Case study : Industrial placement, Lockheed Martin: Shaun Miles

Shaun Miles did a year long placement at defence company Lockheed Martin and is now a computer support engineer with the firm.

I saw Lockheed Martin advertising on the university website and applied for a placement by emailing my CV with a covering letter. I was invited to an intern day which consisted of an interview and a team exercise. At the company’s request I also sent off for security clearance prior to starting at LMUK Ampthill.

For the first three months you are on a training period and then after that you are given the same responsibilities as any other support engineer. The thing I found most difficult in the transition from study to work was that even though the hours were more rigid I had to be more flexible in planning and managing tasks during my day.

I enjoyed using the knowledge and experience I have gained throughout the year to help streamline our processes saving time and resources. I also enjoyed having my own projects that I was responsible for, using them to demonstrate my abilities. The most challenging aspect was trying to manage my time effectively to deliver on all the tasks I had been assigned.

While on my placement year I become interested in computer networking and would like to gain certifications to develop a career at Lockheed Martin in network security.

My advice to other students would be don’t wait for opportunities to find you, be proactive and seek out the experiences and skills you want to get from a placement.