Engineering Leadership Program Review

The core applications engineering role was fairly boring, however if you worked hard at it supplementary tasks became availible. These included going to placement fairs and teaching courses. You work as part of a very young sociable team which made being at work enjoyable and the time went fairly quickly.

Generally you were seen as an equal to a graduate as an intern; the only real difference between interns and grads is the salary and that graduates teach more often. Some people would look down on interns a little but it generally wasn't an issue. I personally felt very valued.

I had three managers while working here. The first two were fine and I was getting on well with them. However the third I got was much more experienced as a manager and was therefore much more supportive and great at pushing me to do my best. That manager was the best thing about the placement.

You could manage your own workload to pick up as much work as you thought you could handle. Understaffing meant that sometimes we had to pick up more than we were comfortable with to help the team out. Without the understaffing the workload would have been perfect.

I was given a lot of responsibility; I was always on the phone to customers as one of their primary contacts at the company. I also taught some professional courses; one of which I taught it entirely by myself. This varies between interns though; you have to work hard to get the additional tasks and responsibility.

I learnt a significant amount about LabVIEW, embedded systems and soft skills such as communication, project management, leadership etc. LabVIEW is a very specific tool but some parts of my course make use of it. The other skills are highly transferrable and very useful.

The atmosphere was fantastic. It was really fun being with a young group of engineers and we enjoyed being there. This did tail off towards the end of the placement with some of the management changes and due to understaffing. It was still a good place to work, however.

The placement is a rolling scheme which happens every year and was nearly seamless through years of practice. Everybody has exit interviews to openly discuss the placement so that it is constantly improving, and they seem to act upon this feedback. If you are offered a graduate role, the internship year forms part of your graduate training.

The company invested a significant amount in training myself and my coeagues who started at the same time as me. Roughly 6 weeks of training, although I believe that this is being reduced now. Presentations raining was separate along with some sales training. Overall a good investment in training.

I was offered a position to return after a good performance in the engineering sales team. It's appealing as the workplace is fun, however the role wouldn't include or lead to any electronic design which I would like to do later down the line. I'm considering this and other options.

Yes, everybody was very social and the company set up a Facebook page before we began the placement so we could organise houses together. I really enjoyed the people I lived with and worked closely with. We'd be doing things together every week and the company often held social vents through to year too.

It was a little expensive being near to London but not too bad. I certainly wasn't struggling for money despite many social events through the year, and managed to save some money to go back to Uni with.

There's not too much in Newbury, however Reading isn't too far away and has a wide selection of clubs and bars. London is also just a train ride away for many more things to do.

I volunteered as a STEM ambassador for a day as part of the Little Lego League and there were opportunities for further activities which I was busy for such as a boat race in Newbury.