Engineering Student Review

Maintenance and development of production related digital systems around the plant, analysis and optimisation of production processes, updating a range of shop floor documentation, taking on individual long-term projects to develop new and upcoming technology, identifying and realising areas for improvement around the plant such as cost-saving measures, supporting production staff and other departments to ensure deadlines are met.

I developed my confidence in communication and interpersonal skills to be able to interact in an effective way with other employees and external personnel. I have learned the importance of flexibility and the ability to effectively manage myself to ensure time-dependent tasks are completed with punctuality. I have developed my inquisition and willingness to learn more and apply it to different areas of my role.

As the plant has very little staff, I became the key user at the site for many of the digital devices and systems, so had a great deal of responsibility in maintaining and developing these areas. Additionally, the freedom I had to identify areas for improvement within production areas meant that I was responsible for a lot of my own work content.

I received extensive support throughout my placement because I was only taught the basics in my handover, particularly in the first few months where I had to absorb as much knowledge as possible from those around me. Once I had picked up on the key areas of knowledge that I was initially missing it allowed me to drive my own progression to a much greater extent.

Varied, I found some individuals to be incredibly welcoming and supportive to myself, whereas others could not look past me being a placement student so didn‘t treat me with the level of respect I did to them. In some instances I felt as though I was the easy target for them to blame their own shortcomings without any repercussions.

Overall, I had a great experience being able to make monumental progression in both an individual and a professional sense. I found the work to be highly rewarding and I greatly enjoyed the freedom the role allowed me in terms of developing and realising my own projects. I also greatly enjoyed the projects I was designated by my manager and I felt they aligned well with my own interests.

Yes

Being a placement student is a great opportunity to develop yourself career-wise and also gives you the platform to prove your worth as a professional to potential future employers, so it is crucial that you make the most of it.