Stress Engineering Intern Review

Very enjoyable, was given responsibility level of a graduate and nothing was 'shielded', and wasn't excluded from anything; which has happened on previous placements. Got to try two different areas of the business (both within engineering), ultimately preferred one over the other. Overall work was extremely challenging, but the hard work and additional effort put in was recognised and rewarded with strong references and a place on the graduate scheme (unfortunately interns weren’t entitled to any additional financial recognition).

Was surprised how valued I felt. On my first placement my line manager asked to hand on to me and gave me an offer to do so. There was in general no stigma against interns/placement students. Held meetings and presentations (all very technical) with colleagues of all levels within the company and they provided receptive feedback and were willing to engage constructively with me; have found other organisations don't necessarily take students seriously, not a problem here.

My project was closely supervised, largely due to the sensitive and important nature of it, however this supervision acted as ‘on the job training’ and throughout the project I felt that the level of supervision was decreasing in response to gained knowledge and experience. Despite the high level of supervision it never proved obstructive, was always allowed to try something myself and suggest alternate means of completing something.

For the vast majority of the placement I was extremely busy, I put in significant overtime to complete my project (which was recognised by my supervisor). That said, with it being such a big company you can probably slink away and do very little if you wish to; however, you would never be let back for a graduate role if you did this. There was always more work to be done (there were issues with managing a suitable headcount, which enabled people to complete extra work if they wanted. As a graduate I wish to be as busy during office hours, but strike a better work/life balance; which I believe is possible.

Significant responsibility, was treated like a graduate engineer and went through the same work processes as everyone else. The responsibility was all under supervision and there was effectively a lead on me (although I found it be a much longer lead than expected). There was always to possibility of asking for more responsibility, and I feel this would be recognised, but it wasn’t necessary as I feel I was already striking a good balance of being pushed to take ownership of work and undertaking novel work and projects.

Main skills were technical engineering skills in engineering computer modelling, which did transcribe to one further course at university, but the reality is academia and industry treat the development of technical skills in vastly different ways; the industry method is more applied and more beneficial, as it is supported by a wider range of experts and there is access to a more experienced network of knowledge. Presentation/writing skills were also developed, again, these haven’t proven hugely useful at university but I have confidence they will be highly applicable to further industrial work, which is, in my opinion, more beneficial.

Atmosphere was generally work-orientated; but was very open and accessible (for an engineering office at least). There was a high number of graduates and young employees in the team and this was massively beneficial to a placement student as I feel they are more approachable, flexible and understanding. As mentioned earlier there was probably not as many staff as the team would have liked at that period in time so people often felt stretched, possibly being a light barrier to a more fun atmosphere.

Main point here is my vetting was taking longer than expected which would have pushed back my start date; so the onboarding team offered me another placement (with less stringent vetting requirements) in the meantime. This was very constructive on their part and beneficial to me, ensuring the university were kept happy and I wasn’t losing out on experience and pay. There was a couple of minor issues when leaving as an end date was incorrect, managed to solve all of these problems by myself. Would have been easier of there was other placement students in my team, as I could ask/consult them. There were no significant barriers; I started out of season relative the normal intake, which meant I didn’t get to meet/socialise/work with other students, which was a shame, but props to the company for letting me start at short notice out of their normal schedule!

Went through the same training as anyone else in the team/company: technical, social and company based training all completed. Some training had long lead times, and didn’t get to complete, not the companies fault, they wanted me to go on them. Training taken pretty seriously, and there seemed no opposition to suggestions on training courses.

Was offered a graduate role after an intern-grad conversion process and I will be going back. They were cutting a lot of managers when I was there, interns/grad level employees seem fine and will probably benefit from these changes, so future prospects seem good. From discussion and observation of recent grads they seem to up through the company relatively quickly (at first) and this looks on the whole positive. Big-picture wise the company has been in the news and has taken a bit of a hit, doesn’t have seem to have affected my role but it has tarnished the reputation slightly.

I was the only placement student in my team (approx. 40 people in total); most students go to other parts of the company, where I know there were a lot of students. Thankfully there were a few grads in the team. As expected there was a bit of a divide between old/young employees. The social scene was slightly better than expected although there was still a pretty big work/personal barrier between people/relationships; wasn’t atypical for engineering staff

Living in the area (Derby) was pretty cheap (compared to Edinburgh where I’m at uni); although it being so far from pretty much everywhere meant travel costs home/to see family/friends were quite expensive. Food on company premises was not subsided at all and was very expensive, there wasn’t really anywhere else to go. But the cost of living in general was good, and coupled with strong salaries in the company it was on the whole quite affordable.

Not bad, didn’t have the city/uni town feel that would have been ideal for placement students. But there was enough bars and pubs to keep me happy. Might tire of the night life scene after a couple of years, but good for placement students. One issue was that Derby is small enough and Rolls-Royce big enough that you might bump into colleagues quite often, could get tiresome.

Is this in terms of company run activities or general activities in the area worked in? It’s a big company so there were various clubs; running/bands/charities/football etc. Didn’t really feel like getting involved as I wasn’t there that long. Can’t really comment on outside the company in general; probably fine in Derby, as with socialising/nightlife, it’s not the biggest place in the world so opportunities certainly aren’t endless.