Test Engineer Review

I was put straight to work with real life projects for the company. I was given responsibilities to run and support tasks that were highly important. They trusted me to complete my work on my own, whilst offering me support on anything that was new, unique or potentially troublesome. At no point did I feel like I was being baby sat or made to do the menial tasks, you are treated as a full member of the team from day 1.

members from other teams would come up and approach me for my opinion on tasks to complete, giving a sense that you truly are valued by others within the company. the greatest feeling is when program leads commend you on the work you have completed and how they value the work the placement students provide.

whenever I needed help my manager (or anyone else within the company that I worked with) would offer support, whether it was in helping to solve an issue with a engine or showing me how to access documents and use new software that you would not see outside of cummins.

most days I was busy and would always have work to complete. the nature of my role would mean some days were busier than others, but this was a natural part of my role and was dependent on what part of the test phase you were in. this lead to a nice balance of not being bored and not being over worked

From the beginning I was in running my own test for a customer, taking over from the previous placement student. This was built up by being given responsibilities in starting my own test from the request to completion. I would often be left alone with the trust that I was able to complete the work to a high standard, with my manager to fall back to if I ever got stuck on a topic

The skills I learnt whilst on placement far exceeded all of my expectations. I feel like I learnt more usable skills in the year than I did in the two years of university before I started. these skills are those that I can transfer to my final year and then into my future career.

the office was always open and allowed you to meet lots of new and different people, this lead to the ability to network and have a list of contacts that you are able to ask if you are experiencing issues. there are always activities and festivities going on within the office.

the work placement was very well organized with a clear structure of what was going to happen and what was expected of the students. if you felt you had spare time and not enough work (RARE) you were able to try working in different departments to experience other areas within the company

Cummins invests a great deal in their placement students, this investment is not always directly related to on the job training but includes training like how to alter your approach to work better with others. they also provided lots of training relating to your role, and treat you as a full time employee from day 1 in what they offer training wise

the social scene amongst placement students was always very good, with people always open to do things and offering up ideas for things to do after work or on the weekends, whether these activities are playing a few frames of pool, going to the pub after work for a drink and food or a night out in Coventry or leamington.

with 3 university cities within 20 miles of the plant the cost of living could become very cheap when willing to commute slightly further, this would also lead to great social opportunities. living closer to the plant would give a much shorter commute but sacrificed some of the social opportunities, however there still are some great ways to socialize close to plant.