Medical Engineering (Sterilization) Placement Student Review

I have really enjoyed my placement at DePuy Synthes Leeds, part of Johnson & Johnson, and would definitely recommend it to everyone interested in a placement. They have several departments so you get to know more placement students and have a friendship group together. You can also learn a lot about their departments, as well as get involved into numerous training and volunteering opportunities. This placement has been great for extending my knowledge into the domain I am interested in, as well as learn a lot more about other departments and how they work together.

J&J values each of its employees, from entry level to CEOs. As a student, I have never felt less valued even if I didn't have the same qualifications as full time employees. I was always given the chance to contribute to projects, ask questions, suggest ideas, lead projects and even create my own project. This has been a great insight and preparation for when returning back to university and for my future career. Also, everyone on site has been very friendly and helpful and it was very easy to make friends from different departments.

The support at the company has been great. Given that my placement was in microbiology and I don't study this at university, my supervisors have helped a lot with my knowledge gap and explained everything I needed to know. I was overwhelmed by how willing everyone is to help with projects and offer the insights and resources needed for solving projects. I had weekly meetings with my manager to go over projects and there is always the option to put extra meetings in with whoever you need in order to get the support you require.

The workload varied from month to month depending on the projects going on. There was certain tasks, testings and reports that had to be completed weekly, monthly and quarterly. Apart from that, there were other projects going on depending on the department and site's needs. There were certain months that were quite busy preparing for audits and getting documents approved and released last minute and other months when there wasn't too much to do in terms of work. However, there are always volunteering opportunities going on or something else to get involved with.

In the beginning, I was not put in charge of too many things as I needed to complete a lot of training and learn how to complete projects. I was eventually put in charge of writing monthly and quarterly reports In the second half of my placement, I was put in charge of bigger projects, collaborating with other sites and that was a great insight into how a project needs to be lead. While the responsibilities increased as I was gaining more experience, I believe I could have been put in charge of more projects from earlier.

This placement has definitely helped me become more organized, help me find information and conduct research as well as network better with people. I feel that after leading big projects and conducting literature research, I am more prepared for writing my dissertation and can also use everything I have learned for my future career. My confidence has also improved greatly as, even though I was just on a placement, I was given a lot of projects to lead, thus showing me what I am capable of.

The atmosphere in the office has been very relaxed and friendly. I was a pleasure to come to work as everyone is very welcoming, sociable, but also knows when works needs to be done. You were allowed to organize your time as you wished as long as the tasks were getting done. The office was open space so you could easily talk to people and have a break. Also if you ever need something, it's very easy to just walk to someone's desk and ask for help

Overall, the placement was well organized, however there are some improvements that could have been made in the beginning. When I started, it took a long time to get my training sorted and all the other needed programmes to complete my work. Also, it took quite a while before I was given bigger projects to work on. However, except for that, everything was very well organized especially after my first quarter of the placement and I was being given enough work.

There have been numerous training and development opportunities at DePuy Synthes Leeds. I was allowed to go on all of them, my manager was very open to these training opportunities. I have learned about other departments, mental health awareness, energy for performance etc and I could also request training linked to my department and understand more about the science behind of everything we do. Overall, there are always numerous training opportunities, both online and face to face and you can always learn something new.

There is a graduate scheme available at DePuy Synthes Leeds, however previous placement students are not being offered special treatment because they were previously employed here. The application for the grad scheme is exactly the same for anyone. However, given the experience had in the company, I definitely believe that a placement here has offered me the right skills and experiences to feel confident to apply for a job after finishing my degree. Additionally, I feel prepared to apply for other companies too.

Yes, the social side might be one of the best things about being a placement student at DePuy Synthes Leeds. Each year, there are around 20 stundents employes, thus it is really easy to find someone to stay with and make friends and also have a support group when joining a professional company for the first time. I have lived together with 5 other placements students and we have also created a placement programme to share what we do on our job, these being some of the best parts of my placement.

I have worked at the site in Leeds, after studying for 2 years in Cardiff. Compared to Cardiff, Leeds is definitely more expensive in terms of accommodation and social activities. However, the salary was high enough and I never had to worry about more increased costs. There are also a lot of cheaper accommodation options in Leeds, however because I was living with unknown people, we preferred to get an en-suite and this increased the cost of living.

Leeds is one of the biggest cities in the UK and has a great nightlife. There are numerous clubs and pubs to choose from for anyone's taste and there are numerous events happening throughout the year. You could also go to the university's events. The nightlife isn't that great in summer when all the students are gone, however it gets great in September once everyone is back. The entrance is between 5-10 pounds in clubs and there are always ubers and buses available.

Johnson & Johnson is very dedicated to creating volunteering and social activities for its employees. Throughout my year, there were numerous socials organized, sports activities, baking contests, departments workshop as well as endless volunteering opportunities. I was part of the STEM volunteers, going into school to explain the importance of STEM, I also went to a careers fair to promote the DePuy Synthes placement. There are also activities organized to support local schools and foodbanks and there is always something to do on site.