Engineering Management Placement with Hutchinson Engineering

Peter Kernohan – Aspiring Managerial Engineer

Hutchinson Engineering is giving those studying degrees with Engineering disciplines the chance to expand their portfolio through placement opportunities. Gain a valuable opportunity in your sector, with hands on experience that will help develop our processes, as well as your growing knowledge of the industry.

We currently have placement opportunities available at Hutchinson Engineering within our Engineering department. This is a fantastic role for any innovative and enthusiastic student engineer interested in learning engineering skills and to be part of a growing company working with some of UK’s leading businesses in industry.

Mentored throughout you will work with our Engineering departments and it will give you a great chance to showcase your skills and learn from the leaders in this industry sector.

Read here about how our current placement students are enjoying their role in the Engineering and Quality teams at Hutchinson Engineering.

Daniel Cole -Engineering department
Peter Kernohan – Quality department

Tell us about yourself

I am a placement student at Hutchinson Engineering, and I am currently studying an Engineering Management Degree at Ulster University in Jordanstown.

I love to get outdoors in my spare time and often go fishing and paddle boarding or play five-a-side football. I also really enjoy playing the guitar and drums and I also help at my local church with the AV and sound as a sound engineer, I enjoy that.

I am working in the Quality Department within Hutchinson Engineering and I am enjoying being part of a busy team.

What do you enjoy most about Engineering?

What I enjoy the most about engineering is the diversity of the job, every day is different and every day there is always a new challenge and I find it fascinating how the Engineering process works, it certainly keeps you on your toes!

What do you like the least?

Probably the large variety of issues and challenges we face; this can be challenging but I guess these issues are good to tackle and it teaches me how to deal with everyday challenges?

What personal characteristics do you feel are necessary to be a successful engineer?

I believe you need to have a lot of patience. A good characteristic would be to have good people skills and as well as the ability to work well as a team.

Tell us about your typical day at Hutchinson Engineering in Kilrea

Goodness, where do I start! Every day is a busy day with duties including inspection of large fabrication sections, presenting data to our laser teams, and corresponding with SMT about issues on the shop floor. I attend daily meetings on the shop floor and resolve complaints with the fabrication team, I then produce audits and reports on my findings.

You have already completed 8 months of your Engineering placement. What have you learned so far at Hutchinson Engineering?

It has certainly been an eye-opener, I have been working with a large team and communicating more than I thought, which has been a great learning skill.

Another thing that I wasn’t expecting was that there are so many processes, and a vast range of products being manufactured on our shop floor. The state-of-the-art equipment that Hutchinson Engineering uses has also really impressed me!

Every day is different with new challenges every day and I try to help as best I can but I am enjoying my placement so far and have been given lots of opportunities which I am very thankful for.

What do you enjoy most about the Engineering placement at Hutchinson Engineering?

Working as part of a team and getting the chance to learn. I have learned so much and I have been taught new things, such as learning more features on Excel, and I learned how to carry out an audit.

My time at Hutchinson Engineering has certainly opened my eyes about what is involved to work in a Quality team, and also how important health and safety is in an engineering environment, I have learned so much about Health and Safety policies and procedures, and I am grateful to have been part of such a busy and important team at Hutchinson Engineering.

What skills or what lessons have you learned during your Engineering placement at Hutchinson Engineering?

I have learned many skills through my placement including how to Excel in a more advanced way, problem-solving, auditing, data collection, writing reports, and reading and understanding calibration drawings.

And the Lessons I have learned are: Be helpful, work as part of a team, and have good people skills, one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that working as a team helps you find the best way to get a problem solved.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Working at a world-class industry-leading manufacturing firm like Hutchinson Engineering and being part of a successful team. My dream role is to get into management, but I know I need to learn the basics first to progress in a team, and to do this I need to work hard to fulfill my dream.

– Peter Kernohan

Applications close 25th February 2022*

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