IT Business and Change Placement Student Review

The placement gave a good insight into the professional IT world of work. I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and the experience it provided me.

My colleagues were all much older than me. Initially I felt this might have been a problem but it was great to see I was treated as an equal. By the end of the placement I honestly felt some of my colleagues were like family.

The support system was not great to begin with. There was a structure in place but when speaking to the other placement students, it seemed that not everyone was receiving the same support and guidance.

Most days I was busy, but there were odd days towards the end when it was not possible to keep busy. This was mainly because my time was coming to an end and unfortunately there was not enough time to start something new.

There was a great deal of responsibility given to me during my placement which I feel I thrived on. In the beginning there was some reluctance but once I had proven myself, people were happy to delegate work to me as if I was any other employee.

The best thing about E.ON is I was able to experience different areas of the IT industry. I feel that working in a professional environment taught me a lot. I improved on my communication skills, presentation skills, stakeholder management skills, time management skills, organisation skills and these are only a few. I will definitely take these skills away with me for life, and the knowledge I learnt during my time at E.ON is invaluable and will greatly assist me during my final year of university.

The atmosphere was very lively. There was always lots of food. The people were always happy to help but the work would always get done. I feel that E.ON had a perfect balance of work and play when it came to the office atmosphere.

My placement was not the best organised. Unfortunately there were times when I was left to find work for myself after completing the task given. This was partly due to a lot of change that was going on, but this gave me the opportunity to network and show others what I was capable of.

the company were happy for me to participate in any training that was available on the intranet portal if I could justify the benefit/need. This gave me the knowledge that my manager had confidence in me and trusted that I would not abuse the opportunities available.

The organisation are going through a lot of changes at the moment especially in the IT field. I hope to work there someday but may choose to participate in a grad scheme at a different company before going back as an experienced professional hire.

The other placement students were always organising things and the company facilitated this by holding an "undergraduate placement day" every couple of months to ensure that we were all familiar with one another even though we worked across multiple sites and in some cases countries.

I decided to commute. The cost of living would not have been too bad but the commute worked out better for me. the cost of socialising was also very cheap and there were always options which suited everyone's budgets.

I do not actually go out therefore I do not know personally but colleagues loved the weekends and they would always talk about it during work.

Yes there are some opportunities but this was limited in IT. There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in work related activities but unfortunately this was not the same for activities outside of work.