Engineering Intern Review

I positively enjoyed my placement. I felt like I learnt a lot from it, and take with me many valuable experiences, and would therefore recommend it. The combination of project work, atmosphere and good social aspects to the placement all culminated to make it a great opportunity. I believe what I learnt will also help me in the future.

I felt very valued. The work I was completing was required within the team, I felt like my analysis was positively required and necessary within the team, and would therefore like to believe that I did indeed make a difference within the company and more importantly my team, and that I assisted my team to move forwards with the project.

I was assigned a buddy, whom I would turn to for all support regarding my project work and analysis, as he was the resident expert within the field I was working in, so anything work or project or technical related I could go to him. My manager was also very approachable which was also good.

I was kept busy. Even if there was no work to complete for me at that moment of time, there was always training for me to go over, to further my knowledge of my software, and there was also always enough reading to do to develop my overall knowledge within my area.

I think that the things I was working on throughout the year will tie in quite nicely to the rest of my degree. The types of analysis that I undertook at Schlumberger will be similar to those typed of analysis that I will most likely do within modules and projects back at university whilst completing my specialised masters degree.

There was a positive atmosphere in the office. Much of the time people had their own work to be getting on with, but it was very team orientated. There were a large number of meetings throughout the week in which info was shared and brainstorming was conducted, and the social aspect, especially within break times was very positive.

I personally believe it was very well set up. I was put in a team that required a specific task completed, something which was planned for me to complete, so I slotted in perfectly at the right time. From that aspect, it was well organized as from day one there was a plan as to what my year would revolve around.

I was provided with various computational training packages for the programs that I would be using, and also provided with all the necessary H&S training, along with a generous technology setup. Therefore I believe I was positively invested in, and hoped to return the investment with the quality of my work.

With the current economic climate, it is a more challenging, however there are various fantastic opportunities within the company as graduates then to step into the company and make my mark. There are graduate opportunities within many of the areas within the company, and the option to try out new jobs and move locations and directions, whether technical or managerial are very appealing.

Within us interns there was of course a social atmosphere, and social relationships were developed between colleagues, and friends were made within the office that I believe will stay friends for a long time were made. With these people we met up outside of work, and socialized and went to the cinema or to the pub etc, so it was easy to connect on a personal level with many of the employees. Being very like minded individuals helped in this aspect.

The area where we lived was good overall. Us interns lived together in a flat in central Cheltenham, so all bills and costs and rent were shared, and we car shared so even that was not an issue, as fuel was split, and as 2 people had a car, it meant that not one person had to drive all the time, so that load was split too. Occasionally we went with a colleague, or sometimes we would take colleagues too, which added to the social aspect. Many colleagues lived in Cheltenham, and the town itself is very social with bars and pubs etc., so I would recommend it.

That was very much up to the individual. I signed up to the local gym, so I had gym and swimming facilities within Cheltenham at my disposal. Cheltenham had various sports clubs which one could of course get involved with as one wished. The company had an employees club in which activities were organized, which always sold out quickly and were therefore very popular. For full time employees, there were added perks, such as subsided gym memberships and various things like that.