Summer Placement in Aerodynamics and Propulsion Review

I really enjoyed my placement. This was down to a combination of factors: - I enjoyed the work. It was very technical which is exactly what I was after, and the nature of work was exciting. You cant go wrong with rockets and supersonic missiles really! - The people within my department and MBDA as a whole were all very friendly and approachable. - Bristol is a great place to live. - All the interns got on well and socialized outside of work. - There are a few perks within the company such as flexi-time, half days on friday, casual clothes on friday, etc... The only thing that could have improved my time at MBDA was better management. There wasn't enough contact time with the manager which sometimes left us with nothing to do.

I felt straight away a part of the team. Everyone treats you as if you were a full time employee, apart from helping you out a bit more in the first few weeks should you need it.

This is probably where my placement fell short. Support was available if I asked for it, but not always from my manager, who was the person that was driving my project. Increased contact time or availability of managers would have improved this placement. That said, whenever I was struggling with something, I could ask anyone else in the department and they were invariably more than willing to help.

I never felt overworked, however there were definite deadlines to meet. Whilst I was working I felt like the project was being driven at a comfortable speed. There were a few points throughout my placement when we were awaiting instruction so had nothing to do but these were rare and I managed to keep myself occupied reasonably well.

At MBDA it seems placement students are given projects that aren't directly applicable to current products, but will be valuable in the future. That is, we (thankfully) don't have the potential to directly damage the company. So in that sense we aren't given total responsibility, but I think it would be foolish to give a placement student that level of responsibility. Instead, we are given smaller projects that once finished will be useful tools for the company to use. Within these projects however we are given complete trust.

I spent the entire placement using MATLAB, which is likely to be the main tool I use in my final year project. My MATLAB skills increased hugely. I also spent a great deal of time reading up on general aerodynamics and propulsion, which will definitely be useful in my final year of study.

The aerodynamics department is quiet. People chat but the general impression I get is that people just want to get on with their work. It is however a friendly department. All the grads head off together several times a day to get a coffee together and everyone is friendly and chatty.

From my point of view the organisation was okay. I knew what I was doing from day 2 (first day was for settling in) and from then on we had meetings every 1 to 2 weeks to make sure we were on track. The other intern in the department however (we were working on the same project together) arrived a week before me and had practically nothing to do all week until I arrived, so for that reason I am leaving the organisation at 7/10. This is something that could have been easily avoided.

There are training courses offered, but not to interns. We were provided with lectures teaching the fundamentals of missile aerodynamics and propulsion which we spent a few days on, but that is really it.

Well I want a job... - 25K starting salary with 6 monthly raises. ~30K once the grad scheme is finished. - Yearly bonus of approximately 1.25K - 6 month external placement (you get moved about the company) - Training courses - Flexi time - Friday afternoons off - Awesome canteen - Generous holiday - Healthcare / dental plan / company gym

It was pretty good. There were 8 summer interns in total, and we spent most lunches together. Pub lunch happened on Wednesdays. We socialised a fair bit outside of work as well.

Bristol is fairly expensive.

Bristol. Its great!

Other than spending time with other interns and some people from the department outside work there wasn't that much on offer. I believe your options open up a bit more once you're a permanent employee though.