Integratons Engineering Placement Review

by Caterpillar

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

2.3/5
  • The Role
    1.8
  • The Company
    1.8
  • The Culture
    3.6

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

    • Not very much. Communication in the team was poor. Training was also poor and work was given to me assuming I understood complex concepts. When training and clarification on the tasks was requested, it was often ignored or pushed at the bottom of the teams priority. Job description was unclear and when asked to clarify, the question was dodged.

    1/5
  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

    • Not at all. I was often given side projects to do, just to keep me out of the way of the main project. There even seemed to be some resentment towards me at times due to the fact I was a placement student and didn't always know what to do.

    1/5
  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

    • Support by my manager was given to an extent. This was done by a weekly 1-1 meeting where I could ask about anything I was struggling with, however solutions often were unhelpful.

    2/5
  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

    • Mostly had work to do on a daily bases. however a lot of it was random excel sheets or power points presentations to make and send off. Software testing was assigned to me, however no training was given so struggled on that. Learned everything by asking other teams.

    3/5
  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

    • Responsibility was at a high level. Deadlines were set for project stages therefore work needed to be completed in order to meet the deadlines. If not, then there was a potential that the project would fall behind and cost the company money, so there was a high level of responsibility.

    3/5
  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

    • Learned about different communication protocols and was heavily reliant on MATLAB Simulink and Vector CANape software. Nothing I learned at uni was relevant though. Ie formulas ect... computers did all that for you. just needed to know when to you them. Heavily software based (Computer scientists)

    2/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

    • Office was fun! Lots of friendly people who would take the time and talk to you. Flexible working hours. Office activities would occur such as ping pong competitions and athletics day ect... plus we had dress down Fridays Just got a raw deal on the team I was in

    4/5
  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

    • On the first day, the computer didn't have any essential software on it. Other placement students didn't even have a laptop! Handover training from the last placement to me was disastrous. No structure or time taken to show me how to use or understand the hardware I would be using on a daily basis. manager did not step in when informed.

    1/5
  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

    • None what so ever. Relied completely on the last placement to train me. However as he was working on two team he hardly worked with my team so could not properly train me. "training" was then given to me but consisted of 10 minute tutorials of an experienced member of my team pointing and changing things without any explanations as to why.

    1/5
  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?

    • Flexi Time

    Sports and Social Club

    Company Parties/Events
    3/5
  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

    • None what so ever.

    1/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

    • Yes. Nights out and house parties!

    5/5
  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

    • High if you live in the new build area. However if you look around you can find some great placed with reasonable rent. Bretton is great. Mostly all properties Peterborough come unfurnished, meaning that you will need to supply your own furniture. ie. bed, closet ect... As Peterborough is quite small, transport links such as busses and trains are close by and there are many supermarkets for shopping. Getting to work takes around 10 - 15 minutes Social scene is good with many bars and clubs.

    3/5
  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

    • Social scene is good with many bars and clubs. Has a cinema and bowling ect.. standard stuff

    3/5
  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

    • Yes. There was a team that would organise events on weekends or after work. Events included karting, dinner nights, paintballing, bowling ect...

    4/5
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Details

Placement (10 Months+)

Business Operations, Computer Science, Electronic and Electrical Engineering

East of England

November 2015

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