Name: Mark
University: Loughborough
Graduation Year: 2014
Qualification: MEng Product Design Engineering with DIS
Date of joining MTC Graduate Programme: September 2014
The MTC sponsored several of the 4th year group engineering projects at my university which got my attention. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the MTC facilities and realised that something special was going on here. I knew that this was a place where I could be part of cutting edge engineering research and interact with a large group of influential companies from all aspects of UK industry.
The MTC is full of enthusiastic and helpful people. You get a lot of training to support your professional development and to familiarise you with all of the systems and processes that the MTC uses so that you can quickly adapt to having a full time job. However it is not easy. Your Line Manager and Mentor will help you to set personal goals to challenge you and develop your skills throughout the Graduate Scheme and beyond.
There is no typical day! Because the MTC works on projects, the role is exciting and rarely repetitive. Some days you will be travelling to see clients or suppliers, other days you may be designing new equipment, electronics or software for an experimental manufacturing process. You might even be assembling and testing your own designs in the workshop. Each project I have worked on so far has been different, interesting and challenging. I learn something new every day.
The biggest challenge for me was to learn how to create project proposals and detailed plans. Estimating how much time other people in the organisation will spend on different tasks, and how much projects will cost a customer is suddenly a lot more daunting than planning a project at university. However I received great support to do this and I'm proud to say that I'm running my first project 3 months into the scheme.
The MTC has already given me an opportunity to work on a wide range of projects with some of the biggest companies in UK industry. I have had the chance to learn about and work on some of the most advanced manufacturing and technology projects in the world. There aren't many other graduate schemes which can put that on your CV.
Absolutely, the graduate programme at the MTC is challenging but very rewarding so I recommend it highly.
As for advice, you will be working with external clients and member organisations on a regular basis so presentation skills are something that you could work on, and demonstrate at the assessment centre. Also an interest in engineering, manufacturing, science or technology beyond the immediate scope of your degree or projects will come across well.
