Chemical Engineer Review

I really enjoyed my placement. This is because I got to explore a number of activities which varied from technical, to strategic as well as site trips (to downstream or vessels offshore), conferences and got exposure to projects which involved the BP community (eg the BP PEN project) not only my technical knoweldge.

One thing I really enjoyed was how I felt motivated throughout and this really came from my technical projects. I could see I was given real engineering work that were helping my collegues fill a knowledge gap. This is how I know I felt valued. Plus I was always reassured that my opinion mattered and everyone wanted to know what I had to say.

I did recieve so much support and guidance. I really always got helped when I asked for it. Everyone was always trying to make sure I knew they were there to help. I did not feel indimitaed or scared to ask questions. I did feel lost when my supervisors left for 3 weeks that is why I did not put 10, but still 9 because the opporunity of working independently made me flourish.

Some days I felt really busy compared to others. I think this comes from the nature of the job. There will be days you need to attend a lot of meetings or do something suddenly which you did not plan, which will lead to your workload increasing. Overall a good balance.

I was given a lot of responsability to be honest. I expected less and again this really motivated me. I had a real job in engineering. I also did a number of presentations eg a safety moment in front of the whole engineering team for our monthly meeting so you can imagine that is a lot of responsability. I completly owened the documents I created and worked on.

I did a lot of weblearns and work on overpressure protection which is such a massive area in chemical engineering. I also worked subsea which really prepared me for the future of the energy industry. I worked on green projects to reduce CO2 emissions, again very modern and futuristic. All these skills will be used in my studies and are very important. I also learned how to write technical notes which is something I will need for life.

The office environment is very relaxed and calm. I feel like everyone is put at ease so they can do their best. We also had coffee breaks, cakes etc to get to know each other more and start the day right which I thought was very nice. Only thing is people speaking out loud on the phone calls did not allow me to concentrate at times.

Very well organised. My Line manager did know what was expected from me and helped me reach my goals and feel comfortable, also through letting my supervisors know of what was expected. The set up in terms of laptops, welcome day etc was very warm from the talent acquisition team so I liked that too.

I think they invested in me a lot. they made sure I was exposed to so many activities to grow as a person, they made me connect with a lot of people so that I could see a variety of people skills and careers and they made me do weblearns or attend webinars to learn more.

I find them very appealing. The projects carried out are interesting, the company is diversifying in terms of what it does and expanding, the company is really varied both in terms of locations and activities. The most appealing thing are the people and atmosphere, so welcoming and nice and relaxed.

It was really good. So many events to get involved in eg monthly challengers drinks, rounders with senior leaders, goodbye event for interns, challengers ball. So very good between young people. With others in the team it was not as frequent but we did go for drinks and we also had an away day at the crystal maze, and then drinks and dinner so still very good!

London is expensive. It was expensive to go out and do all different activities. This was for two factors: products were expensive and also the cost of transport was high. We always tried to meet somewhere in the middle of where people lived but it was difficult and still costly. We did manage to find cheap places though!

London as we all know is amazing for nightlife. We always were able to find bars pubs restaurants clubs so that we could socialise and get to know each other. Sometimes it was a bit expensive and it was difficult to get home just because it is so big but it was so much fun

I need to thank my line manager so much for this. I basically undertook 2 conferences, 2 site trips, 2 volunteering events, 1 laboratory visit, 2 gala dinners with speakers from the engineering world. I also participated in many social activities like gatherings with interns and challengers, rounders with senior leaders and a ball for interns/challengers. So many things outside of work.