Industrial Placement Student Review

The people I have met, especially the graduates in my team have made the placement really enjoyable. my colleagues have all been friendly and supportive, trying to help me get the best out of the year. I have also enjoyed working near London and the benefits of that, including opportunity to attend lectures related to my course.

At times I had multiple people asking me to do work from them and had to say no to manage the amount of work I had. I did feel valued as for every project I started someone would take the time to explain the impact the job I was completing had on the project on a larger scale.

My line manager arranged bi-weekly meetings with me to discuss how I was getting along. This was really great and gave me a chance to talk through what I was doing. My line manager was also keen to find out what sort of work I wanted to be involved with and helped me to find available work.

As the work was project based, and as Atkins is a consultancy the amount of work that was coming through varied greatly. At times I felt I had too much work, but there were also days when something would fall through and I'd be a bit lost for a while. However, someone could usually find something that needed doing, even if it was non-productive, eg creating a useful tool.

The work I completed was my responsibility, though always went through a checking and reviewing process after. Sometimes I would be responsible for checking other peoples' work too. However, I was not often given anything to be solely responsible for that would have significant impact on the project or design.

The skills I am developing on placement are much more specific than my degree is. As a result, the technical skills only assist me in a small part of my studies. There are many skills however that I am being taught that are applicable to a wider range of things. For example I am developing my coding and engineering software knowledge.

My office atmosphere was very friendly and social. usually, people tended to get on with work when at their desks but when they needed to stretch their legs go to the kitchen for a drink. For lunch everyone went to the canteen together which was really nice because it meant leaving the office for a bit.

I was emailed a few days before starting by a buddy, but didn't hear much else before starting so didn't really know what was going to happen. Once I arrived though there was a lot of structure in place that explained how the program worked. It did feel at times that graduates were more supported, as they were on a different scheme.

The cost of living was quite high, as I was living in greater London. My rent was cheap comparatively to central London housing (I paid around £500 a month) but on my salary when bills and savings were taken into account rent and living expenses and socialising cost a lot.

In Epsom there were a few clubs that were good, but to go out properly you'd need to travel. It is quick to get into London but there are bad travel links home at night, so it is only really useful if you can stay with someone for the night.

My team had lots of socials for a range of drinking and non-drinking activities. During lunch, there were a large variety of clubs available to join that were heavily subsidised. Atkins also encouraged employees to go to talks on relevant subjects and team mebers would keep everyone updated on upcoming events.