Student Project Engineer Review

Excellent year overall. Learnt an amazing amount and had some great colleagues that made me feel part of the team from the very beginning. It's been a challenge at times but the amount I've gained compared to university has been incredible!

Whenever I helped someone or worked on a side project as part of a team I was always given feedback & thanked for helping out.

Excellent training and we wrote a monthly summary of work done but, at times, I could have done with more regular reviews of the work that I'd done and also the mentor scheme did occasionally feel a bit one way (no response to what I'd written). Aside from that, my line manager and other senior staff where always available to answer questions & help.

There were plenty of busy periods but generally a good balance: enough work to keep me busy without too much pressure.

Tonnes! At first it's a bit of a shock but it's incredible for the amount you'll gain in terms of confidence and time management. I was always given meaningful work and could directly see the impact of my work on customers (e.g. from direct feedback & seeing how my work positively affected their day-to-day use of our product).

University is great for the academic side of learning but working so heavily with customers has really helped me improve my other "soft" skills including communication and working as part of a team. I was regularly in meetings with customers and even had the opportunity to visit a customer site, working with them to plan & implement customisations to our product.

Generally a very happy atmosphere. Everyone is busy but still friendly & willing to help you. I've made a lot of friends at the company who I'll be keeping in touch with in the future.

Everything ran like clockwork! We had a clear programme of training, followed by a gradual introduction to our roles and consistent support (e.g. feedback, help when required). Lighthouse has run placements for quite a few years now and that really shows: they've put a lot of thought into their placements and will ensure you learn a lot both in training and on the job.

I'd never worked before this placement so it was a real shock to begin with but I was always given support when required. The two months of training is very intense but teaches you everything you'll need to get started doing the job for real. After that, I was mentored closely for a few weeks and then gradually transitioned to having more responsibility. This was great for me as it meant that I could gain lots of experience without just being thrown into the deep end and left with no support.

Very good. I've spoken to a few colleagues in both the implementation and development teams and discussed what it's like working for the company post-university. The implementation team leads down the project management route (although still with plenty of the technical side of things) but, for me personally, I would prefer to have a greater focus on programming (as part of the development team).

Quite a few nights out and plenty of trips to the pub on a Friday! Great when you're good friends with so many of the people you work with!!

We managed to find some reasonably priced accommodation during the relocation period at the start. Having that & some spending money does help a lot when you can't cook your own meals so overall the moving period didn't cost too much. In terms of nights out, it's cheap to get to Brighton or London (although London isn't so cheap when you get there..). Brighton's great for a night out though so it wasn't a real issue for me.

The town itself is pretty quiet but it's so close to Brighton that I would just go out there, and Brighton has tonnes of bars / clubs.

There are quite a few company organised social events throughout the year and I also got involved with the 5-a-side football team for a bit which was great fun after a hard day of work!