Engineering Undergraduate Review

It was a really great experience working for BAE Systems as I had the opportunity to work on my own projects and also assist other engineers with their projects. This ensured that I was busy and had a steady flow of work at all times. I got to meet people with a lot of experience in the industry who shared their views which was a great learning experience.

Great! Work was the top priority but there was always a joke or two to lighten up the mood. There would be team outings and socials so that was a time to talk about other things other than work. My managers would always check up on everyone and would always be up for a chat.

There were some issues here and there but I guess that will always be there. They were solved with urgency and they did not affect my work drastically. All the placement students were involved with the everyday dealings of the company so it could be seen that the placement was really well planned.

I was free to do whatever training was available to me, regardless of how much it would impact my day to day activities. Learning was my top priority so nobody said no to any training courses I wanted to attend, unless it was completely irrelevant to my job or was extremely expensive. On top of that, there were a number of compulsory training courses I had to successfully pass to be efficient and effective at work which were assigned by my manager. I was also sent to a training course being held at another office which was a great experience.

If a student performs really well during their placement year, they are offered a graduate role or another assessment centre. There are a lot of varying graduate roles to choose from and it is structured in such a way that the graduate can be involved with a number of businesses within the company.

The team I was involved with would have regular socials and outings which were a lot of fun. With that, the graduates and the placement students would organise a number of socials which were good fun as well.

Everything was very reasonable and Portsmouth is a great place to stay. The weather is amazing (it does not rain often) and there is a beach to go to so could not ask for more.

I am not a "nightlife" person so I really do not know what it was like.

Outside of my engineering job, there were a number of activities to be involved with. It was really easy to sign up as a STEM ambassador for BAE Systems which gave me the opportunity to take part in a number of STEM activities throughout the year. This was a great way to meet new people encourage school/college students to be involved in STEM education. There were a number of volunteering experiences as well such as mentoring local school students.