RDI Knowledge Engineer Review

I really enjoyed my placement year at AZ. I was within the RDI department in the Alderley Park site in Cheshire working as a Software Developer. I was presented with projects/tasks that needed to be completed within the department or by the department for other departments. I was then able to select which projects I completed based on my interests and experience. I found I quickly became confident in selecting more challenging projects and by the end of my placement I was hunting out my own projects through people I had interacted with and was being approached directly for support from people within the office.

At the beginning of the placement I felt quite out of place. I wasn't confident in my skills and the age of the department left me feeling again out of place, however there were other students on placement at AZ and there was great effort made for us to interact and support one another. At no point was I a tea maker - they have machines for that! I always felt that my managers acknowledged my experiences from university and were interested in my opinions. My manager was excellent in helping me realise my time was just as valueable as a full time developers and that I should only take on projects to aid my personal development and interests. Towards the end of my placement I was working as the sole developer on many projects and was trusted to make several important developmental decisions.

My manager Jasen was excellent. He spent one hour a week catching up on my weeks activities and ensuring I had the right work load. Jasen was not in a technical role within the department but was able to direct my queries to the right people which always resulted in my finding the answer. The experienced developers within the department were also helpful in explaining the correct methods and tools for the job - and were in no way condensending or impatient.

At the start of my placement I was extremely busy, there was a huge learning curve as the commerical world moves a lot quicker than university! However, once I had gotten over this the time balanced out and I was working a 36 hour week with flexible hours, so I would work longer monday-thursday and have a shorter day on friday. Working hours were flexible ans provided you don't take the mick and complete all work on time to a high standard the level of mutual trust is maintained. Towards the end of my placement the department went though some significant changes seeing a lot of the senior developers leave. This process halted a lot of my projects and there was a period of three weeeks that were quite uneventful, this was fair enough though as with people going through redundancy the focus those few weeks was not on the students. However, this provided me with time to catch up on my reports and consolidate the projects I had completed, by no means was this a huge issue.

I was given siginficant freedom arround the work I was involved in which was great and allowed me to explore areas of my personal interest. I was also able to take part in several high profile projects which increased my exposure within the company. Over all I felt there was a great effort made to ensure I got a lot from my placement - of course you do have to put in to get out!

I am now back at uni and am continuing to work as a developer at AZ on a part time basis. The skills and confidence I have gained from this placement are beyond my own expectations. I arrived at AZ with little confidence, and in honest little development skills. I left with masses of development experience, increased self confidence and an improved professional network. The skills I have developed have also made life in final year of university easier. The content is less complex as I have met most of it before at AZ and I now have a network of experienced professionals who are happy to aid the development of my skills!

This is the only area I feel AZ lacks. Everyone sits behind their computers and there is little interaction. There are efforts made through networking events and breakfasts/cake afternoons - but in general the office is a quite space. The use of hotdesking also makes it more difficult to know the people around you as the office is so large.

The placement was set up to be flexible to allow each student (there were 6 of us in my placement year) to experience things they were interested in or wished to develop skills in.

I attended one official training course during my year at AZ, I also completed several free online courses to develop my skills further. My manager was always sending links to interesting articles or courses he thought I would benefit from. The company invested in me the most by showing their confidence in my abilities and the sigificance of my contribution through awards and hiring me throughout my final year.

Excellent, the department is actively recruiting graduates to drive innovation within the department. I have been hired on a part time basis and am hoping to apply for a permenant role after graduating!

There were six of us on placement, three of us became good friends and went out in the local town often. There were also recent graduates working within the department who joined us, we also always had lucnh together which broke up the day nicely. However, I was one of the few females in the office under the age of 25. This didn't bother me greatly as it is often the case with IT roles and all the guys were lovely!

Rent in the area isn't too bad. I lived a 15 minute drive away for £275 per month with bills being around £20 per month, I lived with another student. There is a FB group set up for you to meet the other students before starting so you can all organise living together if you wish - and organise social events

Macclesfield (the closest cheap town) is a decent night - but manchester and liverpool are a 40 minute train journey if you want something more 'clubby'

There are some charity events such as camping in the fields and there is also a gym with clubs you can join. Otherwise I was aware of little else on offer.