R&D Engineering Intern Review

I enjoyed my placement very much as it gave me exporsure to the research side of the technical world. It gave me the opportunity to develop both my technical as well as my soft skills. It felt like I was learning something new everyday. I was also able to meet people from various other backgrounds through SPY days which is not very easy to do at university.

In my whole year, I was given 3 different projects to work on. One was a team project and on the others I was the only one working on them. While being part of the team, I never felt like I was given things that no one wanted to do. I was always acknowledged for my contributions and given sole responsibilties on certain tasks.

My supervisors were very approachable and friendly. We had weekly project meetings to keep track on project development, as well as setting personal development targets. Even though for 2 of the 3 projects I was working with technologies that few people in the department had experience of, I was always able to approach them and we would work out a resolution.

This depended on my capabilty to achieve tasks. There was no set expectations for me so it never felt like I was cramped up. For one my projects, we had a conference showcase for which the time leading up to it was quite hectic but apart from that it was very manageable.

For most of my projects, I was the only one working on them. As this was a research department, it also meant not many people had experience with the softwares I was using. This also meant that my research findings were going to be basis of new projects in the future.

The things I learnt here are going to be very helpful with my studies. I have actually decided to do my dissertation on one of the topics I researched here. I got hands on experience with cutting edge technologies like VR, machine learning, cloud data analysis to name but a few which is going to be helpful with my future career.

The general atmosphere in the department was quite chilled. There is no set dress code, and the onus was on you to be responsible and work to task and do the set hours. I enjoyed the flexibility this gave me, and was very different to what I was used to.

Throughout the year, there were opportunities to meet the other interns from the other office, and we were able to travel to other parts of the Sony company, receiving talks and taking part in workshops. And before the start of the placement, we were all introduced via email and this enabled us to set up social media groups to arrange housing etc.

As mentioned in the previous answers, SPY days were organised to meet and learn through various team building activities. I also had personal development meetings to set targets, but not much so from the department. Everything was sort of learn on your own job so not much invested as such.

As much as I know about this, there is not any graduate prospects in the company or the department. It might change by the time I would apply for jobs but so far it doesnt look too bright for me in Sony. There is opportunities to apply for other sister companies within Sony and as interns we can skip some of the early interview stages.

As interns, we socialsied a lot, and we were able to make social media groups, as previously mentioned. Everyone got on with each other, and I would recommend making the effort to get along, as it provides activities to do outside the office. We organised day trips to nearby towns on weekends, as there is not a lot to do during the weekends in Basingstoke.

The cost of living was very cheap for me because I go to university in Guildford which is almost as expensive as London. For socialising, the interns organzied some day and night outs, barbeques in summer. I would recommend house-sharing as this brings the cost of accomodation down.

No nightlife as such in Basingstoke. There are quite a few pubs around but only one club so not much of a choice here. Reading is fairly close by train and taxi which has a lot more choice in terms of places and also prices as it has a university there which helps it to be more student friendly.

There weren not many opportunities to do any activities outside work. There was a Christmas party for the whole office and a department lunch and a pub crawl. The sports socities organised some things but I didnt take part in any of them so i dont know much about it.