IT Analyst Review

It is fair to say I enjoyed most of my placement year at Caterpillar. The primary reason being that I was responsible for key tasks that had a direct impact on the Company's stakeholders. My role had significance and this made my enjoy my work, even though sometimes the tasks I was required to do were repetitive.

I felt extremely value by my team from the first day of my placement. I was given a thorough introduction to my role and its significance within the team. I was invited to key team meetings where I was required to contribute regarding my projects.

I was assigned a mentor from day one who gave me support for the first 4 weeks of the placement. This support was really important as it helped me understand what the role was about and how should I deal with any issues. Furthermore, post the initial four weeks I had regular meetings with my Team Leader and Supervisor who were regularly giving me direction on any issues I had regarding work or otherwise.

It is fair to say that I was busy on a daily basis with application support work and other systems related meetings. The amount of work was overwhelming at times but I was given the right tools and resources to manage the situation. There were also occasions where the work load was minimal but I was advised by my manager to use that time well and spend it in training.

I was primarily the sole person responsible for three Post Sales Applications at Caterpillar, I was also given the responsibility of auditing key UNIX accounts worldwide within Caterpillar companies. If there were any issues within the applications then I was the sole person responsible for resolving them. Internal employees and external dealers would be in contact with me regarding the applications and I was responsible for any issues that were unresolved and would have to answer for it to my team leader.

I believe the time management and interpersonal skills is something that I will be taking forward to my final year. Being in a placement has helped me understand how to manage tasks for small and large projects within the deadline. My interpersonal skills were further developed in during the placement year as I was involved in projects that required teamwork, communication through various means and relationship building. All these traits would be very useful for any career path I chose for myself.

Atmosphere in my office was generally quiet but calling it dull would be unfair as there were times when everyone engaged in discussions other than work.

The whole placement was very well thought through and my supervisor gave me an outlook at the start on how the whole year has been planned out for me. I went through a training period for the first 4 weeks followed by fully supporting the role for the rest of the placement. It was planned to give me project work after the initial six months and towards the of the placement I would be given the chance to extend my contract beyond the 12 months and take on any extra projects relating to ERP.

The company invested in giving me support in developing my technical skills, I was assigned a mentor who regularly passed technical knowledge relating to my role. I was also given opportunity to learn about Enterprise Resource Planning software as per my request even though my job role was not related.

The company is going through a period where the team head counts are reduced. Therefore, it is unlikely that I get a job after graduation.

There were regular staff events to pubs, movies, comedy shows, football matches. However, I could not join in much because of commuting from home everyday.

N/A - I was commuting.

N/A. I was commuting so did not get involved in Peterborough Nightlife.

There were fair number of opportunities to get involved in interesting and rewarding activities such as Peterborough River Care Project, Lego League Project, Half Marathons for Charities.