Advanced Manufacturing Engineer Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer at GE. I've been involved in such a variety of projects such as robots, implementing helpdesk systems, quality and HSE issues. Some days were better than others but you get a perfectly accurate view of what working for a big corporation is like and as an intern you feel like you make a difference.

I felt like I was valued by my colleagues at GE as they gave me big responsibilities and were grateful when I delivered on them. The reason I don't score it higher is because some people are still stuck in their old ways and don't see interns as valuable and as such don't give us that much time of day. Although this was rare it was frustrating at times so has bought the score down.

At the start you receive a lot of guidance as you need it but as you start to learn and get better at your job you don't require it nearly as much. This being said if I did need any support at all, anyone in my office was more than happy to give it and I was always able to talk to my manager about any issues.

The score doesn't really represent this one because in my experience you day is as busy as you make it. This might not be the same for every place but I could get as involved in things as I liked and have a packed schedule or I could take a step back if I felt like I was getting swamped. Yes there were times when I was running around like a headless chicken because lots of things came at once but it was always manageable.

Lots. The manufacturing interns were given responsibility for implementing a production support helpdesk system across site that all production issues were logged on, we were making decisions on whether certain units were passable be shipped to Motorsport customers for championship races. In one case we had an aerospace customer on stop due to a piece of tooling that I was tasked with re designing.

The timekeeping and organisation skills that I've developed will be a massive advantage for me when I return to university. We also received six sigma (lean manufacturing) training & J standard solder training, again more strings to the bow. I also now understand whats expected of me in the workplace and I have a years experience in the industry putting me at advantage in future interviews.

The atmosphere was good and there was a lot of banter. you could have a chat and a laugh whenever you wanted. It was fun being a millennial in an all 45+ office so there were a few jokes but it was all in good haste. Never a dull moment

We didn't receive laptops for 2 weeks, badges for 3 weeks and didn't receive safety shoes for 6 WEEKS! Considering the size of the company i thought it would be a lot more organised than this and it was frustrating and annoying at times. We fed this back to the managers.

They invested 2 weeks for me in the in house basic soldering course and the JSTD-001 solder training and some time for six sigma training so that was good. What wasn't great was when they refused to train me because i was 'leaving the business in 6 months'. For example i used a polyjet 3D printer extensively and they refused to deliver me 1 hour or training because i was leaving. So more money was wasted when had to keep asking a full time engineer to put prints on for me.

Good. There is the OMLP grad scheme that is usually filled internally from previous interns before they start looking for other candidates. OMLP is a widely regarded sought after grad scheme so that is a good prospect for interns. There are also plenty of standard graduate jobs available in the business.

In my year there was, we organised nights out, dinners, sports etc. Apparently its luck of the draw, some intern years are better than others in terms of social life. We all sit at breakfast and lunch together and have a laugh and when its warm we often go to a beer garden somewhere to soak up the sun

It was low cost for me due to living in Leicester. Also i contacted 3 other interns before we started to organize a house share so that drive the cost down and we could car share etc. Socializing is as expensive as you make it same as anywhere but it wasn't particularly expensive.

Leicester has two university's in it so there were a few student clubs and some normal clubs and bars, plenty to go around. There's also Leicester uni's O2 academy which is a great cheap night if you know anyone from Leicester uni that can get you in as a plus one.

Leicester has lots of opportunities for out of work activities. i joined kickboxing for example which i enjoyed thought the year and there are lots of clubs and sports you can get involved in if you want. Organised through work there was a curry 'club' where a big group of us ate curry and drank and it was a good social.