Project Management IP Review

I've had a fantastic placement year at Fujitsu. There's been a good balance of challenging work, real responsibility and great people.

I worked on a team delivering a large project. The team got on really well and every member was able to add value. There was good banter in the office and I always felt part of the team and that the work I was doing contributed to the successful delivery of the project.

I had a really suportive manager during my placement. From the start he oulined that the year was a two way process - although he wanted to get value out of me, he really wanted to ensure that I got value out of the company and achieved everything I wanted to get done. As a result, I had monthly review meetings with my manager to discuss the previous month and make a plan for the coming months. Nothing was too much trouble and he always looked to help me where he could.

Work levels vary but on average I could have been busier. Although the role gave me spare bandwidth, this meant I was able to proactively seek out new experiences. At Fujitsu there is never nothing to do - if you feel like you are too bored or too busy then you only need to say. There is always work to do and people really appreciate proactivity in the office, as well as on the placement scheme.

During the placement I wasn't running the show. Although I was there to learn and gain experience, I was given my own area of work within the project to run. This meant that even though the work was not necassarily critical to the success of the company, I had my own area I was responsible for and I could see how this contributed to our overall objective.

I think the skills you learn on any placement are skills for life. Not only have I improved tangible skills such as Excel and microsoft project but I've improved intangible skills such as time management, people skills, negotiation skills, and the knowledge of project management.

I'm quite a friendly, up beat person so the atmosphere in the office was generally quite light hearted and easy going. Of course there are going to be stressful days but on the whole we had a really good laugh in the office. (It varies quite a lot depending on what team you are in though!)

The placement year was run brilliantly. There was real attention to detail and the events that are put on are really beneficial. One criticism would be the application process - I didn't really know what role I was applying for!

Training in development was excellent. As I had some spare capacity in my role I was able to attend plenty of training courses, held both internally and externally. Fujitsu have a strong value of investing in people, so as long as you can justify why you want to receive some training, the answer is usually yes!

Fujitsu have a real emphasis on investing in people. Even as an IP, they looked to nurture employees onto the grad scheme - a scheme which is coupled with the future leaders programme. As long as you give a good account of yourself there is an excellent chance that you'll get a grad scheme at Fujitsu.

Yeah the social scene was decent. As I'm sure is the case with most placements, it's what you make of it!

Housing prices are about £300-£350 a month. Baring in mind it's a 25min train journey to London it's quite good. Obviously going out in London is expensive, but Reading is pretty cheap due to the uni students.

Although the office is based in Bracknell, I lived in Reading (15min journey). The nightlife in Reading is really good - plenty of student nights and lots of variety.

It's all about being proactive. Reading is a big place and there's loads going on. I played for football and cricket teams throughout the year.