CES, ETAM Review

I really enjoyed my placement this summer. I intentionally picked it as it was a more commercial-focused role and I wanted to get some broad experience as ultimately I want to work for NG in a technical role, so saw this as a good chance to spend a summer understanding a different side of the business before hopefully becoming more technical-focused. I learned so much about the 'business' of engineering - about the development of new ideas and how to research and identify markets for them.

Our line manager was extremely approachable and was always available to chat with - he also gave us contact information so we could contact him even when he wasn't in the office. He also arranged for us to go on various site visits, which was excellent. The wider team we worked in were incredibly nice to me and I was included in group chats or invited to help out at things (e.g. charity bakesale.). Everyone took us seriously and we approached multiple people in our team who all were happy to help, and some even went beyond what I would've thought they would do.

Support was always available and I couldn't fault our line manager in that respect. It was generally always clear what we were supposed to be doing - occasionally additional 'stretch' things were added to our project whereby initially we were slightly unsure how to prioritise these, however we had weekly 'catch up' meetings with our manager and when we mentioned this he was quick to clarify.

As with my project last year, I've found there is scope to do as much as you want. As such, we were usually always able to fill our days doing our core project and supplementing this with meeting people our manager had recommended to chat about potential new projects that people were getting involved with. I was never bored as you could always find something to work on.

We've been told that at least some parts of our project will definitely be used going forward, so this is obviously great to have worked on something live. Other parts seemed quite close to things that had already been done in the department, however ours was a slightly different set of considerations.

It wasn't really a technical placement so in terms of hard engineering skills, probably not that much. However, we learned so much about how different parts of the business interacts with each other, how to work out who to ask about getting things done, and a broader understanding of how the company works as a whole. I think this will be massively beneficial for future placements and also the grad scheme where I will hopefully end up. For these reasons, although I didn't do much 'engineering', I don't really regret taking this placement.

It was really nice and friendly. Everyone was upbeat and seemed to like their jobs. The department had a charity fundraiser which we got involved in, and people were just generally pleasant to be around.

Incredibly well - notably better than last year. We had an induction on the first day which clarified many people's questions, the IT was better than last year, and when we had questions (specifically about claiming expenses and travel to a conference) HR sorted it out and kept us updated. It's a big company and they have loads of interns so you could imagine it being chaotic but it was genuinely so well organised, I actually can't think of anything negative to say.

Got funded to go to the annual conference which was really good. It's quite a short time so going on training courses etc. isn't really relevant.

They do quite a lot to sell you on the benefits of the grad scheme and I would be really happy if I got offered a place as it seems good - they look like they develop you a lot.

Everyone got on well and we arranged movie nights at people's houses, cinema trips etc. Everyone ate lunch together as well, which was nice.

If you are based in Warwick I would recommend living in Leamington as it's really convenient - there's a free bus to work. You can usually get sub-let student housing and rent is broadly comparable with major UK cities (not London). In Leamington there's enough that you can do it on any budget - there's cheap supermarkets and bars, or there's nice delis and restaurants. It's as easy to live here as anywhere, I wouldn't worry about the cost of living.

It's probably not got as much choice as bigger cities but it was fine for 8 weeks. There's some decent bars, and some cheap pubs. Quite a lot of nice and affordable restaurants as well. I wasn't bored in the 8 weeks. It's also very commutable to places like Birmingham, or even London, so there's lots of stuff to do.

I didn't really see any official after-work activities but we tended to socialise with other people on our scheme so found it to be really social and easy to organise things.