Summer placement Review

Highly enjoyed the placement as I was able to experience a variety of projects and learn from lots of highly qualified engineers. There is also a good network of graduates there which I will stay in touch with after finishing. We had a number of socials outside of work hours.

My colleagues were aware of my low level of experience and gave me work appropriate to that. However, considering that I am only a second year uni student I did feel valued by colleagues and they trusted me in plenty of work useful for my learning. Placement students a re particularly valued when it comes to detail checking, when nobody else wants to do it!

My line manager was in the office only one or two days a week, however we kept frequent contact via Skype calls and met when we could. Every time I came with a question he would respond very quickly and cared about my interests. Other colleagues around the office were also very willing to give support.

This depended on the day and whether I was working on a project or not. Some days I was working very hard all day, but there were also many days that there was no project work for me to do. I would use this time to speak to experienced colleagues or teach myself how to use some of the engineering software.

I was given important tasks but tasks that were quite simple. I was certainly given responsibilities with the main project I worked on, such as detail checking, calculations and creating slideshows.

A very large extent. The main thing is the exposure to the deliverables (reports) that were produced, this will help me a lot when writing reports, with structure and referencing particularly. I also learnt a lot about effective organization of work which is something I have struggled with in the past.

The office was very friendly, and the hot desking policy was a particular positive for me as it meant that everybody (engineers of all levels) integrated and helped each other out. With regards to social events, however, our team was very small as so many were on secondments, so no team socials took place.

I think it was well organised. In the first week, I grasped a good knowledge of the company through the induction talks and modules. I also came out with a well rounded experience, and there was a good structure for placements in terms of types of work, such as taking minutes or writing bid letters. Only downside was that my line manager was not present very frequently.

There was plenty of opportunity to learn myself, as there are lots of online modules for software which are very helpful. Colleagues were willing to invest time into teaching me how things worked, or explaining work that either I was set or that they were working on. I had a number of 1 to 1 meetings focusing on my development.

Very appealing. It is only my first experience in an office so I will look for other experiences first, however it was a very positive first experience and there was lots of interesting aspects of the company. I am interested to learn more about other departments in the office, such as design and analysis.

There were plenty of graduates around the office that were willing to meet up at the pub after work. However, no official team socials took place whilst I was there which was disappointing. I played 5-a-side a few times as well with work colleagues - there is plenty to get involved in.

Bristol is an expensive city but as a student that's not going to stop you socialising!

Nearby is Gloucester Road in Stokes Croft which is very lively and has lots of bars, clubs, pubs etc. It is a place full of culture. You could also go to Bristol city centre where there is loads to do. I lived closer to the city centre so this was easy, but work was about a 20/30 minute drive so not too bad!

Yes, loads! There is a dedicated sports and social club which offers a few sports. I think this includes climbing, as well as some water sports, occasionally. There is definitely 5-a-side football to get involved in, on a couple days of the week, which was very good for me to meet colleagues around the office.