Software Engineer Review

I have been working for about 9 months now and I have enjoyed my placement a lot. I am so lucky to work in a fun and supportive team where I feel comfortable and welcome. I am trying to make the most out of this opportunity to learn and gain valuable skills for the future.

My team has been very welcoming since the start of my placement. I have always felt valued and part of the team. We have done many lunches, birthdays, cards which are great team building activities. My mentor and manager in particular have been very supportive and helpful from the beginning.

From day one I was given the support I needed from my section manager and mentor. I am free to ask for help or clarification on things I might not understand. All the rest of team have also been extremely supportive and patient to guide me over issues when needed.

This depends on the day to be honest. Some days I am very busy and have a lot of meetings or calls to attend as well as usual tasks. On other days when I am less busy I like to use the time to do an online course or develop a particular skill myself.

This really depends on the projects I have been working on. Some of them didn't require a lot of responsibility from my side and some other did. I feel like I got given enough responsibility as I could handle and I am happy with that. I have always had my mentor for support on taking decisions.

I can definitely see myself using skills I have learned during my placement. Maybe not so much in my next year at University but definitely in a future job. I have become a lot more confident when talking to people and have improved my communication skills. As well as, all the technical skills I have gained from the day to day tasks.

The atmosphere between our two teams sitting close together has always been great. Everyone is very fun and hard working. I have always felt included in all team related activities which have been many all along the year. This is one of the key points that has helped me this year.

From the very beginning, everything has been very well organised. I always knew who to contact from specific queries and where to find the support I needed. Our teams also gave some department talks / placement training for us to understand what every team does and how everything comes together which was very helpful.

All placement students were invited to a data modelling training course. There have been other options of training courses to attend but I just have not had the chance to do it. I also did a web services training activity in order to help my team with some future tasks on this topic.

We have all got along very well from day one. We organised a couple of nights out all together, a Christmas dinner before we were off work and some other social activities. I have always felt included within the rest of the placements at Nissan, particularly IT placements as we worked in the same department.

I lived in the same city whilst at University and during my placement so I didn't see much difference. Newcastle, being in the north east is a pretty affordable city. There are loads of students in Newcastle so it's also a very student friendly city which results in numerous deals from restaurants and clubs everyday.

Newcastle is famous for its nightlife. I always think that there is something for everyone's taste, loads of different clubs, bars and events around the city. A very student area, Jesmond, with a lot of house parties, so you can definitely find something you like. As well as a number of non-drinking events in cinemas, concerts, theater etc