Mechanical Engineering placement Student Review

I enjoyed my placement year at Knorr-bremse. It was a great introduction to a professional engineering job and all the staff were very welcoming and ready to help you with whatever problem you have. The company also made a great effort to make sure all the placement students settled in very well, holding various workshops were you learn how to behave in an office and get to meet the other placement students in different departments. There were 20 placement students here during my year which made settling in and making friends very easy.

I felt valued by my colleagues and felt like a true member of the team from day one. They appreciated that as a student I hadn't much experience in engineering profession but never acted in a condescending or patronizing way to me. They gave me real work to do and made sure I had the support to complete it.

I was given a lot of support and guidance by my managers throughout my placement. They were always willing to answer any questions that I had and give me the time to get my head around the new topics I was learning. Whenever I was given I task I was given the time to give it a go myself but always had to possibility to ask for help.

I was fairly busy on a daily basis with there always being work available to complete or new project to get my teeth stuck in to. The work life balance was very good during the year with the managers appreciating that you wanted to have a life as well as work. I got involved in many different departments and loads of different projects running concurrently.

I was given a good amount of responsibility as a student. They appreciated I didn't have the knowledge of a full fledged engineer and gave me the perfect amount of responsibility I could handle. I wasn't just getting coffee and had real projects that I was in charge of.

The routine of handing in work and getting it done straight away helped me when back at uni. Also my ability to understand something new improved as during the placement there was a whole new field I had to get familiar with and learn.

The engineering office was an open plan office and quite busy. It wasn't too loud as everyone was focused on their work and only discussions at desks would take place. It was a nice place to work with you being free to move and talk to everyone in the office. I had my own desk and people knew where I sat and could come and speak with me. It was a nice focused atmosphere.

It was very well organized, with the first week of the placement planned out before I got there. I had my laptop and my desk on the first day and everyone knew I was coming and was prepared. There was training already planned out and I felt welcomed and settled in very quickly.

The company invests a lot in the students and sets them up well to work in a professional environment. All the students went on a two day workshop to learn how to behave in an office and to get acquainted with the other students. On an engineering specific basis I went on more training days to get familiar with the material I would be working on. I earned a certificate in Level 1 Pneumatics training and also got training in physical skills such as operating a crane.

They are good, with the company offering grad schemes to some of the students if you are the right fit for the company.

The social scene between the students was very good. There were 20 students and a group formed that would regularly meet on weekends. Being away from home, having a lot of other students was a great help in settling in and enjoying my placement year. We would all have lunch together and the company made a good effort at the start in bringing the students together.

The main place to socialize was in Bath. Bath is quite expensive place to go out and the rent in bath is quite high. I lived in Trowbridge, sharing with another placement student and the rent was still quite expensive being 450 a month. There isn't too much happening around this area but the commute was a lot nicer than from bath.

The nightlife in Trowbridge and melksham is poor to non-existent. The best place to go was Bath which is okay. Bath is quite expensive, however, there are some nice pubs to have a drink in and a handful of good clubs to go out.

There are sporting opportunities at the company, with staff organizing weekly badminton and football sessions. I attended badminton regularly and sometimes football, which was a good way to socialize and get a bit of a run about.