Student Bioenineer Review

I really enjoyed my placement year at DePuy Synthes, Johnson and Johnson. It was an extremely valuable year in which i have learnt a lot and most importantly learnt what engineering is like as a job as opposed to what we do at university. The only down side for me is it was a lot of desk and paper work and as an active person this was a big change which took a while to adapt to.

Almost from the beginning of my placement i was given important tasks that were useful to current projects and treated like just another member of the team rather than a placement student. By the end of my placement i became the go to person in the department for a number of different jobs definitely making me feel valued.

The support and guidance from my manger was brilliant, we met weekly to talk through what work i had been doing, upcoming work and to see how i was finding everything. With any work i was asked to do he was more than willing to give any guidance if i were to get stuck but equally leave me to get as far as i can with little original instructions. He was supportive in me taking part in any training that was offered which was definitely valuable.

The work i was given came from the members of my department as well as mainly my manager, therefore my level of work was very dependant on how many people came to me with work. I'd have some weeks where i was very busy to the point of having to turn down work and others where i had very little to do.

By the end of my placement i was given a fairly high level of responsibility, higher than i would have expected for a student. Doing important calculation investigations, writing up important reports and giving presentations to big groups of people. The work i did by the end was trusted by people from the department and required little input from colleagues.

Over the year i have received a great deal of training which will be extremely useful in my studies but more importantly in jobs beyond that. I have had the opportunity to improve many skills such as report writing which i know will be extremely useful in my studies. But most importantly I think the year has taught me more about how to work improving and developing, communication skills, teamwork skills, presentation skills and much more that will be really useful for jobs in the future.

There was a really friendly atmosphere in my office. There were lots of social activities organised throughout my time at the company where everyone had the opportunity to get to know each other outside the work environment, i believe this really help relationships inside the office. Everyone in the office was really hard working which inspired everyone to be getting work done and not one person worked any less hard than the others.

There was very little structure to my placement year, unfortunately as projects are so long lasting between 2 and 6 years i couldn’t be given my own project to work on. This meant i relied on other member of the group to give me bits of work to do , which meant my work load varied massively and i was left quite a few times with next to nothing to do. However in terms of setting up training and ensuring i had a wide variety of experiences when i was at the company it was organised well, and i was frequently asked if there was anything would like to get involved in or getting the chance to do.

From the onset in my first meeting with my manager’s manager i was told the company was prepared to invest greatly in my training and development so i would be well trained to join either this company or another post studies. Any training that has been run by the company in the time that i have been here i have been invited to including many out of office training courses. They have also encouraged me to get involved in anything i can inside the company in order to develop skills in many different areas

Unlike many other companies there is not an offer of a job to return to when finishing university. However if there are job openings you can apply and through the contacts you have from your year placement let people know to look out for your application and you would probably be more likely to be invited to interview assuming your performance in the year was good.

There was a big group of us put in contact before we even started work letting us get to know each other prior to starting work. A couple of months after starting a graduate and apprentice scheme started and all the students were put as buddies, we now have a big group pf engineers who meet regularly outside of work and also provide useful points of contact across R&D.

Having gone to university in the south where the cost of living is fairly high the cost of living and socialising in Leeds was far far cheaper. The rent we paid was nearly half of what we paid before and we got more for our money too. Food is much the same price but drinks are definitely cheaper.

Leeds is massive and has lots and lots of places to choose between when wanting to go out no matter the day of the week they'll be somewhere to go and a variety to choose between. The centre of town on a friday and saturday night is probably just as busy as during the daytime!

Johnson and Johnson are very keen on CSR activities and doing things for charity and the local area as shown in their credo. There were lots of opportunities to get involved in many different CSR activities from 50 miles walks to teaching the local school children to read, there was something for everyone to get involved in. The team I was in are also very social organising many social events and celebration dinners when milestones were reached.