Charlie
Graduate Engineer, Defence
I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bath, and chose engineering after realising that it was a combination of the two subjects that I was best at, Maths and Physics. I ended up graduating with a 1st class degree. Atkins had a stand at our university fair which made me aware of the company, but it was an evening talk that gave me the most information. Being a big company I knew that the opportunities would be greater than in a small business and this was reflected in the structured but reasonably flexible graduate scheme presented at the evening talk.
After graduating I felt like a change in industry. Defence had a cutting edge feel, from fighter jets to submarines, and I thought that these would sit well with what I’d studied. There are a lot of political angles in Defence which interests me as well.
I was placed on the huge FRES project (Future Rapid Effect System – basically the new medium weight tank and its variants for the British Army). Once I had a basic grip I was put into a lively team that were planning and managing projects to bring new technologies up to speed for implementation into the FRES vehicles.
I worked on various other projects after FRES, and I’ve just started a three-month secondment with the MOD in London. The team is aiming to change the way that the MOD acquires and manages its forces throughout their life in order to speed up the process and reduce costs. It’s going well and I’m looking forward to what I can get from the job and from living in London, over the coming weeks.
My friends from home who are working 50 per week are jealous of the great work/life balance at Atkins. Not just because of the social aspect and flexible hours but also because of the variety of available projects and the people to work on them with. Office atmosphere is always friendly and relaxed, but people know when it’s time to knuckle down to meet deadlines and get a job done well.
During my first week all the graduates had several training and induction courses. Since then I have been on a number of courses including project management and financial courses, which are good for getting a rounded understanding of how projects work. All my training was easily organised, some after review with my line manager, who pointed out possible areas for development, and some as part of the graduate development cycle. I can get in contact with my line manager on any day but we meet officially every six months. It has often surprised me when we meet up how much effort goes into making sure graduates have steady work and a variation of placements.
When I joined Atkins I wanted a graduate scheme that would give me a range of skills through various placements in technical and project management areas, and lead me to chartership in that time. So far Atkins has lived up to this as I have been engaged in project management activities with some technical work during my first year. In order for me to complete all the requirements to become chartered I now need some technical work specific to my institution and I’m sure that this will be provided.