Undergraduate Vehicle Engineer Review

Great introduction and enrollment. Lack of clarity as to what my job function is/was or as to which team I work for. Good experiences and lots of opportunities to experience the different departments and functions within the company. Also very helpful colleagues. Sometimes the workload could have been more challenging.

All my colleagues were very accepting and helpful both during my start and during my stay for the past 3 months. If I had any questions they were happy to help me answer them. Some went out of their way to show me the their functions and were keen for me to understand the importance of each team.

I was given all necessary documentation and information to get me up to speed, as this is a large firm and there are many roles to understand before one can efficiently contribute. Throughout my placement I was provided with all information and help that was required for my function and my personal success.

The workload was largely dependent on my team. Since I was only enrolled for 3 months, I was not able to take part in some key training, which restricted my skill set and list of activities I was allowed to do within the company. At times my workload was lacking, and when I asked for more work I was often left without a straight answer. However other teams were more willing to give me important work.

I was often given more responsibility than colleagues with 2 or 3 grades higher than me. This meant that I was responsible for process creation, testing and report writing within the my job role. Despite sometimes the overwhelming responsibility my work was never questioned and if I required help I was always able to ask for support.

While the skills learned during my placement are more applicable towards my future career, I was able to learn specifics which I would have not been able to fully explore in University. I now also have a much better insight into what I want to do with my future career and how I want to go about it, knowing my own interests and limitations.

The general atmosphere of the office was good overall. There is a variation between teams, which meant that I had to adjust to the given teams dynamic. Some teams work more efficiently together than others and some teams are more social, other less so. While sometimes there can be high pressure situations, this was expected with a large firm like this.

The introduction and enrollment process was well organised. It was not immediately clear what my job function/project would be from the start, however this was more due to my lack of understanding of the company as a whole. During my placement there were many opportunities to get involved in projects specifically designed for exploring the company, however more could have been arranged.

Any training that was required for my job role was available to me. Due to the limitation in the length of the placement I was only able to part take in a limited number, however this was unrelated to the company and its development. I was always encouraged to explore and find new opportunities and experience more.

While the business itself is undergoing some difficult times, and the future of the whole industry is undergoing large changes, I believe that the company has lots of benefits that are difficult to classify. The graduate programme has many benefits and is a very appealing for anyone looking to start a career in the industry.

While there were some opportunities within the company to find social activities, I took it upon myself to organise some opportunities outside the normal function for other undergraduate placement students, which were very successful. This has allowed us to connect and network in a more natural and low pressure environment then work.

The cost of living was low, which was good as it allowed me to save up a lot from this placement. The accommodation I stayed at was also a good value, and provided an enjoyable experience. However the overall living environment and local area was not great and would not like to live there in the future.

While there were some opportunities, the local area had very limited availability for nightlife. However due to the geographical location, larger cities such as Birmingham or London were easily accessible, which made the lack of local choices more acceptable. Although it has to be concluded that during my summer placement the city was a lot more empty as University was out.

There were local opportunities available, but most of the 'worthwhile' activities were in a larger radius, meaning that getting around without a car would have been very difficult. But once again other larger cities are within close proximity which creates more opportunity for activities to get involved in outside of work.