Undergraduate R&D Engineer Review

Work can vary depending on the active projects in your team. Design tasks: -Drawings -CAD models Testing tasks: -failure analysis testing (lab work) -claims data testing. (lab work) Project management: -schedule meetings -conduct meetings to ensure actions are completed and the project stays on track Projects and tasks are assigned sporadically so work load can vary, however lab work is more consistent and there is always a greater lab workload compared to other project tasks.

I have developed my report writing skills greatly as I would have to generate feedback on failure analysis testing conducted in the labs by me and claims data write ups for the lab book. I have also learnt a lot about failure analysis and how tests are conducted in order to identify problems in a product. The more engineering drawings I got the chance to do, the more my skills improved as I had little experience of this in the industry and the standards that were required.

I was given responsibility on my placement as I was given my own project to manage and was consistently involved with the development stages of key projects for the department. I was heavily involved in different parts of the process form testing, sourcing of equipment and product design.

I had a lot of support from all members of my team and from people outside of my immediate team. I was unfamiliar with filtration when I first joined and had not done any lab work before as my degree is in mechanical engineering. Everyone was happy to help with demonstrations, training and were always open to questions. There were plenty of people with lots of experience there to talk you through almost any topic regarding filteration.

It was easy to fit in as the general atmosphere was welcoming and the people were all willing to help. Coming into the office was generally a good experience, however, at certain points the office could seem quite empty as everyone was working from home and you might have been the only one in. Although, the office was still always a good place to come into and work from and you could always find members from other teams around if you wanted.

I enjoyed my placement especially the times when we were working towards getting products or prototypes made or seeing your work directly contribute to a project. I initially enjoyed my lab work as well especially the failure analysis work as it had an element of problem solving attached to it. I did however, enjoy the periods of time where most to all my work would be testing work less, whilst it was important work to get done it had less enjoyable and more repetitive aspects and I had not anticipated as much testing when I had first signed up for the job.

Yes

I would always recommend the job to someone applying and I would advise them to try and talk to as many people working there as possible as there are many experts in different fields you could learn from. I would also encourage them to ask for as much responsibility as possible as you don't know what work you could end up getting, I would also ask to cover specific skills that you would personally want to learn over the placement as they are happy to help. With regards to applying, if you get through to the assessment center I would advise someone to be talkative and interactive and to, make sure you get across your thought process.