Industrial Placement Student Review

Over the course of my year long placement, I found the experience very enjoyable. I was involved in a variety of several diverse projects which, on the whole, I found very interesting. Moreover, the office environment was very friendly and colleagues were easy going. I felt that I learnt something with each project I completed and gained a lot of experience I would not have had if I chose to not to do a placement year. During my placement, I was involved in a variety of several diverse projects. I was given more responsibility that I first imagined and the roles I performed were, in general, very interesting.

I felt I had a significant amount of responsibility on each project was a part of and I felt my role was valued within the company. I felt free to voice my opinion on tasks to more senior members of staff knowing that it would be acknowledged and be taken on-board, rather than being discarded due to any perceived lack of experience.

Over the course of the year, I felt that I was given a lot of support and guidance by my supervisor, both in terms of technical and personal issues. As my supervisors knew I was only here for a year, they made a significant effort to make sure I was getting the most out of the placement. If I was in between projects, the resource team would work hard to find any other small jobs which needed doing in order to keep me productive and would attempt relate those jobs so that they would be beneficial to my development.

On a daily basis, I was generally very busy with on going projects, especially ones which had upcoming deadlines. There were times at which I felt too busy when I was required to work on more than one project at a time but I took this as a good chance to experience managing my time rather than feeling over worked. Very occasionally, I would experience times when there was not much work for me to do, but the resource team did their best to fill my time with short tasks which needed doing around the office.

During my placement, I felt I was given a significant amount of responsibility with regards to my position on projects. I did not feel that I was given the jobs that no one else wanted and felt a part of the team I was in. On occasion, I was involved in checking high level documents and creating correspondence for the clients which would usually be done by the technical lead. This gave me experience working in parts of the project that I would not usually be expected to perform and gave me the added responsibility that I did not expect.

The majority of projects I was assigned to allowed me to transfer academic skills I had acquired at university and apply them to actual engineering work. In terms of expectation, I did not use as much academic knowledge as I had thought as this was due to the fact that most of my projects involved using some type of CAD or FE package. Over the year I managed to obtain experience using a wide variety of programmes.

The atmosphere within the office was friendly, easy going but also professional. The office was open plan which helped create a good atmosphere between colleagues and there was no rigid hierarchy which meant everyone was approachable. The work ethic was very good and there was a balance between a social and professional environment.

The placement was very well set up as Atkins have been offering industrial placements for a few years. My line manager was very informed with the placement process and had a good idea of what is expected from the university of the student. Moreover, as they knew I was only there for a year, they made sure I was as productive as possible during my time there in order to make the most of my placement.

Although Atkins do not assign training modules to the placement students with the same extent as they would do with the graduate positions, they did help me start the process to becoming a Chartered Engineer. I used my placement year as part of that and was guided through the process in order to fulfil some of the requirements of the IMechE.

Atkins do not give generally give graduate positions out to placement students as they like them to go through the graduate application. However, if you do apply for the graduate role, then your name will be highlighted and it will be noted throughout the application that you have already worked with the company for a significant amount of time.

There was a good social scene amongst my fellow colleagues. There were three other placement students in my department as well as many others in different areas of the company at Bristol. Moreover, there were several graduates and recent graduates who would organise social events. The majority of people were outgoing and there were a good number of people between the ages of 25-30.

Compared to living in Sheffield at university, Bristol's cost of living was quite expensive. However, with an income, the cost of living and socialising was manageable and I was also able to manage several trips around the country as well. I did expect I would be able to save a bit more money than I did by the end of the year but that was possibly unobtainable.

The nightlife in Bristol was fairly good. As there were two universities in the city, the centre was normally very busy. Also, as I worked with quite a few people of a similar age to me, there were a lot of opportunities to go out. However, the nightlife in Bristol was quite a bit more expensive than other places I have experienced.

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. I joined the Atkins touch rugby team and also played 6 a side football with people from the office. This was also a good chance to meet people from different departments as well as others from different companies such as Airbus and GKN. Moreover, there were several regular social activities organised by the graduates outside of the office.