Technical Industrial Placement Review

Despite various complications throughout the duration of my placement year, I, for the most part, enjoyed it. I was initially based in London, and I found this to be less enjoyable than being based in Bracknell - the majority of the IPs are based in Bracknell, so London feels somewhat isolated. Whilst my colleagues in London were friendly and supportive, I found that I enjoyed working in Bracknell far more than in London. There was more of a relaxed atmosphere in Bracknell - although this could well be because I was working at a client site in London.

This varied massively throughout my placement. At the start, I felt like I was completely unwanted and surplus to requirement. Despite my best efforts, I struggled getting any real work - there was a tendency to give me the tasks that others were reluctant to do; mundane and repetitive jobs that put me into a state of lethargy for the rest of the day. I'm aware that this is probably the case for most IPs, however it dragged on far too long for my liking. That being said, my work did begin to pick up after the first month or two; I was given more work, that I found interesting and challenging, and began to enjoy my daily tasks more. This, in turn, made me feel more valued - colleagues would occasionally ask me for assistance with their work, which made me feel like a real employee, rather than just a student working with adults. However, sadly, towards the end of my placement, the apathy towards my placement appeared again; their logic seemed to be that as I was leaving shortly, what point was there in giving me more work? Being valued by your colleagues entirely depends on your team and your role, and as such, will be completely different for every IP - my experience is certainly not indicative of how other placement students are treated.

This is one area that Fujitsu really excels - the level of support given to you by your manager is superb. My manager was always willing to chat about any issue I had, and would actually take on board my comments and act on them, rather than just ignoring any of my concerns or worries. She pushed me to do extra courses, visit other offices, attend meetings, and network with people - and she was frequently there too, leading by example, rather than just pushing people around.

Not very, is the short answer. Due to the nature of my work, my workload was massively varied - whilst often I would have little work for long periods, I would then have a couple of days where I was inundated with reports, queries and documents to complete to a strict deadline. Switching between the two extremes was rather difficult; had the flow of work been more constant, I would have been able to settle into a routine and find my feet a lot quicker, but instead I was forced to come to terms with the unpredictable workload, and this took much longer to get used to.

In the first few months I wasn't given that much responsibility, which makes sense in reality - any company trusting an IP with big decisions as soon as they start would be risky. However, in later months, this changed. Whilst I did not feel like the work I was doing was massively important, when I realised the possible impact of a mistake, I understood that it was far more important than I had initially thought. The software I was using was very complicated and very powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility.

Realistically, I didn't learn many new skills this year, I simply developed and expanded on skills I had previously picked up. The skill I have developed the most is probably my interpersonal skills - working in an organisation means you have to communicate with all kinds of people; different backgrounds, ages, characters. Being able to talk to all of these people, and get along with them well, is something I really feel I have mastered this year, and I feel it will serve me well for the future.

The times I was in the office, the atmosphere was great - my team were all friends and had a great relationship with each other. They were always laughing and joking around, but were also very productive; our manager was excellent at getting the balance right.

Personally, I don't think that the organisation at Fujitsu is quite as good as they make out. I started my placement in late June, and was told upon arrival that the person I had been told I was going to be working for had moved jobs. As a result I was cast adrift - I was unable to do the work I had signed up for, so other work had to be found for me. Added to that, paperwork that I had completed and Fujitsu had confirmed receiving went missing, and I was told I had to complete again, whilst being told that it was my fault the paperwork wasn't in Fujitsu's possession. I was told to work at a client site in London, despite having agreed to work in Bracknell, and I was made to work in a different role, for a different manager. Credit where credit's due, that manager coped brilliantly with having an IP dumped on them - they tried their utmost to find me work and succeeded in both getting me moved back to Bracknell and finding me some work more to my liking. However, that's certainly not the kind of impression you want to be given within the first few months of your placement year. The CSR event that Fujitsu run (a challenge to raise money for charity, where all of the IPs are divided into teams and compete against each other) was not particularly well organised. Not only was the time frame we were given rather short, but the rules were changed during this time - and then changed back after complaints. In terms of structure, there doesn't seem to be much - apart from appraisals with your manager, the main focus of the IP scheme seems to be preparing you for the Graduate scheme. However, this is potentially pointless; if you decide you are not going to attempt to return as a graduate, then not much else will have been gained from this year.

Fujitsu is willing to invest quite a bit of time in its IPs, providing they show the drive and motivation necessary for extra training and work. There are various courses available, ranging from computing skills - Word, Excel, Access - to business skills, such as public speaking and managing a client. My manager constantly pushed me to do these courses, ensuring that I always had at least one queued up ready to do - I had already learned many of the skills, however these courses provide and excellent refresher and also help you to develop skills further. The choice is up to the IP - I was interested in learning more, so was pushed to do these courses, whereas others may not have such an interest in Fujitsu's work, so will not have as much time and effort invested in them.

There is a long established Graduate scheme at Fujitsu, that has always been well received. As a result, several IPs, myself included, plan on applying to come back here. However, the Grad scheme does not compare with the IP scheme; we have been told many times by grads that the work you do as an IP is completely different from the work that you do as a grad. The work as a grad is generally more like actual work, whereas as an IP, you are often treated as a student (which of course you are, but the idea of a placement year is to give you experience of the real working world). Providing you do well on your placement year, you can be fast-tracked to the Assessment Centre as a grad, but you are not guaranteed a job.

Although there was initially a good feeling and friendship between all of the placement students, this rapidly disappeared. During the CSR challenge (explained above), the competitive aspect caused many arguments between the IP cohort, and sadly these arguments were never fully resolved. The group of 20 or so students began to break up into smaller groups, and towards the end of the placement, it was obviously that many of my fellow placement students disliked each other. There was often a tense feeling between them, and at times it was very uncomfortable to be around certain placement students. This was a real shame, as the socialising at the start of the year had been enjoyed by all.

I lived in West Reading and commuted to Bracknell on the train. The cost of living was more than I was used to (having previously lived up north in Loughborough), but was cheaper than I was expecting, having heard the horror stories of the cost of living down south. Living in Reading and commuting may be more expensive than simply living in Bracknell, but it is a much nicer place to live.

In general, people tend to go out in Reading, rather than Bracknell, which is where I worked. I've been assured that the nightlife in Reading is excellent.

There are various sports teams and groups that people can join, but other than that I am not aware of too much else.