I was lucky enough to carry out work experience at Rolls Royce, Barnsnoldwick. In hindsight I had done some research into Rolls Royce as a company and had dug into the history of Barnsnoldwick and yet then I did not know what to expect, nether the less I was extremely looking forward to experiencing engineering life. I decided to make this post an overview of the key elements I picked up at my work experience, from information about the company, to what I contributed, factors that make Rolls Royce so success and my final reflection about working life.
What is the organisation’s field of operation?
Marine and Energy Markets, Civil and Defence Aerospace
Who are Rolls Royce’s main competitors?
– GE Aviation
– Pratt and Whitney
What’s the organisations mission statement?
“Trusted to deliver excellence” which means quality is the central of everything that Rolls Royce does.
Explain the contribution you made to the organisation during the placement
During my time at work experience I undertook and got involved in a lot more activities than I expected. At the beginning of the week I helped with the finishing process of installing computers on to the shop floor by running the computers through several checks to pass them or fail them. I was also given time to work on some highly complex CAD/CAM programmes which really developed my skills and confidence within this program I gained initially gained from GCSE and A level. Continuing the week I had the opportunity to program a machine to carry out a task, which I thoroughly enjoyed as this was something completely new to me. I also made a PowerPoint about Rolls Royce for Rolls Royce’s display on their shop floor TV’s, this was at the end of the week and whilst making the PowerPoint I was happily surprised at how much I remembered from the week about their company. My contribution does not only lie in practical activities, whilst shadowing different employees I suggested ways in which they could make their production line more efficient and I was pleased an idea I contributed was not thought of before and they said they would look further into the feasibility and consider this.
What did you learn about what makes a good manager?
A good manager is someone that is a good listener and responds to what they have heard with an understanding voice. In this way they must have good communication and interpersonal skills. A manger is someone that can lead their employees by example by being organised, motivated and positive. It is someone that sees the best in people and gives out words of encouragement and sees where improvements can be made and offers constructive criticism.
What can you conclude about your readiness to join the work force?
I would say that I have the maturity and disciple needed to join the workforce. It is hard but I am hardworking, also I am very motivated which is an attitude needed to lift the spirit of colleges. However I am not ready just as yet in the sense I need more confidence in working with adults; hopefully this will grow as I grow into adult-ship.
What would you do differently the next time you are employed or on work experience?
Although I was asked A LOT of questions within my time at work experience and I feel I tried everything that was handed to me with all my efforts and attentively listened. I would better my experience next time by giving myself time every evening after my work experience to reflect upon the events of the day, this would give me time to think of more questions and understand better. As now I reflect on my work experience two days after it coming to an end I can think of questions I wished I asked. I also this can be translated to a new job, after each day sit down and reflect on the tasks of the day, how I responded, what I did well, what I could have done better. This would be important in the first few months I believe in order to recognise mistakes, learn and improve and even to recognise good aspects and repeat them then after the few months the reflection can be done maybe once a week just to keep the learning aspect continuing.
Can this experience confirmed your enthusiasm about the sector you would like to go into?
I can’t explain how much more I would like to study engineering, Rolls Royce opened me up to many different fields /jobs within the sector I did not know existed. My week was exciting and most definitely confirmed it. Not only because of the very impressive programs had I got to use and exceptionally designed engines and fan blades. But I also loved it because I learnt a lot of new things each day and I know that at the moment my knowledge is less than what I will know when I graduate from university but speaking to staff they told me this sector is one you should enter if you want to keep growing and learning even at an older age and that is what I loved most! Not only learning from challenging tasks and research but also learning from colleges who are much wiser and experienced, which is what I will experience at university with my lecturers.
World of engineering 