Apprentice engineer Review

As far as I am concerned, I got an internship of 12 weeks in EDF power station. This is a huge industry where I had the opportunity to learn a lot of things about functioning of Pressurised Water Reactor, rigour and safety criteria in this area, working in a team of engineers... I am very happy and proud of this experience which allowed me to discover practices and ways of work completely different of my country (France), ways of life also. This was fantastic and thanks to this summer internship I could compare England and France which is enriching personally as much as professionally.

Team of engineers was extraordinary, in fact as soon as my beginning; they welcomed, took care, and introduced me in the engineering department as well as possible. Moreover, they were always available, open in order to support and help me when necessary. I felt that they really would like to make this internship one of the best experiences and memories of my life that is why at the beginning they asked me what I would like to do, to learn, to take, and to share with them. I would like to tell that all members of the team were very kind and work in a friendly atmosphere and besides really open-minded which help you when you need something in your private life as much as your professional life.

As I wrote in the previous question, my supervisor but also the manager were always available, open-minded... When you are taking an internship, this is really nice to feel supported, and here I can insure you they did all the necessary for it! I met people, passionate about working and proud to share their experiences and knowledges.

At the beginning I worked between 8h30 to 16h30 with a one hour break for a meal. This was nice according to the daily hours courses I took in order to learn basics. But after courses end, I asked my supervisor to do same hours as him: 7h30 to 15h30 in order to be with him all the day and also to have the opportunity of enjoying afternoon out of work like visits. Obviously, he accepted this and then I did those hours as daily basis. During a day you attend meetings, you do tours on field, work at the office on your subjects, meet people to talk and share our experiences...

During this period, I had not managerial responsibilities or others, but my subjects were concrete and a real need of the power station with high stakes. I had to work with some persons in order to go ahead in the subjects. Rigorous and relevant analysis was a key to reach the goal and bring them my point of view on this work.

As I told previously, during these three months I had the opportunity to learn a lot of things about functioning of Pressurised Water Reactor, rigour and safety criteria in this area, working in a team of engineers and improve my English speaking. I am convinced that I also learned and adopted another way of work but also another way to approach problems and life. Combine technical and sciences criteria for the analysis in the subjects was very enriching and I have the confidence that it would assist me in my studies for the next years earlier or in my future job later. On the personal point, doing this internship in England was the opportunity for me to discover culture of English population and to visit the surroundings.

The office was an open-space organization, this allow discussions between people and permits to have quick answers when you ask something. Furthermore, team of engineers was extraordinary, in fact as soon as my beginning; they welcomed, took care, and introduced me in the engineering department as well as possible. Moreover, they were always available, open in order to support and help me when necessary. I felt that they really would like to make this internship one of the best experiences and memories of my life that is why at the beginning they asked me what I would like to do, to learn, to take, and to share with them. I would like to tell that all members of the team were very kind and work in a friendly atmosphere and besides really open-minded which help you when you need something in your private life as much as your professional life.

There was a relevant and nice organization about the overall work placement. Indeed, during the two first I took courses in order to have the basics to work and understand my subjects. After that, I obtained different access for working with e-tools and start my subjects. I felt this was nice and progressive, I felt a certain logical way between beginning and end. Besides my supervisors anticipated all the things before my arrival in order to gain time however during few days I had to wait due to the slowness of administration and security.

To my mind they did the maximum to give me the mains knowledges and the opportunities to share experiences and ways of work throughout this internship. When I arrived I expected to discover and learn a lot of things but thanks to their open-minded, their investment I had much more opportunities to learn and share experiences. I left the power station and her engineering department with a lot of things I learnt and really much more than I expected.

Thanks to this summer internship I met a lot of people working in a friendly atmosphere while rigour and safety are the keywords of their practices. People wear proudly values and principals of the company. I think at this time there are little companies where you can find this. Moreover, I am sure all of that corresponds to my personality, and I learnt so many things interesting: all days you can learn new things and work differently, and that is wonderful. I am very interesting to work in this company after my studies and I hope so. In a big company like edf energy, you have many opportunities to go to work at the international during longs or shorts periods, or just for meeting, moreover careers advancement are very interesting and give you the chance to change of work while staying in the same company. There are a lot of words to tell about why I would like to work with them but just the fact to work in a big company and in nuclear industry which is a challenge are a good summary.

All the persons I met were very kind and friendly, in the company, respect and equality are important principals which personal apply. That's why I never felt below or above them, whether it is a technician, an engineer or a student we are colleagues: all equals and we have to work together.

Comparing to France, the cost of living is higher here than France. Accommodation, food, activities are in general very expensive and especially in the surroundings of the power station. However certain things are cheap like trains, fast restoration... Many things which normally are free in France but also in other places in England like car parks are fee.

I stayed in a small town just near the power station and the sea, it was not very safe but it was convenient. Because of the small size of the town there was not nightlife but in another town which is bigger, not far away : approximately 15 miles there were pubs, shops, restaurants...

Outside of work, I did a lot of sport indeed there is a sport centre with a swimming pool, gym, playing fields... Moreover there is a beach where during summer you can take a lot of rest away from wind. To finish, view, landscape is beautiful and you can do walk, run, bike along seacoast