Industrial Placement Student (Acoustician) Review

I do enjoy some of the work such as doing noise models and running calculations. The only things I do not enjoy are surveys just because sometimes there is uncertainty on weather and such things and you can could travel 2 hours and then have to go back home because the weather would tamper with the results.

I did feel valued by my colleagues in office but did not feel valued by some colleagues in other offices as I felt that they would not involve me in jobs because they knew they would have to teach me some of the theory and that would take too much effort. But the colleagues in the office made me feel very valued in the company.

My supervisors were great at giving me guidance on how I could make the most out of my placement year, and whenever I needed help for anything, they were more then happy to assist me. They also helped and encouraged me to overcome personal and occupational goals.

Because of the nature of the industry, work would come and go. So I would have a lot of times where I was very busy and then there would be periods where I would have nothing to do.

I was given lots of responsibility such as working on projects for esteemed clients and handling very specialist and expensive equipment. I was tasked with writing reports, handling & processing large amounts of data and my own timesheet and time management which I also thought was a great tool in helping with organisation.

I developed my skills and experiences so well during my time at Atkins and I feel that I will have these for the rest of my life. Being able to work for such a reputable company whilst also aiding my university studies has been an immense addition to my degree and one that I would feel lost without If I had not done a placement year.

The atmosphere was incredibly laid back and there were no strict rules on social talking, listening to phones & music whilst working and what you could wear (I always dressed smart, but it was not essential as one colleague of mine wore jeans, trainers and a t-shirt every day - Fridays were always casual).

I think there were parts of the year that were very well done such as integration to the company, feeling like an employee and getting work for me. However there were a few things that I thought were not done as well. For instance, when I went for the interview, it was more or less promised to me that I could use all of my 25 days holiday at the end of the year so that I could finish earlier (otherwise possibly overlapping with my final year at University). But then 2 months into the role I was told by higher supervisors that I couldn't and had to shorten my contract. I also did not like the way that I was treated like a graded acoustician in terms of my productivity and I was held to the same levels as everyone else. That was not far as it would take time to train me and would not pull in as much work as other co-workers so I think this should have been discussed beforehand.

They heavily invested on training for me, and even funded and helped me gain a 2-year site visitor qualification. They were always giving out new training modules for us to do online and upon joining the company, employees must complete a ton of online training modules that took me up to a week to complete.

At the moment, not very because my interests have changed. I would now very much like to travel when I finish my degree and not think about graduate jobs. In the far future I am not really sure because circumstances could change but I would possible consider it.

There was a graduate program, but these were actual employees of the company and it did not feel the same. I only ever met one placement student and she worked in another department. She didn't even work in my office so there wasn't really any opportunities to meet other placement students.

In the first 6 months I lived opposite the office in Birmingham City Centre and it was quite expensive to live there. But as I am originally from Wolverhampton, when the contract ended I decided to move home and I saved a lot more money. However it was still quite expensive to commute with a train pass costing £540 plus car maintenance.

The nightlife was really incredibly with broad street being around the corner, and the office is on the same street as new street station, the bull ring and the high street. Really good selection of places to go and events on offer.

Yes. There were things like workout sessions in the office, acoustic seminars and diversity in woman talks.