double check my calculations.

I learned a great deal of systems engineering, electrical engineering, data analysis and coding, which is very useful for almost any type of engineering project. I'm applying some of the techniques I used for data analysis to my final year project and this has really helped me grasp my topic faster.

I was in an office with engineers, part of whom were my team, so I really enjoyed it. I was able to talk to different people about their engineering experiences and what they are working on. Everyone was friendly, so the atmosphere was great and people were open to talk to someone new who wanted to know more about their work.

The organization was good. As I previously mentioned, I was given a job to do day one of my placement. After I finished a project, I was given another one straight away. At the beginning of the placement year, I sat down with my manager and we decided a work plan for me for the whole year, so that I have projects I can do and there are no gaps, when I have no work.

The company taught me a lot of new skills, especially in the engineering disciplines. I believe they invested in me a great deal, as I worked for them for a year. I understood how the company works, how to proceed if there are problems, even small things like how to book a room for a meeting.

I think that working for JLR would surely be a thing to consider when I'm finished with university.

I was able to socialize with a lot of undergraduates and graduates throughout my placement. There were a few social events organized by the company, which were interesting to attend. I was able to understand what other placement students were doing throughout their year and what opportunities I have in the company.

I lived in Coventry and the cost of living there was not high at all. My undergraduate salary was enough to cover all the needs, such as rent, food, transport, gym membership and leisure activities. Rent was as expensive, compared to a big city. Food and leisure activities were the same price as in other places.

Nightlife in Coventry is very poor, there are only a few clubs and rarely big events. But the city is close to Birmingham, which is huge. There were events happening all the time there. But this meant that you had to travel there either with a train, or sleep there for the night, or take an uber back, which is inconvenient.

Yes, there are many clubs and societies that employees have organized, so anyone can join and have fun with their colleagues outside of the work environment.