E3 Academy Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement with Siemens DI. The work given to me was challenging and engaging. It also felt valuable and I never felt like I was wasting my time. In general people within the office are very friendly. As such, it's always easy to obtain help when you feel you need it.

The main issue with an 8 week placement is that often your work can be less respected. This is because people know you will be gone soon so they think it doesn't matter. Nevertheless, most of my colleagues still gave me the time of day when I needed them. As most of my colleagues were very friendly it made me feel as though I was valued throughout my placement.

My placement manager was very knowledgeable in my project's field. My manager was also very friendly and approachable. As a result, I always knew I could rely on my manager for insight when needed. This was massively important and made it much easier to achieve my targets and goals throughout the placement.

Throughout my placement I was never without work. Nevertheless, I never felt overwhelmed by my tasks. This was mostly because I never felt under stress by my placement manager. By organising my time well I was able to achieve and at times exceed the goals that had been set out for me.

As my placement was only 8 weeks long my responsibilities were minimal. However, this was to be expected for such a short placement. Despite this I still had expectations for what my placement manager expected of me. These expectations were fairly reasonable. This was a very small taste of what is to be expected in a large company such as Siemens.

My project field was fairly narrow. However, it fit well with what I had started learning about in University. I had some knowledge of what tools were available to me thanks to University. But, the placement allowed me to do more of a deep dive. I was therefore able to expand my knowledge past what was expected within my university curriculum.

The office has a very friendly atmosphere. It is not all fun and games as most people are very busy. However, this is to be expected. I never felt out of place and the office is very inclusive. Siemens clearly invest into staff well being with things such as a wellness room and massages being available.

The general placement set up is very similar every year. However, there are still some issues for some of the students. I didn't encounter many issues and my particular placement was set up well. But, this is entirely dependent on what department you are placed in. This is surprising as the scheme has been running for many years.

The scheme is a fantastic opportunity to develop real world skills before coming to the working world. University isn't able to teach you the same things as the 8 week placement does. Siemens really invests in us by providing us with meaningful summer placements that help us grow as engineers.

It is hard to say what future employment prospects exist within Siemens. The company is massive so there are a huge number of roles and career paths to go down. However, the large size also means that there are many more rungs to the ladder than at the smaller company.

There is a great atmosphere amongst all of the placement students. Everyone lives together in a shared university accommodation (this is optional but most students stay here) and we all have good fun over the placement. Everyone is friendly and we stay in contact between placements as we head back to our respective universities.

Manchester is not a massively expensive city to live in. But, were the office is in Didsbury is much more expensive than most places in Manchester. As such our accommodation has to be a fair way away from the office. The social options in Didsbury are plentiful but are also on the expensive side.

Manchester is a fantastic city with great nightlife. As the city is so large there is something for everyone. The city itself can be dangerous but this is to be expected in any city of this size. No issues of note were encountered during my 8 week stay in the city.

There are some activities available to full time staff. However, as I was only on such a short placement I wasn't able to partake in them. However, our scheme ran some events specifically for us (the interns) and these were very enjoyable. It would have been good to find out the type of things that go on in the office throughout the year.