Hi I’m Joyce and I’ll be telling you about my experience of working at Tata Technologies. If you had asked me one year ago if I was looking forward to waking up everyday at 6am, I would’ve definitely said no. I would’ve said no FASTER than I would’ve said yes to anyone asking me if I wanted a Chanel handbag!
People tell you to do your best on placement, however no one really tells you the nitty gritty details of what that entails. The journey of getting the placement as well as actually going on it and doing a good job definitely isn’t easy, but by no means did this mean I didn’t enjoy it. I loved my placement; I worked within the CAE department and worked on improving the safety and durability of a vehicle structure.
There were three words which I tried my best to stick to during this year long work experience, to be rigorous, to be polite and to be open minded. Rigorous, because this means you’re overcoming and facing doing things which you find a chore. It’s not going to be an easy ride, it’s not going to be as simple as counting 1, 2, 3, and you’re probably going to have to carry out tasks you don’t enjoy, or analyse mechanical properties of materials on a late Friday afternoon when everyone is ready to leave the office. It means sticking to a project task and seeing it through to the end.
To actually get the placement I went through a gruelling process. There were 4 stages and it consisted of 2 interviews and 1 presentation; I’m sure there will be others where they had even more stages to pass. So kudos to everyone who saw it through.
Interview
Polite, because as my mother always said to me, manners cost nothing. So if someone holds a door open for you, a small word of thanks can give you a good repertoire between your colleagues and yourself. It might even be a conversation starter!
Open minded, because you’re bound to meet so many other people in your workplace and everyone will have a different background to yours, so be willing to listen to what others have to teach or tell you. Don’t shut yourself off to what it is you think you like, expose yourself to all the different departments and to learn whatever it is that the company is willing to offer! Say yes to all the training opportunities the company is willing to invest in you, because at the end of the day, you’re the one who’s 100% benefitting from it.
Yes, it will probably be daunting and probably quite intimidating for the first few weeks (maybe even months) but you will settle in and realise if that company/ industry/ department is right for you. I had days where I had lunch alone but I also had days where I was eating with my usual group of good friends. It is a completely new experience compared to university life but it is not an experience where you go through it alone – in the EEC Faculty, EC futures will assign you with a placement tutor and they’ll be in contact with you all the way through the year to make sure you’re okay and happy!
