Quality Engineer Review

I found the year incredibly enjoyable. Everyone was so supportive & helped me develop the skills that I wanted, and the team were always there to help me with any problems I was facing. All projects I was put on were good for my development, and I found myself becoming more and more confident every day.

My team became like my second family, and I genuinely felt like I had become a core part of the team. They would all ask me for help with tasks, and I would always offer the same back. I still talk to them all regularly, even after finishing my placement year.

My managers were incredibly supportive, and helped me set targets at the beginning of the year. They understood the areas that I wanted to develop, and found tasks for me that would help me do so. They were always there if I ever had any questions or needed any guidance, and I felt like I could talk to them about anything.

Generally I would be fairly busy, but to a good extent. I had tasks that needed completing every day, and other projects that could be worked on whenever I had a free moment. The balance was good, as I was never stressed but was rarely bored.

By the end of my placement, I was entirely in charge of a daily presentation to senior managers. I had to view vehicles to show, drive them back and organise them, create a presentation and send it out to over 300 people, and then present on a daily basis. This helped my confidence grow greatly, and ensured that I was networking with as many people as possible.

The main skills that I felt I gained were mainly human skills, such as teamworking, networking, organisation and presenting. These will all be valuable skills to take through to my degree and further on in life. I didn’t feel that I gained many skills directly linked to my specific degree.

Really positive and uplifting. Even through difficult times, everyone could have a joke together. We would regularly have team competitions, and we would often bring food in for celebrations. Everyone was always smiling, and it never felt like a drag coming into the office.

At the beginning, it did feel fairly disorganised. I was told 2 weeks prior to starting where I would be working (either Birmingham or Liverpool), and was given minimal information about my job or my roles. However, once I’d settled in, it improved, and events and communications were well coordinated.

There was always an opportunity to undertake further training to help develop my skills. I took part in 5 training courses throughout the year, funded by my cost centre, which helped me develop skills such as problem solving, and efficiently using excel. If I wanted to complete further training, the company were always happy to support me.

Fairly positive- due to my hard work on my placement year, I was recommended for rehire, however, it depends on the current climate of the business in terms of how many jobs can be offered in the future. Undergraduates feed 80% of the graduate intake, so chances are fairly high.

No official events were organised by the company, even for Christmas. However, my team organised various events and nights out, and similarly the undergraduates had a leaving night out. Everyone got involved and loved to party!

Fairly cheap. I lived very near my working place, so rent was higher, but further out it was even cheaper. Food was affordable, and all pubs were cheap, so it was easy to go out whenever you wanted just for a quick drink or a bite to eat.

Birmingham nightlife was great, and there was a massive variety of places to go. There was always somewhere, no matter what mood you were in. Bars were great, clubs were decent & pubs were good value. There was a great LGBT community too, which helped everyone feel included.

The graduate network organised events regularly, but they were generally targeted at graduates, not undergraduates, who worked in a different location to myself. If I had really wanted to get involved, I could have, but it was a shame that there weren’t more events organised at my office.