Systems Engineer

The placement at NATS was a really good experience which I thoroughly enjoyed!

I was complimented on the work that I completed, and felt that I added value to the project team.

My colleagues were always on hand to give support. I felt everyone at NATS was happy to help me and were keen to bring out my full potential.

Most of the time, on the project, it was really busy however there were times more to the beginning of the placement where it was a bit quiet because I didn't have a full understanding of what I would be working on, but I was very quickly given work once I had completed reading up on this. After this phase of reading up on things, there was a constant flow of work and I was regularly offered new bits of work if things became quiet.

I was given a lot of responsibility as a NATS Systems Engineering IP and was treated as a normal full time employee.

NATS has certainly given me invaluable experience within the Engineering Industry that I will use in the future. NATS has provided experience and knowledge that University could not give me. It has also helped improve my organisational skills, communication skills and problem solving ability.

The atmosphere was good most of the time and people were friendly. You could have a laugh here and there but the work was taken very seriously and being a project there was a lot of concentration on work needed to ensure deadlines were met.

The organisation of the overall work placement did seem to run seamlessly, including the large amount of training that we received. I don't believe this would be the same at other companies, and I think the IP scheme at NATS is very well organised and structured. It would seem NATS are constantly improved the scheme and always looking at faults to improve.

The company invested a lot of money in training for placement students which is fantastic. I was given a fantastic amount of training to learn more about the company and gain a broad experience of Systems Engineering. Additional training that could be required for the department I was working on was always given if necessary and the project seemed happy to pay for this training to payback for my efforts within the project.

NATS is a fantastic company to work for and I look forward to hearing whether I will be given a graduate position or not.

There was a good social scene amongst all the placement students and graduates in NATS, we regularly went for a pub lunch on Friday afternoons and regularly met up in evenings and on weekends for various social events.

The cost of living and socialising within Whiteley/ Hampshire is fairly cheap, and much cheaper than my University town. NATS employees received a lot of discounts which made things easier and cheaper.

Portsmouth and Southampton were both only a 25 minute train journey away from NATS which allowed for a good night out.

There are a lot of activities outside of work that are organised by the NATS Sports and Social Club including weekly sport clubs which could be free and various other events. The problem was not having enough time to get involved with everything!