Chemical Engineering Placement Student Review

My placement with EDF was really enjoyable, at first i was not inclined to the idea of taking a year out of Uni, but looking back one of the greatest experiences as a student, a real epiphony.

My colleagues really made me feel welcome, and I felt part of the team from day one. They always valued my opinions on a topic, and in some cases asked me for advice of certain aspects of the projects that the team were involved in.

I was given enough guidance to complete a project or piece of work to a good standard, and help was always at hand if I found any difficulties with the tasks which were given. However everyone here is very busy, and sometimes my manager could not be there to help or assist me.

It depended on a day to day basis, sometimes I wwould come in an hour early and finish a couple of hours late just to keep up, other days were more relaxed and would have to seek work from other sources. But in general I was given quite a generous chunk of work. One piece of advice I would give to any student on placement is to seek your next piece of work, show your willingness, from this, the likehood that you will be involved in exciting projects will be very high, this worked for me.

I like all the other placement students lacked the knowledge to really be involved in major tasks, as say a manager or department head. But after a certain period of time once you have built up rappour with your managers can request to be a part of these projects.

Before I engaged in any work, I was thoroughly prepared and trained, so that I knew the basic information to understand what others were saying/doing. Certainly on the engineering side of things I was exposed to a great deal of goings on. This in itself is invaluable to my degree studies and beyond.

Though I was the youngest in my office by a country mile, I seemed to get one with everyone, there was generally a lot of banter about, they even celebrated my birthday when I was away from home, really great bunch of people.

Well organised, but EDF time frame for telling you very important things is quite narrow, i.e. I was told of my placement location and starting time a week before, so a little bit hectic. etiher than that, everthing else was quite professional.

They encouraged me to undertake a great deal of training at the start of the placement, initially to help me understand the role. My manager also sat with me every month to discuss what I had done and what I can improve on.

I was invited to go to an interview, for guaranteed access to the graduate scheme after graduating from uni. They also will sponsor you if you are succesful in your interview. The graduate scheme will give you a more detailed view of the company.

Ok i guess, I didnt go out much during the week, as I kept myself busy in the gym, and was going back home on the weekends, but as there are always some industrial placment students and graduates on site, there is always something to do. The fact that you are on the coast also helps, strolls on the sandy beaches come to mind.

Not too bad, cost of living is a bit more than London, but this is understandable as there isnt abdundant shops for amenities. Socialising again I would not have the greatest idea, but the nearest sociable place was Ipswich, which is 30 mins away by train.

Do not know.

Depends what you want to do, I played a lot of sport outside of work, so that is pretty easy.