Mechanical Engineer Placement Review

My role as mechanical engineering placement involved projects based in many different departments from mechanical, technical, CEW, PCM and cranes. Projects would often be given verbally in general conversation. Most projects centered around fixing re-occurring non-urgent problems, this is because urgent problems are extremely time sensitive and therefore are given to the line mechanical engineer. However a couple of the projects have been improving line performance in ways which are not just fixing problems. Many of these problems required solutions which were design based but around a third required purchasing or contracting specialist work on the line.

I have learnt many new skills this year, from setting up and communicating with contractors, SAP software usage, excel management, to design optimization, tolerancing, managing, investigative skills, precise measurement, manufacturing techniques and sensor usage. All drawings have to be properly tolerance and therefore need to have a deeper understanding of standards, not only with dimensions but concentricity and surface roughness to make a part that is the same and works every time. I developed my general drawing skills along side this to make clear and precise views of each manufactured object to make it easier for boilermakers/machinists to understand and produce.

I was given far more responsibility than I thought I would be, this level of trust allowed me to have to consider everything more and have a lot more authority over my projects and learn from them rather than being hand held, this was very fulfilling when a project that I had fully designed was installed. However because of this I believe it allowed other people to take credit for my projects since not many people were aware of my exact work.

I received a lot of support during the placement as I had a mentor which I would see every month or two but also I had weekly meetings with an additional senior manager and was based in the same room as my manager who I could ask for support at any time throughout. The weekly meetings served as a great way to track progress as well as get acknowledgment for my ongoing projects, and the bi-monthly meetings served as a great way to have another person to support and track career growth.

The atmosphere is quite laid back in the sense that you will be trusted to do your work and unless you have been asked to help on an urgent project you have free reign to manage your schedule to how you see fit, and priorities projects that you find to be more interesting or have a larger impact. Generally people are very nice and no one will discipline you for making a mistake in a project or work related activity

As someone who likes to stay busy, the start of the placement was exciting and being introduced into the work force was fun to have new and varied responsibilities, after I had finished many projects they trailed off however if you actively look for jobs from different departments you will always find things to keep you busy, this is good because I could choose how much I wanted 'on my plate' at any one time, so I would often go in cycles of taking a lot of work and after finishing go with easier going projects for a week or two. Towards the end of the placement you get used to the environment and a lot of the larger projects had finished so I felt I could only take on smaller projects which were less fun. But still this job is incredibly good compared to many jobs.

Yes

Make sure if you make it to the interview, that you do a full and thought out presentation, one of the reasons I was picked was because of this. Also experience with hands on engineering/manufacturing is a key to securing this placement, as when you get onto the line you may have to pick up a few tools every now and again, this was also the thing in common with most placements I knew about. Once you secure the placement, I would say to try and secure a place to live in shotton or chester, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] and have found the commute quite annoying, however if I had stayed in my home city this would be 3x worse. Chester is a really nice place to stay but Shotton is extremely close so it is up to personal preference. Finally there is a bike entrance at the back of the plant, so I would suggest biking if you cannot get a car.