Student Engineer Review

As a summary - the placement was very insightful and enjoyable. The work held a level of responsibility which made me feel valued, and all my colleagues were approachable and helpful.

I felt valued in that I was given responsibility for work and the atmosphere of the office meant that everyone was respectful and friendly.

Although my manager was very supportive and friendly, he/she was very often caught up in meetings. I was given the majority of my work from my manager, but not enough to fully fill my time so had to take the initiative to ask for and find work from other people. I was also sat on a desk quite far away from my manager and direct team so ended up approaching other people for support which I felt was more taxing on them as they may not have felt it was their responsibility. However everyone was very supportive and happy to help.

Had lots of work to do, lots of project work, but also was given enough time to complete training packages and take enough time to get things right.

Lots. Not too much that it made me stress too badly, but had a good level of responsibility running small projects.

Learned lots of skills. The general overview of how to progress large engineering projects was really interesting. Also got a really good feel for how work flows through the different departments.

Good. Very friendly but often fairly quiet. People respect each others work so don't interrupt each other too much but people will talk when they are interacted with.

It took a while to get access to certain things and for me to get a laptop to work on and it didn't feel like specific work had been set up for me to complete. But I was quick to get my own desk, personal protection equipment etc.

I was offered lots of online training packages, and some on-site training sessions.

I was offered the chance to return for another placement in between my studies.

Lots of students on the site. Played football twice a week with people from work. Saw lots of other students on nights out.

Fairly cheap - North East prices.

Darlington has a couple of clubs and a few late bars. A bit of a mix of rough and ready places as well as slightly more expensive bars. Newcastle fairly easy on the train.

Yes - sports and social club - played football twice a week.