Undergraduate Engineer Review

The opportunity to work at Campact/Egger has been a privilege and the skills, knowledge and experience I have gained are qualities that could never be taught at university. Being surrounded by the highest level of professionals in an excellent working environment is an experience that will stay with me throughout my career. I strongly believe Campact is one of best environments to develop as a young professional. The expectations and trust I have been given throughout placement regarding some of my tasks has been greatly appreciated and has had a significant impact on my employability and future prospects.

The answer of this questions can change depending on how it is interpreted. Was I valued as a person and welcomed to the point of almost becoming part of the furniture ? Yes. The team at Campact/Egger have set an extremely high bar for what I expect in future in regards to a professional and healthy working environment. Did I feel that my skills and strengths were valued? I don't believe my skills were utilized, or even fully understood, to the extent that I was expending when heading into my placement year. I don't believe that there was an understanding of the nature of my degree (mechanical engineering) and what it entails.

Campact/Egger has a near perfect balance of not holding your hand, giving you a sense of high trust, whilst also having the team members who will make time to assist you if you have any problems or questions. The only reason I would not give them a 10/10 is that there was never an opportunity for shadowing an engineer on occasions. This could possibly stem from the confusion of the nature of my degree, tasks available or the possible concept that placement students are used almost like a separate department at times for assigning tasks.

I could possibly count one hand the amount tasks that were relevant to my studies, with the majority of tasks feeling more like admin and time sinks. I understand that, as a placement student, you are not going to get the cream of the crop jobs, but I do feel that I had more than a fair share of bad tasks and tasks that were just to try and keep me busy. I do not feel that I was particularly busy and a good proportion of time I was either bored with the monotony of the tasks or struggling to find tasks - prompting me to ask for something in which there was a high chance for admin-like jobs.

I was given responsibility in the form of independence and trust to complete my tasks and be disciplined with my time, which I greatly appreciated. I don't believe I was given a great deal of responsibility in terms of the nature of tasks. However, on the hand full of tasks that I believe were relevant to my studies, I was given a great deal of responsibility and trust to work independently and produce high quality work.

I believe some of the most valuable skills I’ve learnt on this placement have come from observing the man-management and work ethic of both [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] I greatly appreciated the opportunity to work closely with two extremely professional managers who I have the greatest of respect for. I would like to aim for a management position during my career and believe my time spent with them will shape the professional I aim to be.

The Campact team is collectively very friendly and laid back, creating a comfortable and enjoyable work environment. I strongly believe Campact is one of best environments to develop as a young professional. There was always someone to chat to, be it the other placement students, the main office where I formed great friendships even met up with to socialize away from the office. Additionally, the plant operators will always be up for a chat and a laugh in the control room. Campact is a relatively small team but it is compromised of some of the biggest characters.

I had my own desk and welcome package that included an overview sheet of the tasks I would complete throughout my placement. There was also an initial timetable for me to fully understand the plant and settle in to my new working environment. The timetable included 1 week with the operators to learn the day-to-day running of the plant and a 1 week induction that involved learning more about the company and team building exercises (e.g. an assault course) with other placement students. Campact also ensured that there was an overlap with the previous years students so that task handovers were smooth and that we had people to initially go to for assistance.

I did not receive any training time, courses, or opportunity to shadow and learn from a mechanical engineer. I received a few hours of learning the depths of excel coding with a colleague with I appreciated. Campact is an environment where you are left to your own devices for the most part. Depending on your work ethic and drive, you will either sink or swim. I believe this is something that could be improved when compared to what I know other placements other.

I do not believe that there is an opportunity to receive graduate employment with Egger/Campact as a mechanical engineer. From what I have seen over the past 13 months, there is not a Beng/Meng mechanical engineer on site. Egger's mechanical engineers focus on maintenance and hands-on installation. Work related to university studies is more often than not contracted to consultants. Therefore, I do not believe that they have a need of a graduate mechanical engineer. If such a position did arise, I would question the nature of the role and what tasks would be delegated to them.

There was nothing organised, so it all depends on who you become good friends with and organizing social events like you would with any friend. Luckily the team at Campact is a very friendly one which makes it easy to organise social times away from work.

Despite being based in Hexham, socialising was more often than not in Newcastle. Newcastle has a mix of expensive and cheap places so you can tailor it to your financial situation. In regards to living, it was unrealistic to find a house to rent in Hexham as a placement student so you would have to live in Newcastle, Gateshead or the suburbs. The closer you go the the city centre the more expensive it will be. The main cost because of this is the commute. My commute was an hour+ in traffic costing roughly £150/month in fuel. There is also public transport to Hexham but I am unaware of the costs of that.

If there's one thing Newcastle is known for it's the nightlife. There is a scene for most people and the night can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Because of this, Newcastle nightlife can get quite boring once it's no longer a new thing to you, and then you find that Newcaslte's bars are actually the way forward.

Apart from the Christmas party, there was nothing unless you organised it yourself. On a handful of occasions, other placement students and colleagues met up on evenings when the band I play in had a gig and we'd have a few drinks together. But it's quite nice not having forced social events all the time when you might just fancy a chilled evening or need to catch up on boring life stuff. As one colleague half-jokingly said, "you see these guys all day in the office, do you really want to then spend all evening with them?"