Mechanical Placement Review

The placement was good with a range of projects to keep me busy, though getting to that point took a little while with a slow start. The people there were in the main very friendly and eager to help me get involved in learning as much about the company as they could.

Most at the company were eager to help me find value in my own projects, by encouraging me to explore different areas that had real benefit. The managers there set projects that genuinely contributed to the benefit of the company, and success in these seemed to be genuinely recognised by them.

My line manager made an effort to check on me and my progress daily with the constant offer of support and an open office policy. Weekly one to one's took place so that I could voice any concerns and give feedback on my current projects in a more formal manner so that thoughts were documented.

For a while during the start of the placement the tasks were largely research based and the quantity of work was not enough to fill the day, but this is often expected during internships. As projects developed, I did request more and more work, and the managers there were happy to try and accompany those requests.

The projects set did have a genuine effect on the company, and it was clear that managers wanted placement students to contribute in a significant way. My project personally did see significant cost savings to the company that paid for itself. However, the work taken out meant that there was no real consequence to not doing it aka not critical to the company, and nothing was waiting on the project to be completed.

Real-world application of design was the biggest take from the placement, seeing how design affects people in real life and learning to design for that. This helped in further design projects in university. There was, however, little chance to apply the vast amount of engineering theory learnt in uni and put that to practice.

General atmosphere was pleasant, and the people there were often keen to give you understanding of their own work day to day. There were very few bad characters at all. The office itself was generally fairly quiet, though this isn't the case everywhere on site, and depends entirely on where in the site the placement is.

Fairly well done considering it was one of the first summer placements they had done on that site. The placement had a primary project aim and projects were given specifically to gain experience in line with the chartered engineer's criteria, with the intent to set up the path towards chartership in future work, in or out of the company

One to one meetings were set up to monitor progress toward project aims, specifically set up to meet chartered engineer criteria, which was done to provide tangible skills recognised by people outside of the company, showing clear intent to invest in my personal development, and not just benefit from the output of the projects.

The company uses Magnet as their young professional's hub, organising events for graduates to both network professionally and meet socially. Magnet organises events to other areas of the company to meet others working in those sites and to form better relationships with those who you work with daily, along with the social events outside of work.

Chester nearby has 2 main clubs and loads of bars, along with the occasional events night with djs in liverooms. The city has tonnes of bars and importantly 2 spoons to keep nights semi affordable in a mainly expensive city to drink in. Liverpool is a train away which is a decent alternative