Statistics Industrial Placement Review

This placement year has exceeded my expectations in many different respects. The quantity and quality of work that I have been able to undertake is exceptional as well as the resources that are available for me to learn from. Everyone in my team welcomed me with so much support and so many opportunities from the start.

My colleagues looked out for me since day one, both with the work and with the placement year in general. Many of them have looked out for work that I could do with them throughout the year, providing me with many opportunities to learn from different styles of undertaking projects. I felt fully integrated in the team and not once did I feel like anyone saw me as temporary.

My manager has been amazing, from giving me support with the work to helping me with personal development. I know I can ask them anything at any point and it has really helped me flourish throughout the year in many different aspects of my life. They often check in on me and make sure that I always have something to do as well as being very interested in my life outside of work and my future plans. I know my manager will continue to support and guide me even when I have finished my placement.

Throughout the year I have worked on many projects, I will normally have about three on the go at any one time. There are some points in the year where the workload has been low for everyone in the department but during these periods I have used the time to develop myself in other areas and look into old projects.

For the first half of the year I didn't have the expertise to pick up any projects on my own so I would normally work with one of my colleagues on it. This was fine by me as some of the work is important and therefore needs to be done in a certain way and communicated correctly. Towards the end of the placement I was able to pick up certain work on my own and the responsibility became a lot higher.

Not only have I developed specific technical skills through this highly specific work, I have developed communication skills that already aid me in all areas of my life. I have learnt invaluable software skills that I wouldn't have been able to use outside of the company and methodology in areas of my subject that I can't believe aren't taught at university. I will draw these as well as from the organisational, planning and proactive skills that I have learnt here, in all aspects of my career from now on.

The office is rather quiet, this is because people tend to work from home some days a week and also the team is rather small. When we got together for tea breaks and other team activities I found that I really got on with everyone, just wished that people talked more during the day.

This placement has been going on for many years and is therefore really well sorted out. The training material as well as understanding of what needs to be achieved is very clear. I felt like I was really a part of the team and was able to fit in and take on work as if I was a permanent worker.

The training for me was incredible, there were so many different ways of learning and my colleagues were constantly happy to help. I was also able to go on a few personal development days, sometimes shadowing people in different departments. It was really important to me to do these and they were actively encouraged by my team, especially my manager.

I would love to work again at GSK, but only if I was hired directly by them, the way that permanent staff are treated is absolutely amazing compared to SRG. I have seen a lot of different departments and sites and I would be happy to work at most of them, it's a really great company.

The social scene was not particularly great, this was mainly due to the area in which my site is based. It is definitely a commuter town and not really built for younger people. There aren't that many placement students at my site so it was slightly difficult to do things regularly, although it was definitely attempted. My colleagues are not really into going out so it was only at team build events that I got to socialise properly with them.

The cost of living was particularly high, especially seeing as the transport links are shocking. The rent was quite high, with bills on top and drinks were the same price as Central London, despite being rather inferior. The canteen is also rather expensive, so unless you brought your own lunch, you wouldn't be saving much money.

There are a lot of pubs near where I work, these are often busy on a Thursday night and sometimes at the weekend. There are no clubs and everything closes rather early. The night time is actually very quiet here and I wouldn't really go out on my own unless I had to.

There is a sport and social club alongside the company which hosts various sports clubs. I took part in a choir for most of the year. I was also able to go to the local football club for various fitness classes throughout the week, but it would be rather hard to get to unless you have a car. There was a significant lack of any other interesting clubs run that would be easy to get to.