Summer Placement Student Review

I greatly enjoyed my placement in the compact engine controls team within the CAT electronics division at Caterpillar. I found the work both sufficiently challenging and insightful, I also believe that it has significantly developed my skills in control engineering which will no doubt be of use to me in the future.

Everyone at Caterpillar is very friendly and will always take the time to help you. Like all companies it is often dependent on which team you are working in, but I found that you are recognised for performing good work both by your colleagues and management.

As mentioned previously, engineers at all levels are willing to give you the time that is necessary in order to help you. Often people go above and beyond in helping you, sometimes teaching you valuable skills that you wouldn't otherwise have learnt. Most managers are down to earth and approachable, and are always willing to hear suggestions for improvements or other feedback.

During your first couple of weeks you often spend time twiddling your thumbs, either because you are waiting for IT equipment to be setup, or your waiting for a substantial project to come along. However after the first couple of weeks once you have settled in the workload picks up dramatically. My advice would be to go out and seek work and projects that interest you, and also be proactive instead of waiting for work and people to approach you. This is definitely a company that gives out as much as you put it, and then some.

You will be given projects that you are individually responsible for, as well as projects that involve working in part of a larger team, sometimes on a global scale. If you can show you can handle the responsibility, you will be given it. That being said, it is recognised that you are only a placement so it is expected that you will make mistakes along the way.

The people at Caterpillar are immensely talented in what they do, and there is a very strong culture of wanting to share that knowledge with others. When I started at Caterpillar I was already technically minded, but having worked at Caterpillar it has allowed me to apply my knowledge in the real world which has further enhanced my technical abilities. An equally important skillset which I have developed is those of my soft skills, at Caterpillar you can be expected to give presentations to share what you have done and learnt to others. You will receive guidance and feedback. This has helped grow my confidence and ability in the area of soft skills such as delivering presentations and communication.

In most of the offices at Caterpillar the atmosphere is generally relaxed, and everyone has a few good laughs. There is a strong cake culture at Caterpillar with most events and occasions soliciting the eating of cake.

The placements at Caterpillar are well structured in themselves. However like most large companies you will initially run into issues with IT, and it can often take a while to get everything setup.

Caterpillar prides itself on basing most training by learning on the job, I found this to be less onerous than training courses and you are much more likely to remember what you learn. However Caterpillar does run training courses, many of them practical, taught by company experts. A highlight was the machine appreciation course which entailed driving CAT branded machines around a field for an afternoon.

As far as I'm aware Caterpillar are recruiting in the engineering space.

Most placements and graduates go out on nights out together, people are also often up for going to the cinema or to the pub. There are few company wide events, although there is the annual 'pitch and put' tournament which is fun. Individual teams often organise social events such as going for a curry or friendly football matches.

Peterborough is generally reasonably priced. A popular area for placements and graduates is the Hampton area, the rental accommodation is reasonably priced and the houses are quite new so are all in good condition. There are a few undesirable parts of Peterborough so it pays to do your research first.

Nightlife in Peterborough is fairly cheap and often has a University atmosphere.

Very dependent on who you work with, if you take the initiative and organise something yourself you will always get a good attendance.