There is a time for everything! Time flies really, I can’t come to terms with how the placement year has come to an end so quickly.
Farewell card I got from my team when I left
Now that I have completed my placement its time to reflect on how the year progressed. I am going to take this time to give an honest opinion of my placement experience. In a nut shell it has been a worthwhile experience and have learnt an awful lot of stuff I would have not from a lecture.
Just as a recap I did my placement working as a Electrical Building Services Engineer in London with one of the leading consultants in the field. Below is just a personal evaluation of my placement and what I got from it.
The Good
- Practical engineering practice I experienced on a daily basis
- Enriched my electrical knowledge in the field
- Developed vital technical skills by working with latest software in the industry
- Getting paid for something I enjoyed doing
- Making professional contacts in the fields I have an interest in
- Working in London and a different scene from Bradford
- Gave me a chance to see if I would like to such kind of a thing as a career
- My final year project is inspired by the work I did on my placement
The Bad
- Far from university friends but made new friends in London
- London is very good but can be pricey just needs one to be sensible
- Commuting wasn’t fun especially if trains were cancelled (usually when someone jumps in front of the train)
My weekly and monthly season tickets
Tips
- If you get a placement in London house share works out cheaper or living in the outskirts rather than Central London
- Get a season ticket for travel it will save you a lot and don’t loose it
- Have fun, placement is supposed to be enjoyable
- Go the extra mile, employers are usually impressed by this
- Represent your University well so as not to ruin other students of a good placement
- Back up your placement portfolio regularly lost my memory stick once, it wasn’t fun trust me
- Keep in touch with your employer after finishing the placement it helps
I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and made the most out of it, got a good recommendation and I represented my university well and other students from Bradford University have also managed to secure placements with them. Saying goodbye to Arup was hard as the people there were just amazing and made the placement enjoyable and I looked forward to going to work everyday because of my lovely team. I would say I did the best thing to opt to goon an industrial placement it makes a big difference in a good way. I feel more confident with my career path and the direction I am going to take after this. It has even given me an insight in which modules to choose for my options