Powertrain Engineer Review

Daily meetings with the engineering team to assess the 24-hour shop floor condition and plan ahead. Daily meetings with production to talk about OEE and live issues in the shop. Daily meetings with quality to discuss new and love quality concerns. Daily tasks vary, could include: an immediate response to a facility that has gone down and needs fixing immediately, desk work modifying process documents whenever a change has been implemented, talking with contractors regarding future work, training at the inhouse training centre.

Yes, skills include: PLC, Fanuc Robot, Pneumatics, Basic Electrics, Safe Systems of work, Presentation Skills, Budget Management, Use of air tools and torque wrenches, Networking, Applied Nissan-specific software, Microsoft Office applications, Capability studies.

Yes, I was leading my own projects independently from the start with access to a mentor at all times. Production approach me directly for issues they know I am capable of dealing with. Senior engineers can approach me with extra-curricular projects. I have unlimited access to the budget (I don't need someone to sign me off for every purchase). I am able to organise and host meetings with contractors alone. I am trusted to apply software/ hardware modifications by myself. Basically I am a fully functioning member of the team, however support is there whenever I need it.

I chucked in the deep in with the assumption that I would ask for help when needed. I have access to a designated mentor, however this does not mean I was spoon fed everything. I still had to put a lot of work in (and still do) to learn about processes, company policy, technical information etc.

It has its good points and bad points. Good points are that if you're curious and you make the right connections, you can go anywhere and do anything. For example I used my time as a placement to spend a significant chunk of time in other shops and as a result I have a very wide network in the space of a year. You will get noticed (as a placement) if you're putting the effort in and doing the work. Engineering is always desperate for motivated and competent people- as a placement you're undamaged in the way of engineering and therefore valuable. There's a lot of room for training and upskilling, and if you're proactive it will keep coming your way. Nissan can also be very toxic. In some departments (not all) there's an us V them mentality. There's also a "that's not my job mentality". Depending on who's on the job, corners can and will be cut. Once you're not in the spotlight (as in you're not a placement or grad etc) your work may not be noticed as much- the appraisal system is good until it isn't.

I definitely enjoyed it. I got a lot from the year and I am a changed person going forward. I have a large skillset and appreciation for how a business operates. It was definitely harder in the beginning, with no engineering experience and not having the best onboarding. However now that I've been here a while, I can walk into a totally different shop and have a much better understanding much faster. I prefer the working life to the university life for sure.

Yes

Be prepared to work hard and if you're going engineering, be prepared to work overtime. Especially when new models come in, you will be working A LOT. There are a lot of benefits and incentives that make it worth while though. Pulling your weight and putting the work in here is a must, you need to expand your technical knowledge as quickly as possible by training, shadowing, and just having a go. Networking goes a long way here too- if you're young and you're keen people are more than happy to help you get to where you're going. The longer you stay the harder it gets though.