Year in the industry Review

I enjoyed my certain aspects of my placements such as going around to different companies within the railway industry. That was th best part of the placement. the not so good parts was all the admin stuff which included daily/ weekly reports which I had to do in absence of a member of my team.

My colleagues at network rail made me feel at home from the time I started. I felt at ease the whole time I was there and respected by every member of staff. so I cant say a bad thing about the staff members at network rail. they have been so nice.

I was initially giving much more guidance towards the start of the placement which was good as I needed to find my feet and adjust to life within the railway and adjust to waking up every morning for work. so initially there was a lot however as I started to hold my feet, my freedom increased.

my placement varied day by day, some days I was really busy and didn't have a amoments rest while others day I had so much more free time. however overall I would say I was busier most of the time so I am greatful for that because other placement students weren't as lucky

this was a big part of the placement,i was given a lot of responsibility. I planned and presented workshops in frnt of senior engineers. I delivered a number of business cases. i felt trusted and this gave me the confidence to deliver these workshops and these presentations. so i am pleased.

The most useful skill i picked up while being on placement has to be networking because ive learned about the power of it and I've already built so many contacts within the railway industry.

the atmosphere in the office was ok, some days it was quiet some days it was noisy. it really just depended how everyone was feeling. towards months like Christmas and easter and throughout the summer it was quiet as a lot of people were on annual leave and were absent.

this is one of the faults i recognise as the placement didn't have much structure to it and i felt like it was getting a bit reptitiive by January as i was doing the same tasks which weren't necessarily giving men any more additional skills so i became a little bit demotivated

personal training was not too bad as i was out on several courses

it was quiet expensive considering it was outside london

Nightlife was really good however i probably didn't get out enough. next time id make sure to take advantage of the nightlife as there is actually so many different things to do in Birmingham. the few nights i went out i had a great time and my friends said the same