Quality Research Analyst Review

Overall, it was a good experience and I learnt a lot, but this is not something I am naturally interested in. This experience is useful since I can use the knowledge I gained here to be selected by other employers.

My team were very friendly and helpful and I was included in a lot of valuable discussions and meetings, where my input was regularly sought. Since I wasn't being paid, my team occasionally bought me lunch as a thank-you for my efforts.

My immediate supervisor was very helpful and set me up to shadow a different member from each team in our labs and workshops in my first week. Through these colleagues, my team and my manager, I was supported constantly.

The nature of my work was quite tedious, but it was very easy, I was set quite easy targets which I met with ease. I had time to chat and grab a coffee from the kitchen and so on whilst managing to finish my work well ahead of time.

The site I was working in was mainly involved in production of ceramics. Testing was a back-office and support function: I had to test porosity, density, strength, brittleness and other properties of certain ceramic components. Thus, I wasn't responsible for very critical work.

My work helped me a lot with the materials module of my course, and with developing better lab-skills. I learnt how to handle and test toxic and volatile materials using sensitive equipment in hazardous conditions, which will equip me well if I choose to work in a lab.

The atmosphere was quite light-hearted and casual, people were friendly and not worried about their work at all. Our work was important but not that difficult, so most people met their targets with relative ease. The work was quite boring at times though, so in the mornings and around lunch the office felt quiet, slow and drowsy - I felt like I could have done with a nap!

The internship itself had no formal structure, but the training programme for lab technicians and operators had strict guidelines and required certain skills. I had to undergo health and safety trainings and learnt most of these crucial skills whilst shadowing others and on-the-job. Since I was not being paid, my hours were quite flexible which is a plus.

There was a team-building camping weekend that I had to pay extra to go to, but that was financed by me. Other than that, the company had to invest almost nothing, as all the training was provided by internal departments and dedicated Health and Safety personnel in charge of training technicians.

I think as a graduate, it's better to do a well-respected grad scheme from some of the bigger engineering companies, since they have a formalised structure to invest in you, train you, and often it results in a few qualifications. Morgan however, didn't have a highly respected grad scheme, so it is unlikely I will be working there. In the future however, they are definitely a company to be considered!

I think I was able to have a good time and hang out with my colleagues because of their average demographic. Most of my fellow technicians in the lab were masters-holders in science / engineering degrees. They had been with the company for a few years, were mostly male and were in their late 20s. So we got along well and went to the pub every evening or so, went to a few bars and also had Orange-Wednesday movie-nights at the local Odeon.

I was staying in local student accommodation, which was good value for money. Socialising costs were quite low as well, as Rugby is not a very expensive town. Only travel costs were quite high when we decided to go to surrounding towns and cities for the better nightlife prospects.

The nightlife in Rugby was quite good, but we tried out a few of the surrounding towns and found that we had much more fun elsewhere - Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham are a few examples. The pubs in Rugby are very good though, and I tried quite a few out with colleagues from my team. The restaurants are good too, and there is a nice range of tastes and distinction between all of them.

We visited a customer in the steel industry who required foundry and refractory ceramic products from us. Their site was quite far away and we hired a minibus to get there. It was good exposure to the different kinds of operations run by different companies and I was able to develop an understanding of how suppliers, manufacturers, contractors etc work together in the primary / secondary sectors.