Industrial Placement Student Review

The placement was enjoyable overall, though I found it tedious and boring through some parts of the year

The atmosphere was generally quite good, though I was usually contacted by other people via my boss.

My supervisor was very good, and was always available to me

Business came in waves, and there were some times i felt like i didn't have enough to do, so stretched work out to fill time

I was given a good amount of freedom of responsibility, and was able to run projects on my own, this was very good.

Very good practice working in an office environment, but also had the lab skills that i will need for my final year, and hopefully beyond.

It was often quite quiet, though there was a group of people that were fun to be around and share lunch with, however during the day, the office was very quiet and there was little chatter.

The placement was set up very well, with checklists of things to introduce me to, how to show me around the office, who to talk to for support, and plenty of elearning modules to complete. These modules did take a lot of time out of the beginning though, which made the practical and social transitions harder.

There was the elearning courses, which did not help to develop my skills, rather inform me of procedures that must be followed, a few times, I was called on to present results in meetings, though this preparation largely fell to myself.

There seemed to be a problem with employee retention, which makes me not want to work there, though the environment did also seem quite friendly for the most part.

Among the placement students, there were natural groups of friends and colleagues that would form, and a few nights out etc were planned.

Socializing in Stevenage was difficult as its basically a hole in the ground, however London was close, but the downside of this was that it got to be quite expensive. Living expenses were very cheap compared to even student housing, and I made a good group of friends.

Other than london, Stevenage had very little to offer. The last train back from london was only half 1, which meant you'd have to stay out until about 6am, or come back early.

Other than socialising, there wasn't much that appealed to me outside of work. I played football at work, and went to the work gym, but as for the town, nothing.