Undergraduate placement advice please

[geeovana]

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

 

[GregLocock]

Unilever. When it comes to writing your CV the more fields you can pick from to emphasise the better. After all, you've already done plenty of tanks and valves.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[MikeHalloran]

I like fine-tuning processes, but only for a few days at a time.
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

 

[TheTick]

Do as much creative work as you can. Anything that involves originating ideas and implementing them is probably better for you at this point.

 

[geeovana]

Thanks for the reply's. It's very hard as they don't exactly give you a lot of information on what your going to do.

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

 

[SomptingGuy]

"Improving the efficiency of the production lines"

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

 

[jpankask]

In reality, during a single summer placement, you're probably not going to have enough time to learn your job, learn how the production line really works, develop ideas for improvement and implement your ideas. You'll probably be leaving somewhere between the development and implementation phase. You may never know the effects of your improvement ideas, assuming the company decides to implement any of them. Just some of my experience from working on process improvement teams in Manufacturing environment.

 

[geeovana]

so are you saying the other placement would be more beneficial as I will see better end results?

 

[jpankask]

I'm just saying it's something to consider. I've never worked for Unilever or ABB, and I don't know what are your interests, goals and abilities. When you are applying for jobs after graduation and you list this experience on your resume, your potential employer will likely want to know what you accomplished during this work period. If you don't really know what you accomplished, it COULD appear negatively on you. I'm not saying it will...just offering a suggestion of something to think about. Obviously, all of the good experience you can get is helpful.

 

[rconnor]

geeovana,

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.

 

[Jboggs]

I have learned that nothing turns me on like getting to the root cause of a problem and solving it. I vote for work on the production lines. You have no idea the variety of issues you may encounter, and the things you will learn, especially if you happen to be in the position of working side by side with the current engineering staff. Even if you are on your own, you can still learn a lot. Develop good relationships with the follks that have to make those lines work and they will load you up with problems and ideas.

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.

 

[geeovana]

Thankyou for all the advice it has been a great help.

Think I need to start researching production lines now haha

Many regards
Graeme

 

[GregLocock]

"The Goal"

Cheers

Greg Locock


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