Engineering Governance Engineer Review

by E.ON UK

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

4.1/5
  • The Role
    4.3
  • The Company
    3.6
  • The Culture
    4.6

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • The placement has been really enjoyable and has exposed me to lots of different parts of the business that I wasn't expecting. As an engineer it has been good to work with Finance, Procurement and the HSSE team. The only downside is I was expecting the placement to involve a bit more technical work.

    5/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • All my colleagues have been very supportive, right from the first day to my last everyone was willing to spend time to give me an insight into what they do and pass on some of their technical and business knowledge. This is the most valuable thing that I have taken from the placement, as no text book or course can capture 40+ years of industry experience.

    5/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • My manager has been very supportive, but has also made me stand on my own feet. Initially this was a little daunting, but a year down the line, I've realised that this means I have the confidence to make my own decisions. My manager has been more than willing to put me through additional courses to improve my knowledge in certain areas.

    5/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • This varies much from week to week, most of the time I had a good amount of work, but 4-5 times during the year I had periods, often when senior members of the team were on leave, where I didn't have any large projects to do. Working in a small team with quite senior engineers often means that they are caught up in dealing with management meetings and leadership tasks resulting in them not having the time to review or support my work.

    4/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • I believe I was given enough responsibility as was possible, I was working in the engineering safety section of the business, this meant that the work we were doing was safety critical, so all of my work was then reviewed by at least 2 more senior engineers. I was allowed to co-lead some smaller projects 3/4 of the way through my placement but I was not really able to take complete control of anything.

    4/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • Although I have not picked up much technical knowledge in the last year, the 'soft' skills developed around the office will help with project work and when starting on a graduate program. I've dramatically improved my time management, numerical analysis and written communication skills. I would have liked to attend a formal course that would have resulted in a recognised industry qualification/ certificate as several other placement students within the company were paid to do their AMP project management qualifications.

    4/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • The team's part of the office was always full of laughs and occasionally biscuits and cake, the discounted costa coffee and staff canteen were also a bonus. The only problems are that I had to hot desk for the first 6 months of the placement, that meant on busy days I often had to use a desk miles away from the team, I also meant that I had to lug all my work equipment home every evening as I didn't have a draw or cupboard I could lock it into. We also moved desks just after Christmas, the new area of the office is exceedingly hot and the rest of the team agree. Despite multiple requests to Facilities to fix the problem it never happened. This seems like a small thing, but at some points, my productivity went off a cliff as the conditions were just unpleasant to work in.

    3/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • The support of the program from HR was reasonable, there were several day long conference style events organised for the placement students, with various speakers turning up to talk about various parts of their work and some about continued professional development. These days were planned by a different group of placement students each time, this meant that they were often a very good laugh. The only downside is we started placements in the July and our first meeting wasn't until the November. The induction day was also a bit rushed. A lot of these problems could probably be attributed due to a new member of staff taking over the lead support role for placement students only 2 weeks before we all started. As a cohort we feedback our idea for improvements to the scheme which was welcomed and make it sound like we're valued employees.

    4/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • I had the ability to undertake some training in the form of on road driver training which was interesting. I was also able to attend a day long conference about how energy in the UK is produced, distributed and sold. I have felt that it would have been even better if I had been put through some formal qualification or industry program, for something to support my role, but also a lasting thing to put on my CV.

    4/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • Subsidised Canteen

    Subsidised/Company Gym

    National Travel

    International Travel

    Working from home

    4/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • 10 months into the placement I attend a secondary assessment centre to try to get a place onto the Fast-Track onto the Graduate Scheme. This was very similar to the assessment centre day for securing the placement. I have been given a 'letter of intent' for the engineering graduate scheme, this means that I meet the companies employee profile for the scheme, but it is not a job offer, all it state is they may be interested in offering me a job 12 months before I would start on the scheme and says they will be in contact at a latter date to confirm if there is a job opening. The business is currently undergoing a restructuring which will see lots of the engineering assets sold to a rival, like our wind farms. This means that although I like the company atmosphere I don't know what engineering jobs will exist in 2 years time.

    4/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • We were only able to have 2 social events for all the placement students and one of those was right at the end of the placement. This is due to the placements being spread from Nottinghamshire down to the south coast, so getting together was quite difficult. The office I was based at only had 3 placement students, so I would occasionally meet up with them for a coffee or lunch, but nether of them lived locally to the office so going out of an evening didn't work.

    4/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • I paid around £300 a month for a double room in a shared house, having grown up on the edge of London it was great to have a complete night out in Nottingham including taxi's for £50. I was lucky to have friends at the university so I socialised with them quite a lot.

    5/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • I'm not a massive party animal, it's also quiet difficult when you are on a placement and are working 5 days a week, but the few times I went out in Nottingham I had a really good time. We had a couple of good nights out with work for Christmas and a few leaving do's.

    5/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • There's lot of thing that I could have got involved in. I did a lot of sports, going to the gym and cycling in the peak district. There's a couple of cinemas and the added benefit as there's a perk at work that gives you a discount. I've spent a lot of my year making the most of the income to visit friends at university across the country, but I could have done more in Nottingham If I'd wanted.

    5/5

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Details

Placement (10 Months+)

Engineering

East Midlands

June 2018


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