Customer Quality Engineer Review

My work placement aimed to put me at the frontlines of the workforce, meaning that the things I did had real impact, this made me enjoy my work placement more (apart from the initial nervousness) because it meant that what I was doing was really changing things. I was also given the opportunity to pursue other parts of the company (which was very diverse in opportunity since it was a multinational company) and do other projects like putting together programs for advocating STEM to younger children. I really enjoyed using my knowledge/skills to influence/inspire in a positive way. There were some times where I felt a little bit overwhelmed which made me enjoy my work placement less and sometimes the office environment is quite draining but since there was a large group of interns we found ways of balancing work with fun and relaxation.

It depended on the colleague, however I generally I felt like a very valued member of the team. My manager would make sure to commend me for any bits of work that I did that was deemed more than just satisfactory. As my internship went on, I felt more and more respect from my team as I adapted to the job and used a little of my fresh mind-set. Sometimes I did feel like my ideas were met with a level of scepticism and that changing/influencing things as an intern was a little harder, but as the internship went on I found that sort of scepticism was not biased towards anyone and that it was a symptom of being a part of an very large and sometimes complicated organisation It did feel like a few of my colleagues were strangers which is one of the drawbacks for working for a big company, but we did have a face to face where we all met up and did team building exercises and had fun together which was great.

I sat right behind my manager, which was at first very daunting but the advise and support he gave me was really good, especially when considering he is a manager of a whole team. He always left himself open for me to ask questions when possible and made me feel equipped to find answers for myself when I couldn't reach support. He wouldn't just tell me what to do and expect a result without thinking about the work needed to put into it, he would sit down with me and whiteboard down ideas and discuss what might need to be changed and what was feasible/not feasible.

I'd say 35% of the time I was very busy and didn't have time at all and sometimes had to work after normal work hours (which was fine, however I can imagine I would have to do a lot more of it if I wasn't an intern). 45% were balanced days where I had a little bit of breathing room and time to relax, which was where my most productive work came from...then the other 20% were very boring, empty days where I just had menial tasks to do.

I felt like a proper part of the team. I had my own customers that I had to build my own rapport with and advise technically. All of my actions could actually impact the organisation (positive or negative) and I was given full understanding of that. I have also been a head of a project that will hopefully be utilized within the worldwide organisation and I got to follow the entire process of making it happen.

My work training actually overlapped with some things I'd done in my degree the year before so it was almost like revising which was useful. My day to day job, whilst being a technical role, wasn't too relevant in terms of my degree (although it had it's moments) but the soft skills I honed like presentation, time management, project management, communication etc. really set this experience apart. I feel like I could be a very competent member of a workforce now. In terms of things outside of my main job role, there was a wealth of technical skills I learnt through "extra-curricular programs" and a wealth of learning material available for staff

The office environment can be draining and days can sometimes feel like they can drag on. Especially if you had tasks to do that weren't very engaging, However there were small spaces for relaxation during the day that you could pop to every now and again like the games room, canteen (and more recently the table tennis table!!!). It was a matter of managing your time to make sure you weren't stuck at your desk and it helped that my manager advocated not spending too much time with my face at a monitor. There were definitely ups and downs but it was okay

Quite well. The 1 month overlap between the old intern and the new one is paramount. I was also told that it takes about 6 months to fully get into the stride of the role which was absolutely correct. Everything felt quite smooth, although some times the unpredictability of my job (being a customer facing role) meant that I had to learn things kind of on the fly.

Again, there was a wealth of training materials available at Intel both technical and soft skills alike. There were online courses, face to face courses, webinars and much more that I attended and used for free. There were opportunities available to try out slightly different work within different teams (although I settled for participating in fringe projects).

I am mostly undecided because I need to think deeper about what kind of work I want to do and whether I would want to work for a big corporation (as things are quite different, it has it's pros and cons). However there were jobs within Intel that I would definitely think about applying for as a graduate. The only issue is I'm not sure about the location.

The social element at Intel was great. Many different types of people and loads of events happened during the year (one of my favourites being a beer and cider festival where we were all given free tokens as courtesy from Intel). There were loads of interns and it didn't seem like anyone was isolated, however there was a much stronger social life for people that weren't commuting understandably. Another nice thing was seeing some full time members of staff around on nights out which was always pleasantly weird. One downside was, due to different personalities/values sometimes it felt a bit uncomfortable to be sociable - but I can't imagine that there is a workplace in the world where that doesn't happen, especially not such a big one.

Rent was cheap, transport costs were high. If you don't drive, get/bring a bike...it's definitely worth it. Cost of socialising was okay, no London prices or anything thank god, good range of cheap places to slightly more upper end stuff to do but mostly things were pretty cheap.

Swindon is shocking for night out but it's so bad that's it's good? As long as you go out with a big bunch of people and avoid certain places, it's fine + to be fair there's quite a lot to choose from. I had some hilarious nights to be honest.

Yes, there were, however transport around Swindon (from where I lived) was an issue without a car. It's a town built for people who drive really, so keep that in mind. There's a makers club for engineers and makers around the area, a few really nice parks with tennis/basketball courts, a great trampolining place (better than it sounds), cinemas, bars etc. It's not perfect but it's ok. Again, it's more about having good company.