Mechanical Engineering Review

It involves resolving any issues to do with reliability. This could be working on creating new maintenance plans, adding critical spares to stores stock. There is no real Day to Day as the role is very project dependent and depends on what type of projects you are working on at the time. You will typically interact with maintenance engineers in the shop floor. You do get to work with some pretty cool pieces of technology as well.

In my role we have had a range of trainings that has developed some key skills such as problem solving, and condition based monitoring systems. Other than formal training, I have significantly improved my interpersonal skills as you need to communicate effectively and work with many people across site to complete your key tasks and responsibilities. In addition, I have improved my leadership skills when working on projects across departments with other IPs where I took the initiative to lead the team.

You are given lots of autonomy on your work. My team trusted that I would follow the best steps to achieve something and ask for help when needed. However, you don't get tasks or projects with significant responsibility or importance until later in the placement. Which is fair given the role requires a lot of industry specific knowledge and understanding. The projects have just enough responsibility that the work feels somewhat meaningful, but not too significant that you begin feeling stressed and nervous.

My Team was super supportive. Whenever I needed help with anything they were quick to free up time. There was never an occurrence where I did not receive the help that I needed. Outside of my team, I received support and guidance from anyone I reached out to. The culture on site and the company in general is pretty friendly, and you get a response usually from anyone you ask for help from. This allowed me to schedule talks on key departments I was interested in.

The company culture varies from team to team. My team had a great culture and positive and friendly environment. However, I am aware a significant number of IPs were not as fortunate in getting a positive and supportive team and Line Manager. One common thing I was very surprised in across site was the company's focus on safety. They put a lot of effort to make sure it is a safe and comfortable work environment.

In all honesty, the placement had it's highs and lows with respect to the content of the work. When given a significant task and you achieve it you feel really satisfied and enjoy completing it. However, everything in the pharma industry is pretty slow, so it can get quite frustrating and demotivating to wait multiple weeks to get a simple task done. What got me through those times was the fun and positive culture my team had, that made me look forward to my day to day interactions with them.

Yes

Think critically about the type of industry you are applying to as an engineer. The pharma industry is quit slow in changes in the engineering space, so if you like a high paced environment this might not be for you. With respect to the application process. I would say focus on making your answers unique and engaging and having a clear list of stories and experiences to draw from. In advance of the assessment center, I made a list of all the extracurriculars and work experiences I had so that I can easily choose different stories to answer each question.