Engineering Intern Review

I did the placement last year in the same office of Siemens Rail electrification, however last year I enjoyed it more as I was much busier, working on three main projects across the three months. This year I haven't had as much to do and the things I have been working on have been less defined.

When I was able to meet with them they were very helpful, however they were often in a different office, in meetings or on leave and so it was difficult to find time with them. At the start of the placement I was given a very detailed introduction to rail and some documents to read which was useful.

I did the placement last year and I was much busier and my projects were more defined however, this year I had a lot less to do as a lot of people have been away on leave at difficult times and now that the office is split across two sites it is difficult to organize meetings with people.

For some of the projects I had a lot of responsibility and was the only one working on them, however for certain others I was just proof-reading documents. I was able to go to the IEEE Women in Engineering Summit one week, paid for by Siemens which was really good and I managed to talk to lots of other people in industry.

A lot of my work involved using Excel and Visio and so I have improved a lot in these which will be useful for the future. I have also completed some business training, such as compliance and information security, and found more courses on the intranet which I complete when I'm not busy.

The number of people in the office varied considerably from day-to-day. Most days there were about 8-9 people in but some days the office was too full and were two to a desk. The office was generally quite quiet but friendly. The general working hours were between 8:30 and 5pm.

I had already worked with the company last year and so re-applying again was quite easy: I had to re-complete the application form but I was able to bypass the interview section. I received adequate information about starting and policies and most of the IT equipment and accounts I needed were set up by the end of the first week.

There were a few mandatory online training sessions I did about business working, such as compliance and information security and many more online courses that I could do on the intranet. I was also able to attend the IEEE Women in Engineering Summit, sponsored by Siemens which was a really good experience and very useful.

There is a two year grad scheme that I am hoping to apply for after I graduate. The main appeal of this is the possibility of working internationally, however I think I will apply for a different sector of Siemens that better fits my degree specialization and is a bigger office.

The office is quite small and this is only the second year that they have been running an internship, grad scheme or summer internship scheme and consequently there are only 3 interns and grad students and so it is quite quiet. Occasionally there are staff initiatives with social events involved, such as diversity week pub quiz.

The main office is in York city centre and so there were lots of things going on in the town. There is also an office on York Science Park which is based next to the university and so there are activities, societies and events that are open to the public.