Trainee RF Amplifier and Antenna Engineer Review

Very much so, as ABER is an SME I quickly got to know everyone in the company. everyone just seemed to be best friends so i was slightly worried about integrating myself but absolutely no problem on that front! the variation in personal skills i developed rather significantly will definitely be carried with me into my future and i will look back on my placement as highly successful

I felt very highly valued. me and my colleagues regularly met up outside of working hours for various activities, as well as getting to know one another during working hours. as previously mentioned, everyone is super friendly and willing to help and they don't treat you like you know nothing (which most certainly isn't the case!)

i had a couple of different tutors within the company during my time there, across 3 separate departments. my main tutor was the owner of the company though, the management if you will. the support and guidance offered was incredible, if you did not understand something (whatever it may be) they were always happy to explain it again, sometimes in a different way if you really don't understand a particular analogy for example

with ABER being an SME, different times of year were more busy than others, but there was always something to do, just sometimes there was a lot more to do than at other times. the work was pretty much all fun and enjoyable so there was no real issues with feeling swamped. in a way, i suppose it also fosters your own creativity and initiative to think of something else that may need doing, rather than keep asking your line manager or the company owner who is usually way too busy to think of more tasks for you to do. like i said, in most companies there is always something to do and you just need to think a little and you will soon be able to find something that needs doing

at first, not a lot but that was because they were trying to assess how i would integrate myself and subtly test my knowledge, in a good way, there was no pressure or anything. very quickly though i was interacting with external customers and meeting with those customers either on my own or just with one other person. weekly meetings involved everyone, with each person giving a brief update on what they were working on and how it was going with an estimated completion date/time. i then started to get invited to slightly more private meetings (for example, departmental, or with external customers) within a couple of months

already i can see a difference in my own work ethic whilst at university in my final year. it has really helped me to settle back down into a hard working rhythm after having the summer off. i learnt a lot on this placement, more than i think i learnt during the first two years at university. of course, they complement each other with the theory and the real life experience. but i think the real life experience enables you to remember a lot more and apply it better as it is more hands on with an end goal (of course, the added incentive of being paid for the work you do/produce means that you may well work harder than you might have done at university)

everyone was so friendly, a lot of the colleagues there have known each other for many years. as i was new, i was worried about being able to integrate myself into this apparently tight-knit group but this was most certainly not a concern after just the first day. everyone was so welcoming and willing to help, willing to impart their knowledge of the industry onto the new person in the hopes that they (me) will be able to learn lots. after all, approximately 10 months isn't a really long time, more of a taster of the industry ahead of you when you graduate.

i was the first university student that the company had ever decided to take on. they had never had the opportunity before. it was because i approached them and they said they had something available, so in that respect i got a little lucky. there was no official processes other than a slightly informal interview. and then a later discussion about a contract (dates, money etc). now though, a lot of the harder work has been done, the paperwork now exists which should make it much easier in the future for the company to repeat the process if they so wish

i had a personal tutor to help me with my programming. i would act like their assistant on a project they were working on (on average once a week) and i would therefore learn how to code professionally. They were an external customer who would regularly visit to collaborate on projects with us, and i would be the intermediary between the two companies. I had the opportunity to visit other companies that we worked with in various different industries, all over Essex and the surrounding area, this gave me lots of insight into our customers, their industries, their customers, how they operate, and even our competitors (and what out customers thought of them!)

after about 5 months of my placement, the owner of the company started showing interest in keeping me on once i graduated. there were lots of jokes in the company about them trying to bribe me to stay rather than returning to university. i was tempted because of such a great time i had experienced there (but ultimately i obviously wasn't going to be that stupid!). i got an official offer letter on my last day of work there before i left for the summer, this was a very nice surprise as i had always imagined that it would be more of a verbal offer rather than having it in writing.

no other placement students at the company so n/a

the same as at university, as my placement was in the same town as the company i worked for

n/a. really nothing around.

a fair amount, as there were not many employees, everyone was invited to most events that people were hosting. BBQ's, cinema trips, weddings etc