Engineering Management Intern Review

My placement was highly enjoyable and gave me insight into the defence industry and the workings of a large company. During my time there I was exposed to a variety of areas of the business such as large meetings, shipbuilding and equipment trials. I enjoyed the range of activities that I completed in my time there.

Over the course of my placement I got to know my colleagues quite well and felt well treated and highly valued by them as they gave me a look into their work, and helped me to understand how each of us contributed to the efforts of the company as a whole.

My manager gave me a great deal of support during my placement, and was constantly on hand to answer any questions I may have had. As he had previously managed interns before, he was very helpful, and anticipated many of the early challenges I came up against, allowing me to navigate them successfully.

Due to the large range of tasks and variety of people I was asked to work with, I was very busy on a day to day basis, with lots of tasks to complete. This meant I was rarely lacking for something to do and felt like I was fully integrated as part of the team.

In my placement I was given a fair degree of responsibility over several aspects of my team’s work. This included making updates to several internal documents, attending meetings with the customer, contributing to equipment testing and running my own meetings. These tasks put me in positions of responsibility and helped me to develop important skills.

As my degree subject is Physics many of the skills I have learnt and developed on this placement will not directly assist in my degree, however I feel at the very least my communication skills have improved which will make me more productive. The skills I have learnt here will be incredibly valuable to the jobs I have in the future.

The office had a friendly and not overly formal atmosphere, with lots of healthy relationships. This allowed for good productivity as me and my colleagues were more motivated to work, as we were supporting each other. This was exemplified by people frequently bringing cakes and other goodies back from various trips.

The internship was well organised, with induction for the first two days with all the interns, allowing us to get to know each other and build friendships. There is also a well-developed graduate scheme which the internship reviews feed into, meaning that there is a great deal of motivation as the reward of a job offer is highly enticing.

As the defence industry is an area I am interested in working in after graduation, the placement has given me a great stepping stone into this industry, especially as they have a large graduate recruitment scheme. Even if I decide not to work in this industry in the future, this placement has improved my career prospects, wherever I choose to work.

The placement was very close to my family home, meaning it was highly convenient for me to travel to, and allowed me to save lots of money that I would have had to spend on rent. The area is not overly expensive and the cost of socialising and travel is cheaper than where I got to university.

New Malden has a range of pubs and restaurants that are of good quality and contribute to the local nightlife close to the office. Kingston is also nearby and has several nightclubs and pubs which give it a vibrant and popular nightlife. Overall the nightlife near where I worked is very good.