Systems integration and test engineering placement Review

Editing and reviewing test procedures and test documents for the project I am working on, running test procedures at test sites, updating test procedures when necessary, relaying test results with the rest of the project team in regular meetings, visiting test sites, organising and running factory acceptance tests and attending and organising board meetings with Project Managers and Stakeholders.

I have developed my excel skills through the use of an online course provided by the company through Atlas learning, this has allowed me to take control of the metrics for my project. I have started to learn a new programming language for both personal learning and to ensure I can help the software engineers on my project further. I have increased my knowledge on project management and have begun to manage a table of actions, sending out a daily status update for a project manager every day. I have learnt how to conduct a test event and how to run test procedures at a test site. I have travelled on business many times and also volunteered for many events, which have both helped increase my confidence and teamwork skills.

At the start of my placement I was educated on how to take responsibility of certain parts of the project and also taught how to complete the tasks for each part, this has prepared me for when I am currently. Currently I am in charge of an actions page for the project which I developed by myself under guidance of a project manager, I am also in charge of the metrics page for the project and have lead a testing day twice.

On my placement I have been allocated a line manager who has monthly meetings with me to ensure my workload isnt too heavy and to check in on my welfare. I also have a mentor who is an ex-graduate from Lockheed Martin and now a full-time employee, who helps me to work on my placement goals and assists me on my training and learning for my project. I also have a collection of project managers who support me and focus on pushing me towards the most interesting parts of my project so I can gain the most experience. The early careers team are incredibly supportive and have regular meetings with all the students in order to find out hat we need and organise experiences for us.

LM have Employee Resource Groups, where you can get involved in supporting charities outside the company and also work on promoting safe environment for all employees. All mangers are incredibly supportive and want everyone to be able to do their best at work. The 4-day flex work week is incredibly helpful in being able to have a work-life-balance.

So far I am thoroughly enjoying my placement at LM, I have been given so many opportunities and have met so many interesting and incredible people. I have been on many volunteering events, one of my highlights so far is assisting Portsmouth UTC with Project Pipeline where we help college students develop a project based on home automation using Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

Yes

Try as many different task as you can during your placement and take as many opportunities as you can, because this will make your experience at the company incredible. Speak to as many different people from different areas of the company as possible and take up peoples offer to have coffee with them as it will expand your social network.