Science and Engineering Intern Review

My internship was very enjoyable. The working environment was constantly fluctuating, and you truly never knew what the next day would hold. I truly felt like I was part of the team with everyone being very welcoming and friendly. I was fascinated by the workings of the plant and was given ample opportunity to explore and experience this myself.

My colleagues were very friendly and gave me a lot of work to do from the beginning. I was often out on plant helping with tasks and I ddin't feel like I was just lumped with the boring or trivial tasks. I felt my work helped the department and my colleagues seemed to reflect this, making me feel valuable to the team.

The group head was fantastic at trying to ensure that I had plenty to do. Sometimes the supervisors I was helping were very busy themselves and didn't have time immediately to help me or look over what I had done. When I received guidance however, it was informative and critical in a positive way.

I would quite often be waiting for guidance from my supervisors due to their own workload. This would sometimes lead to me sitting for hours at a time with very little to do apart from reading through educational notes provided by EDF. I would ask for more work every morning and sometimes this would materialise, but I could be waiting a while before anyone got to me.

I felt the work did bear as much responsibility as you can give a 12 week intern. Working within the safety department is always going to have a level of responsibility, but this is amplified when working on a power station. The work I did contributes to the plant as a whole and it was satisfying to see my work being implemented on a large scale.

I think that the insight this internship has given me is invaluable. It was incredibly enlightening to see what I have learned be put into practice, but also learning about a whole load of processes and practices that I hadn't even considered. These new skills will be incredibly useful for me in my final year, in particular in my desing project and my time/people management skills.

Everyone in my office was very friendly and welcoming. There was always time for a joke and a laugh, but also plenty time to get your head down and work. Even small things like a Friday morning quiz and discussions of learning points helped to contribute to the positive atmosphere in the office.

Quite often I felt like I didn't have enough to do within one department, or that the supervisor didn't have enough time to help me with the issues. This meant that a two week job could turn into a three or four week job. There was no major project for me to work on independently and I would fill the time doing small, emergent jobs for people.

I received all the training I required to make myself feel as comfortable as possible. Entering into restricted areas can feel daunting but the vast array of training I received, both computer-based and practical, helped me to overcome this. From a development point of view, I felt that the group head was very warm and welcoming. I always felt that I had the opportunity to talk to him about any issues, whether it be technical questions or personal guidance if required.

EDF has a graduate scheme that I will definitely be applying for and have received guidance on the steps required. The internship has no route into the grad scheme and you still need to apply as usual, but you are at a large advantage having worked at an EDF plant.

I met the fellow placement students once for a photo and that was it. However, meeting them was made more difficult by the different start and finish dates but that is through no fault of EDF Energy. Whilst there was no formal meet-up between placements, I could easily have dropped them an email or phoned them to arrange something.

I was lucky enough that the plant is near my family home so I lived there over summer. However, many stay in Edinburgh and I go to university there so I know that the cost of living is fairly reasonable if a little on the expensive side. However, the closer surrounding areas to the plant are very reasonable.

The plant is located in a rural area so there is not a lot of nightlife in the vicinity of the plant. However, it is a short train up to Edinburgh which has a good nightlife, especially when the Fringe festival is on. Edinburgh offers a lot that other cities don't and ios a beautiful city.

There were no formal opportunities arranged by the company outside of work, but the welcoming nature and friendliness of staff would make it easy to arrange some activities yourself if you so wished.