Project Engineer intern - Major projects Review

I very much enjoyed the team I was working with, the work was originally quite repetitive, but as the placement continued I was able to apply my own ideas to make the task more my own. At the end of the placement time, I was extremely happy with what I had achieved, learnt and handed over to the team, and from their final review, National Grid also seemed very pleased with the work I had completed.

The deparment was low on staff and the extra help was much appreciated. Due to this the importance of the tasks I was given was higher than expected and my opinion on the projects was taken very seriously. The team accepted me into the group very quickly and I felt very valued.

My line manager directly supported and guided me. The team leader was always available for meetings and quick chats at his desk also.

I was always kept busy, but there were plenty of opportunities to break the normal routine, with trips to site, presentations on various aspects of the company and self-made meetings with various colleagues just to find out what they did on a daily basis.

I was given a lot of responsibility, the work I produced was used in various high level presentations. The financial predictions I created were even used in a public presentation.

Weekly presentations on various aspects of the company gave me and the other placement students advice and skills that we would not normally receive at university. They will greatly help with future studies. My soft skills were constantly improving also, communication, personal skills and time keeping were probably the most developed.

Very good mix of work and fun, always someone to talk to if needed, but a generally quiet office to enable hard work to be done.

There was an introduction session around easter, introducing the placement students to each other and showcasing the projects. There was some lack of communication between the organisers and the department I entered however, with our start date not being communicated properly, resulting in a slow start to the placement, but the department reacted quickly and sorted out all problems with ease! Generally the set up was ok, but the team looking after us was based in a different office and difficult to contact sometimes. There was a final presentation day which was run extremely well and allowed placement students to view each others work over the summer, further increasing exposure to the large company.

We had a training day on "Project management" which was very imformative. Generally the team invested a large amount of time in us, explaining any documents or work fully. Also all of the colleagues were always available to answer questions.

The social scene in the office was slightly lacking, generally the office had an older than graduate workforce. Over our 8 weeks we had one night out with some colleagues and met our "Buddy" for a meal. Between fellow students there was a good social scene.

Living was relatively expensive as we were only in leeds for 8 weeks and therefore rental of a house was impossible. We lived in leeds uni halls.

The area we worked was out of town, so poor. But leeds nightlife itself was amazing, which is where we were living.

Organised by Work: Almost zero, but a company gym was very useful. Leeds: Everything you needed.