Plant Process Engineer Review

During my 13 months at Air Products I had a wonderful time. The prospect of working in a large company straight from university was daunting but was made much more easier by how accommodating and welcoming the Air Products colleagues were to me. During my time there I was able to get involved with sport and fitness at lunch time (touch rugby, jogging & gym) which enabled me to further bond with my colleagues and seamlessly immerse myself into Air Products. I was entrusted to visit Air Products sites to implement efficiency, safety and productivity projects as well as provide process support during plant outages. These plant visits enabled me to travel both in the UK and around Europe ( Holland and Switzerland).

The challenging and relevant nature of the work that was given to me contributed heavily to my making my experience enjoyable. As my capability and competence increased, so did the workload and responsibility.

At the beginning of my placement I was given end of year objectives in order to improve my technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. My managers and supervisors kept an eye on opportunities that arouse to facilitate the completion of these objectives. Half way through the year I had an appraisal to see how I'm doing in terms of achieving the objectives and how I'm fairing at the company in general. At the end of the year I had a final appraisal to assess my work and achievements through out the year. I found this particularly useful as my managers were genuinely grateful for the work I had done and provided pertinent and constructive feedback which will help me in my future career.

I always had excess work to do. At first this was slightly overwhelming however it enabled me to learn how to prioritise work. Although I did have excess work to do my manager and supervisor was aware of my workload and was always at hand to talk through what to prioritise, discuss deadlines and provide extra support if needed.

After a few months working at Air products I was treated as a regular employee and was expected to meet deadlines and provide quality work as such. All of my work had real benefits to the company and made me feel like a valued member of the team. Although there was a lot of responsibility I had a supervisor who was more than willing to explain and go through concepts and tasks I didn't understand. At first I received bi-weekly meetings with my supervisor but this was slowly cut back as i became more autonomous although I was always able to ask for support meeting if I wished.

During my time as a Plant Process Engineer I gained a phenomenal amount of knowledge both technical and otherwise. By having so much site experience I was able to see engineering close-up and really visual engineering concepts. This drilled home all the knowledge I had gained at university and gave it both relevance and clarity. Whilst on site and in the office I was exposed to many types to engineering disciplines through multi-disciplinary project work. By doing so I gained an incredible amount of general engineering knowledge in areas of machinery, instruments and controls, electrical and mechanical integrity. Whilst I was at Air Products I had access to a library of online learning tools which I was able to read and take tests on anytime I wished. Working closely with a lot of experienced engineers I was able to witness and learn their approaches to problems. By the end of the my placement I would like to think learned my colleagues pragmatism and judgement. Being in a engineering corporation enabled me to learn how engineering functions as a business. I learnt how projects get initiated, funded and verified and the company framework that supported this.

The atmosphere was very friendly and everyone was approachable if I required assistance. People in my area would often chat about work and leisure. All of the managers had an open door policy which meant you can always walk into their office if you had any questions about work, issues or the company in general.

The work placement was well organised. The placement scheme was operated alongside the graduate scheme by to members of Human Resources. They would regularly check up on us as interns and were their for anything if we needed, They also, along with the graduate council, social events to enable the graduates and intern to get to know one another. The placement programme organiser would organise informal catch ups or phone calls to check in on how everything is going. At the beginning of the placement each intern was given a 'buddy' who was a graduate to act as a friendly contact to discuss anything they did not understand about the company's workings.

The company invested a lot time and finance in me to aid my personal devopment. At the beginning of the placement I was talked through a lot of the company framework and taught about the processes that underpinned Air Separation and Steam Methane Reformation. Every engineer, be it on a joint project or at lunch, were happy to impart knowledge to the interns through casual informal conversations. The company invested money into me by flying me to Holland and Switzerland to provide process support for plant outages.

Working for Air Products is a lucrative prospect. They offer a 5 year graduate programme with 3, 1 year rotations and a final 2 year rotation which is tailored to achieving chartered status by the end of the programme. The mix of rotations enable for an all-rounded and versatile engineer.

The was a graduate council which organised socials both drinking and non-drinking. Every Wednesday some of the graduates and interns took part in bouldering at a local leisure centre. There was also plenty of annual social events in the work calendar such as the summer BBQ and Christmas party which provided great networking opportunities between interns and other A.P employees,

The cost of living in the local Surrey area is very expensive with the cost of rent being high. Due to receiving an intern wage and wanting to save some money for travelling I made the decision to commute from my family home (hour drive). However I know of an intern who did rent a room in the Hersham and seemed to get by sufficiently.

The nightlife in Surrey was non-existent as it doesn't have a nightclubs although it did have a few pubs. When night outs were organised we usually went into London (Clapham) which was a 40 minute train ride away.

There were some sports clubs that ran events outside of work such as; bouldering, squash, tennis, football and jogging. The jogging club would organise event which helped people who had never jogged before get into jogging and facilitated 10k runs and half marathons.