Team member Review

The placement was a great experience. I had the chance to work on lots of interesting projects with people of different technical backgrounds. I had the opportunity to not only work with my team but with others as well. Furthermore, there company has lots of opportunities for away trips to see some of what there work has accomplished as well as plenty of courses to aid development.

I felt like a very values member of my team. I was often given lots of responsibly, my work was valued (even as far as winning an award for some of the work I had done on a project) and my opinion was always welcome. I was included in many meeting and was encouraged to put ideas forward and speak up if I had any input.

During my placement I had a Team leader who was always putting me forward for days away and courses. He was there is I ever had an issue or needed help with organising things or understand aspects of how to do something (such as filling in my time sheet) . I also has a project manager who I worked with very closely and he helped me with my technical development.

This varied dramatically throughout the year. Sometimes there would be multiply projects going on which I could switch between whereas other times I would be working on a singular project and having to wait for another person to do something or some software to be updated before I can continue. Furthermore, some project had a short deadline where you only had a couple of days to get something done while others you had months.

I feel like I have gained a lot from my experience, including working as a team, time management, how to design, manage and execute a project and much more. I have a lot more to add to my CV and have boosted my chance of finding a job after I graduate. I would highly recommend doing a placement to anyone studying at university.

The office if open planned (a hundred staff sharing the same space) with members of the same team working the same area. The company work with a flexi desk initiative so you can change what desk you work at everyday. I find that this give you the opportunity to get help easier as everyone is in the same area. Its normally nice and quite but occasionally you get people who talk loudly on the phone which can be distracting. Generally people are friendly and you get to know a lot of people from different areas of the company. It is also a common thing that people bring in cake to the office to share which is always a nice treat.

I found the whole process pretty well organised with the only drawback was not knowing when I was going to start until quite last minute. The company will cover travel expenses and will even put you up in a hotel if you are travelling a big distance for the interview. When you start you have a full day induction and then they send you off to your team. Everything is very well explained and people were always there if you had questions. I started along with around 30 others and the only issue were the site passes were given to us late.

For an engineering job the pay is low and the progression between development stages seem to be slow however there are a lot of benefits for working for the MOD. Including discounts at a lot of restaurants and days out. I also really like the flexi time, I work when it suits me best, I often only do 4 days a week. Its a good working environment and there are lots of opportunities to travel, members of my team have gone to Australia, America, Prague, France.

I found it fairly expensive with being so close to London, however I go to university in a very cheap area. For a decent house share you are looking at £400 a month in Portsmouth, Southampton is generally a bit cheaper but the commute is a nightmare. The M27 always as accidents. The price of a pint is around £3-4 but as its a student city there are student nights which are cheaper.

It a student are so there is always a lot going on, in terms of clubs and bars. Also your not far from London or Southampton if you fancy a change.

There are a vast range of sports and societies to get involved in. You can generally find pretty much anything, American football, archery e.c.t. If you cant find what your looking for you can always start your own. The company has a website which allows you to organise thing and talk to people and everything can be found on there. (You are given a introduction to the website on your induction day)