Process Design Engineer Review

The placement was good in terms of pushing me out of my comfort zone, in terms of taking a leading role in meetings, having a lot of responsibility, and completing work to a consistently high standard. I felt that the work I was being asked to do was valuable to the company, and not just being piled on me as no one else wanted to do it.It has also been a great insight into the B2B world. However, it would have been better to have had a bit more support from my manager, however this is not entirely his fault as he has been busy with more pressing matters.

Within the Basingstoke office, I did not feel like I was looked down on, and was treated well. At the beginning there was a bit of scepticism I feel, but once I became more comfortable with people this went away very quickly. Within the office, everyone is approachable and will take the time to answer your questions within a very reasonable time frame. One issue however, is that when dealing with colleagues from outside the UK, there seems to be a stereotypical view of an intern, in that they are there to do the 'dirty jobs'. However, I have discussed this with my manager and he has given me support with these issues.

At the start I was given a lot of guidance, and it is very helpful that there is a two-week handover period from the previous intern. My manager also scheduled meetings about 2-3 times a month in the beginning, and these helped me to remain on track and progress. I was also given a lot of support by the PSE Helpdesk, and I was able to go down and observe on many occasions. However, from about the middle of my placement the meetings with my manager have been less frequent, however this is also down to more pressing business matters. On the flip side, I have always been able to ask him quick questions, but more detailed discussion would have been nice. Further, although there is a big emphasis on using my own initiative, there have been times when a helping hand to point me in the right direction or to ensure I was on the right path

Depends really, some days can be very busy, and others have been quiet whilst I have to wait for email replies. Although I have tried to use my own initiative and start new tasks in the meantime, on occasion I have done all I can do to move things forward and have to wait until colleagues can reply to me. However, this time can be filled with doing activities to further my own personal development, such as Excel training etc. I would have liked to have been involved in more projects, however the ones I have been involved in have been great learning experiences.What is frustrating is that sometimes I am only involved in a certain stage of the project, and it would be good to have seen it all the way to completion

A lot, I had to produce important service guideline documents for the Helpdesk, and these need to be correct and easy to follow. Further, I was tasked with re-designing the Sharepoint site for my department, which involved lots of planning and discussion across the department. Further I also had to product weekly inventory reports that were sent to Japan, and these needed to be done at the same time each week.

The soft skills I learned such as clear communication, presentation skills, attention to detail etc will be invaluable in both uni and my career. I have also become more computer competent, and also ways to manage my time better. This will be very helpful in writing uni essays, and other aspects of my career

Very good, I felt welcomed at the start, and people are very approachable in terms of going over to their desk to ask very pressing questions. There is no enforced time of clocking in and clocking out, as long as the weekly hours are done, these can be done in many ways, such as taking shorter lunch breaks and then going home earlier.

There were opportunities to meet with the other interns from other offices and go on work trips to do team building activities, these were a good choice. However, it would have been nice if these could have been a bit more frequent, but this is not a criticism. As mentioned, the two week handover period was good. The payroll company used was the main criticism, as they often messed up payslips, but this is not directly through SONY itself

There was lots of opportunities to observe how things are done, and there is a catalogue of courses are offered by SONY that can be taken up. However, these are often limited places and fill up very quickly. Further, these are not very well advertised. Although I have not been on any of the courses, I have heard they are very well done.

It depends on the role, my role is probably not one that would be done by a full time employee, however I did know this before taking the placement. There are a few opportunities, but these probably will not be in the office I worked in. This could definitely be improved upon!

Yes, we were put in contact before we started, and we have lunch together on most occasions. We organised lots of activities outside the office, and it has been good to make new friends from all over the country. I felt very welcomed and I hope we can stay in touch after placement.

Basingstoke is very expensive compared to the costs of living in the north where I go to uni. Accommodation and bills take up around half of the monthly wage, however there are ways to save money such as bringing own food to lunch. Even though accommodation costs are high, I felt that it was justified.

Bars and pubs are very good, and are a good way to socialise, however there is only one club and it is not very good, as it not a typical student club, but one for the whole town. However, Reading is a short train/taxi away, and there is lots of clubs there.

Not for me personally, everyone else in my team is very older than me, so we didnt really socialise outside the office. There is a good social club within the office, which put on movies and quizzes every couple of weeks. The Christmas party was also a good highlight, and there were lots of team lunches around the festive period.