Undergraduate placement advice please
Undergraduate placement advice please
(OP)
Hi
I attend a russel group and redbrick university and i'm currently in my second year of study for Mechanical engineering. I am 23 years old as i joined university after completing an advanced apprentiship with Shell and completing a HNC in mechanical engineering (distinction level). I have plenty of experience working on the oil refinery as a fitter and valve technician.
I have recently applied to complete a summer placement with several companies and have been successful with two already. The two companies are Unilever and ABB. With Unilever the placement is a project on improving the efficiency of the production lines and the ABB is pressure tank inspection.
I am just after some advice from people on which they feel would be of more benefit to myself. Should I stay in the oil and gas field or try and get a bit of diversity in my experience?
I feel I will probably go back into the oil and gas field once i have completed my degree but obviously i could change my mind.
Anyone offer any opinions??
Regards and thank you for any help
I attend a russel group and redbrick university and i'm currently in my second year of study for Mechanical engineering. I am 23 years old as i joined university after completing an advanced apprentiship with Shell and completing a HNC in mechanical engineering (distinction level). I have plenty of experience working on the oil refinery as a fitter and valve technician.
I have recently applied to complete a summer placement with several companies and have been successful with two already. The two companies are Unilever and ABB. With Unilever the placement is a project on improving the efficiency of the production lines and the ABB is pressure tank inspection.
I am just after some advice from people on which they feel would be of more benefit to myself. Should I stay in the oil and gas field or try and get a bit of diversity in my experience?
I feel I will probably go back into the oil and gas field once i have completed my degree but obviously i could change my mind.
Anyone offer any opinions??
Regards and thank you for any help





RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
I like scanning production lines for obvious problems,
but I find watching production lines for days at a time extremely boring.
... but it's clean work, mostly indoors, probably much of it at a desk.
I imagine that tank inspection will get you outdoors,
and it will probably get you dirty,
what with physical inspection inside and out and a little records checking.
I'd take the ABB job. ... which doesn't mean that you should.
When the time comes, you will probably get _much_ higher offers in O&G, just because you know where not to step already, and shouldn't need someone to teach you all their special ways to die on the job.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
This is going to come across as snooty but I don't want it to. Do people think that bigger prestigious names on CV's will help get you noticed easier? I feel having Shell and Essar as it was taken over for a few months before I left is really good so far and I'v been very lucky which is paying off now. Do you think Unilever is more of a prestigious company?
Regards
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
That sounds like a whole load of problem solving, possibly a specific line keeps stopping and nobody quite knows why and can't afford to pay someone the going rate to look into it (this was one of my Summer placements). Very rewarding in my recollection - a dabble into the realities of production engineering with no committment.
- Steve
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
I did a summer gig very similar to what the Unilever job sounds like. On the first day, my supervisor took me to the shop floor and said "This is our production line, work on ways of reducing waste". That was the end of my formal instructions all summer.
For the rest of the summer, I got to conceptualize new procedures or methods and bring them to management. Some were simple, like getting rid of material carts to reduce WIP and create a pull system rather than a push system, others were complex, like developing a program to optimize the cut sequence to reduce end scrap. One nice thing is that these are YOUR projects; you develop them, you push for buy-in from others, you see it's implementation (if you get that far). You don't usually get that responsibility at other summer jobs. However, if you go with this job, be prepared for management to shoot down good ideas for no reason, other people not willing to support the necessary resources (usually their time) and for a lot of your projects to sit half finished at the end of your term, never to get completed. Listen to the guys that actually work on the shop floor (I can't stress this enough), they are full of knowledge and really appreciate (and are willing ot help) when you ask for their input.
You get to put buzz words like "lean" on your resume that HR/management people love. Even if you don't end up working in a manufacturing environment, it's still a selling point in a lot of different industries (now I HATE these buzz words but you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job, right?). I don't work in a manufacturing environment but my interviewers were very interested in that portion of my experience.
On the other side, tank inspection will offer much less creativity but gaining knowledge in codes and standards is very important. It doesn't even matter if the standards you work on their are relevant to future jobs, employers will focus on the fact you understand how to read, interpret and follow standards. Another thing to consider is that in the manufacturing job, you will only get to know that company. In the tank inspection job, your going to work with a lot of different companies. This could broaden your rolladex for when you graduate.
Either way, you can spin the experience in your favour. The contrast in the type of work is obvious.
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
Another advantage to it - its different. I do believe the more variety you can have in your background the better your chances in the future. Plus it will also expose you to a field that you just might like - permanently. I have done enough different types of jobs over the years that I confidently say what I like to do, and what I don't like to do. But you can't say that if you haven't done it.
Another advantage - its temporary. A chance to "take a test drive" on a different career.
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
Think I need to start researching production lines now haha
Many regards
Graeme
RE: Undergraduate placement advice please
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?