Undergraduate Placement Student Review

Working in a team of 9 to help test materials physics models. My typical day involves arriving into the office, editing coding, running tests of the code and simulations, attending meetings and conferences and collaborating with my team on the work I have done.

I have learnt new technical skills such as different coding languages and improved my existing coding knowledge. Working in a team has helped my confidence in voicing my ideas. Working in the office has improved my office etiquette.

Initially only responsibility in keeping the office safe and tidy by following everyone else's example. Now I have more responsibility for my work as I am in the middle of my projects and having to present my findings to other people not in my team.

For starting the technical work I was given lots of guidance in the form of helpful lectures, reading and help from my task manager. For meeting I followed the instructions of my team and for everything else I had training modules. The support and guidance was a little lacking when finding buildings/rooms and navigating site.

Everyone is friendly and willing to give a helping hand for any problems that I have. While the office can get a little noisy at times it is nice that colleagues are nearby. The people around me specialise in different areas so it is nice to hear their perspectives on the work.

I am really enjoying my placement so far. The work is engaging and challenging but not too much. Everyone is really friendly and I am comfortable asking questions or raising my concerns. The flexible work hours are great as this is my first job and I am learning the work culture, balance and etiquette.

Yes

You should work in person for the first few months instead of working from home because you get to meet lots of amazing people and you will be able to begin networking much quicker and easier.