Intern Review

I enjoyed some of the projects I did for some of the managers in the department, they were very helpful and the projects were really interesting. I also enjoyed the social side of the placement, the group of other interns were all great and we would often meet up outside work. However there were a lot of parts I didn’t enjoy, such as periods of no work, bad managers and made to feel worthless. These bad points I tried to address throughout the year but failed to make a difference to my year, hopefully they’ll be improved for the future.

It depended on the colleagues. Some valued me very highly and made me feel like an asset to the department by giving me high quality feedback both good and bad on the work I had done. Other colleagues however treated me as though I didn’t exist, I wouldn’t get feedback unless something was wrong, they would always take credit for my work and when they talked to me they were very rude. However on the whole I did feel valued by the majority of the department and it meant I could block out the negativity. Also it taught me that I will always come across colleagues that don’t value me in my career and it’s a good thing that I’ve learnt that now.

Again it depends on the manager. Some managers were outstanding, they understood how I worked, they would give great support and guidance if I needed it and I always felt that I could go to them if I needed help. Others however, never really gave support and I never seemed to be able to go to them for help. I don’t need a lot of support and guidance, I find that I can work things out on my own, however when I do it’s nice to know people are there to help if I need it.

It varied during the year, at the start of the year I had a really good work balance. I was never overloaded with work and I also always had work to do. Later on in the year however that changed so I was always in extremes due to my manager not allowing me to do work for other managers in the department. One minute I would have nothing to do and would have to find work and projects to do myself, and other times I would have so much work on I couldn’t reach the tight deadlines.

At the start of the placement I was given much responsibility at all, however that was because people weren’t sure what I was capable of. As the year progressed and people trusted me more to do tasks, I started getting more and more responsibility. By the end I was in charge of projects where I would organise what the teams doing work for me were doing and in what time scale. I also was in charge of giving lectures to other people in the department.

A lot of the skills I picked up, not necessarily the skills related to my role but definitely from my experiences in business, will help me when I go back to Uni and in my future career. The skills I developed dealing with different people, different cultures, stress handling, teamwork and leadership will benefit me no end in my future career. I may have had a lot of bad times this year, however, from those I have learnt skills that I would otherwise not have learnt until I was potentially a lot older. I have learnt more skills from those bad times than I have from my work I and the good times combined. It has been an eye opening year, but one that has almost certainly changed me for the better for my career ahead.

The atmosphere for the majority of the year was very laid back. It meant that the stress levels were kept to a minimum and that everyone could work efficiently. Very occasionally if there was a probably in the market, the whole department would be all hands at deck to try and solve it, however that was quite rare. The department was however very Japanese in its approach and there was a lot of politics going on under the surface that came out every now and again but was quite easy to ignore.

The placement was pretty unorganised at the start, Hays were very unhelpful the whole year and we only got our contracts after our manager chased for them 6 months in. However, through the HR reps in charge of the SPY scheme, it got a lot better as the year progressed and they were very helpful when we had problems. There are 4 set SPY development days a year which are very engaging, well organised and provide you with invaluable skills.

Throughout the year we had a lot of training sessions on various topics in the department, from the history of products, to principles to how to use software most efficiently. I also got the chance to lead my own training sessions which was even more beneficial as you learn a lot about a subject when you have to teach it to others. We also had the 4 SPY training days during the year which taught us additional skills we might not have learnt in our roles but that we will need later in our careers. Furthermore, we had to give presentations to the managers in our department, in which they gave up their time to learn what we had been doing and we strengthened our presentation skills.

They seem to have opportunities in the future with them if I perform well during the year. I would consider coming back in the future, but one thing I’ve learnt this year is how much job satisfaction means to me so it would have to be a role that I could see myself getting job satisfaction from. I am definitely not ruling it out as I have had a good time here and have gotten on well which a number of the managers here.

The social scene in Basingstoke was pretty poor, the few clubs are pretty rubbish and apart from the chain restaurants, there isn’t really anywhere nice to eat or go for drinks in the centre. That being said, the other interns were absolutely amazing. We would meet up outside work multiple nights a week which was always a lot of fun. During work with the interns was also very good, we would all have lunch and occasionally breaks together.

The cost of living in Basingstoke, being a commuter town, is very high, especially for what you get. The houses in the centre of town are far too expensive to rent on an intern wage and the houses just outside the centre are still not cheap and also aren’t in really nice neighbourhoods. The best option this year for other interns seemed to be living outside Basingstoke and commuting in, as the houses are nice, cheaper and in nice neighbourhoods. Also the cost of socialising is quite high, especially for what you get, just because it is quite close to London.

The nightlife in Basingstoke is pretty shocking. Growing up in a city which good nightlife and also going to Uni in one, I came to Basingstoke and was very disappointed. There are 2 clubs, one normal club and one over 21s club. I haven’t been to the over 21s club as not all the interns were over 21 until the end of my placement year, however the normal club was always full of people either underage or just 18 and was never really a good night. The bars as well weren't great. That being said, Reading isn't too far away and the price of a taxi back isn't too bad if you split it and Reading is always a good night out being a Uni town.

There was events going of every now and again for employees, such as quizzes and films in the onsite cinema. Also in our department there were occasionally trips to the pub and the Christmas party is always a big thing. Apart from that, there isn’t a huge amount to do unless the interns organise to do things (which happens quite a lot).