Meet our placement students

September

I have been at Motability Operations for one month, where I have been working as a Business Analyst within the Business Analysis team. I work with teams of people to help develop solutions to build new internal systems. I mainly work with developers, testers and system architects to do this. Also working closely with a varied team has given me a better insight into each role’s significance and allowed me to pick up skills along the way.

All of the people I work with and all the new faces I meet here at Motability Operations are very friendly and don’t ever have a problem answering your questions or helping you. They are all more than happy to sit with you and help you out understanding the business as a whole or just the bit of work you’re doing. They’re so friendly and welcoming that just after a month I feel at home and very much a part of the team.

I have mentors that I sit with who are teaching me the ways of being a business analyst. They’re always keen to help me learn and improve my skills. They haven’t held back with the work either, I’ve been assigned to two teams to aid with the development process, which I have thoroughly enjoyed so far. Also I have had training courses in this first month on time management, presentation and facilitation skills. These have taught me some good tips and tricks that I’ll use both while working at Motability Operations and when I get back to university.

I have really enjoyed my first month at Motability Operations and can’t wait for the fun and challenges that will come my way in the next year. And I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an awesome placement opportunity.
 

September 2016

Having completed my first month in the Development team within Business Systems, I can say that it is a wonderful place to work and learn. So far I have covered a wide range of different technologies, currently I’m developing proof of concepts using the latest JavaScript frameworks such as Angular 2 and React to see if it's possible to scale them into production. I have been provided with a three month development plan which provides myself with goals and objectives, which help me to improve as a software developer and get a better understanding of the different systems the the Development Teams at Motability Operations use.

During my induction period at MO, I have had presentations from the different departments within Business Systems. This has given me insight on who works within that department and how they support the company and included a tour of the data centre. I’ve also had training sessions on JBoss Fuse which was interesting as this introduced a number of new topics which I haven’t covered before such as Apache Camel.

Everyone in Business Systems has been very welcoming which has made my time here very enjoyable, I have been assigned a mentor which has been beneficial during my first month, they have been able to help me when I’ve had questions and queries when deploying systems locally and given me feedback on my work. As my mentor also did their placement year here as well they understand what it's like going from University into the industry as a placement student and are able to give me help and advice.

So far I’ve enjoyed my time within the development team and can’t wait for the next couple of months.

January 2015

Over the past few months, I have begun to join the Business As Usual (BAU) team, who are responsible for delivering small development requests to improve the efficiency and expand the functionality of the business’ existing systems. Everybody has been really welcoming and helped me integrate into the team. As well as working on small development requests, a few other developers and I have had the chance to work on a couple of exciting development projects for the business, which included re-mastering an existing system and creating an entirely new system from scratch. Despite the learning curve for these projects and the challenges we had to face, I feel this broadened my experience with a whole variety of technologies. I found it extremely useful to not only witness the creation of an entire software system from scratch, but actually be a valued part of that process.

As the business currently runs an extremely successful Graduate Programme, over the past few months we’ve been fortunate enough to attend some of the graduate-specific courses and cross-site training in Bristol, allowing us to gain a greater exposure and understanding of the other areas of the company and improve on more business-related skills rather than technical. These included workshops in improving communication skills and also presentational skills. I found these extremely useful, as giving presentations has always been a great fear of mine and this placement has definitely helped me find confidence in that area by challenging me to go outside of my comfort zone and overcome this.

I’ve learnt such a huge amount in only six months, that if the placement ended tomorrow, I could leave happily knowing that Motability Operations has already taught me a wealth of knowledge in both technical and business areas, and ultimately helped me transition from a university student into a young IT professional.

I very much look forward to what the next six months brings!

August 2014

After completing my first month within Business Systems at Motability Operations, I feel thoroughly prepared and excited for the placement ahead, receiving vast amounts of training and support from everyone to help me in my role. I have spent the last couple of weeks being welcomed into the Development Team, who are responsible for building and maintaining the business’ internal applications, and working closely with analysts and testers to build robust IT solutions. Over the next few weeks we will be trying to integrate automated deployment into our system release cycle, to utilise its benefits.

Although I have a technical internal role, through various department and company inductions you are exposed to various parts of the business, such as the Customer Solutions Team and Customer Contact Centre, which allows you to understand further the business as a whole and how your role both fits in and aids each department. One thing I find particularly beneficial is the presence of an assigned mentor, as they are always willing to help with any challenges you may face and ultimately provide support in all aspects throughout your placement whenever you need them.

Despite Motability Operations not being very well known, I can already tell that this is a brilliant business to work for and is best described as 'a hidden gem of the UK'! Everyone here is so friendly and willing to help; you are always within a short range of a mentor, manager or just a friendly face to support your development into the company, but also as a commercially minded individual. It truly is a company that strives for the highest standards, whilst acknowledging and rewarding its great performance both internally, and in the excellent customer service it provides.

November 2015

The first three months in Business Systems (the IT department) at Motability Operations have been challenging, but definitely exciting, making me even more thrilled for the rest of my placement. From day one everyone was very welcoming and I was made to feel part of the MI Team straight away.

After receiving the appropriate training and help from my colleagues, I was assigned work that would have an impact on the rest of the business and this made me feel excited and motivated for the year ahead. I had to get out of my comfort zone and work with people I had just met and even give a presentation to the managers of each of the company’s departments. This was something I never believed I would be doing while on a placement; interacting with managers, as well as getting to meet the five directors and the CEO on a 1:1 basis.

Moreover, I have had the privilege to attend workshops that were not necessarily related to my role, but to further my development. For example, I have attended a workshop on communication and assertiveness which will help me both on my placement and my career in the future.

I can see that my placement will be very beneficial in terms of improving my technical skills and understanding how a company works. Motability Operations is a company that is definitely worth joining as you get to work amongst experts in their field and most importantly join a great culture of different people. In this way, you learn from the best, while enjoying your work, which is two of the key things a student should experience during his/her placement.