Graduate Airworthiness Engineer Review

It was a very good learning experience, and it was to see if I would be a good fit for the job as airworthiness engineer. As it happened, I fitted in well, and was then taken on as a graduate airworthiness engineer full time, to learn from more experienced members of staff there.

I knew from the start that I wasn't the only one to have work experience there, and not the last, but I was welcomed by the more experienced colleagues, and I grew to enjoy my time there. I was brought out of my shell on my very first day as the guys started to ask questions and make jokes.

The owners and managers at the company were very supportive of me, keeping me up to date with my progress, and supporting me and my ambitions for the future in this role. I also felt a lot of support from my supervisor, who was intent on getting me on board permanently as soon as possible, and was always singing my praises to mangers and customers.

I wasn't too busy, as I was never given any real responsibility, but was still given enough work to do to keep me busy and working throughout each day. Some days were quieter than others for me, as I did not have access to a computer in the beginning, but things changed for the busier when I got one.

I was not really given much responsibility, but in this type of work, you need to be experienced to get any real amount (e.g. have a license).

The skills I know have are 100% relevant to my job and have helped me realize that is what I want to do, so will continue to help me (hopefully) throughout the rest of my career. It means I have insight into aircraft legislation and how it is applied to the maintenance that goes on here, so that it may be easier for me when I do get experience on the hangar floor.

There was good banter at break times, between the rest of the staff, but the office was usually very quiet, with my supervisor often not willing to/able to commit much to conversation as many of his tasks were very urgent. Everyone knows everyone here, so it's easy to fit in.

There was no particular setup for the placement, with my supervisor at times struggling to give me tasks as I did not have a computer to work on. I was just given a basic overview of the job and basic information analysis based tasks to complete on a day to day basis.

I got a brand new computer to work on after some time, with all the programs on it I would need to perform all relevant duties of the job, and I was invited to company social events, such as the Christmas night out. All of the tasks I completed counted as training, but there was nothing specifically designed for work experience style training.

There are very good, seeing as , at the end of my placement, I was asked to stay on whilst they put together a formal job offer for me. I stayed an extra month before I was taken on on a full-time basis, but that gave me more time to sort out my projects and it meant I was to be enrolled onto an official graduate program.

I didn't really speak to many of the other colleagues properly until the Christmas night out. Some of them play sports together but that is mainly among the older engineers who have known each other for a long time. Personally, I was not involved in anything social (except the night out) until after I started full-time.

It was good for me because I only had to travel for the placement by bus, and that cost me around £12 per week. I generally took my own packed lunch, with the occasional trip to the cafe next door for my lunch. It was a bit of a struggle for money though, until I got taken on full-time.

There was no nightlife in the area I had my job placement. It was at an airfield 3 miles out of town and it was only open 8am to 9pm during the week, and I was never there at weekends. The lack of nightlife was mainly down to its remoteness and the lack of demand.

Not really. There has been talk of all the engineers going to Loch Earn to go jet skiing this summer, as one of the older colleagues owns a small boat that sits in a shed there, but not much else other than that. It seems most of the work for people here is at the airfield.