Graduate Power Systems Engineer Review

Current role is to work on insights about the future of the energy system. The work can be very varied but typically will involve a lot of internal engagement with multiple teams on work they have done around a particular topic. The findings are often then presented to internal or external stakeholders, either feeding into formal requests or an internal document.

Current placement has allowed me to broaden my skill set away from pure engineering, with a focus more on whole system thinking, planning, and operation. Skills on communication and presentation have been further developed during this placement. I think more could be done to allow us develop more job-specific skills as currently most training doesn't feel as useful to day-to-day work though may be useful for personal development. Would like to see more training on engineering topics and also skills such as coding or other software-specific training.

At the moment, I feel as though I don't have that much responsibility. However in a previous placement at NESO, towards the 2nd half, I felt I has a lot of responsibility and was providing a lot of value to the team. I was a main point of contact for a specific topic area and I felt despite being junior to the team that I was still a key part of it.

A lot of support and guidance at all stages. The management system is good whereby a manager is assigned who looks after you for the duration of the graduate program and then placement-specific managers are assigned for each of the three placements. This feels like a good approach and works well. Also, due to the culture at the company, raising issues never feels like a challenge and is always encouraged by management.

Excellent. All round really good company culture, very open, welcoming and inclusive for everyone. Easy to speak to everyone and never viewed as lesser than anyone else due to being new/junior in the company. Graduates are widely respected as providing value and for the most part meaningful work is assigned, not just basic admin tasks. Events and team-building activities help build a sense of belonging at the company.

I'm enjoying my current placement, even though it's a little outside of my job area but I feel it's good experience. The team are fantastic and manager is great, I had a clear set of tasks assigned to me at the start. I think due to the nature of the team, the scope of the tasks has changed a fair bit but I think the managers have done a good job to try and ensure I know what I need to do.

Yes

Ensure that you are open minded and willing to learn and adapt. Also important to demonstrate understanding of whole system challenges and ways of thinking not just on the electricity vector. Good interpersonal skills and presentation skills will definitely be beneficial.