Intern Review

I have enjoyed my internship very much. Throughout my internship I have been able to do work that both interests and challenges me, with my role giving me the freedom to find my own solutions to problems. This role has also helped me to decide what jobs I would like to do in future. I have also enjoyed working with those in my department, with those of us in our department being good friends.

Due to the fact that I was at one point the only person in my department doing my particular role, I feel that I was definitely valued, with many in my department showing much interest in the tasks I was doing. My department also has a warm, friendly atmosphere and I have never felt that I was not wanted or needed by my colleagues.

Due to the nature of my role and the lack of experience with said role across the department at the time, I was given a lot of free rein when it came to completing my tasks. This however lead to the downside that I did not have a lot of guidance when it came to completing my tasks other than to be able to complete them. Even though i very much enjoyed this freedom, it may have been beneficial to me as an intern to have someone who knew more about my tasks to learn from and give me greater support.

Due to the nature of my role there have been days where I have been quite busy and days where i have been sat back doing very little. My role often required inputs from other colleauges who required work to be done, and as sometimes these colleagues did not need this particular task to be done, there were some times when not much was hapening. However, there were equally times when colleagues needed many tasks to be done, at which point i was kept suitiably busy. I never felt I was overworked however, or felt I was forced to work long hours.

I feel I was given a lot of responsibility, as I was trusted to set up my role as I wished. My colleagues ultimately put a lot of faith in me to produce results in an area where they didn't have much knowledge, and so this freedom they gave me to complete the tasks in my own way translated to them proving they trusted me enough to give me this responsibility.

I feel my skills will assist me greatly in the future. I wish to take what I did during my placement further, with me planning to do a final year project on a similar topic next year, and hopefully going inot the industry doing the same (or similar role) shortly after.

My office had a relaxed and friendly atmosphere which ultimately translated into a good work environment. I never felt my office had a toxic atmosphere and I was able to both do my work and socialise within my department. This atmosphere ultimately lead to a laid-back yet driven and determined work environment.

My particular placement was not overly well organised. Though i was given a manual with all the neccessary tasks I had to do upon arrival, there was no formal induction and jobs were given to me as and when they were needed to be done. Though I have enjoyed my role, there has defintely been a lack of formal organisation and integration for interns by the company overall.

My department has invested a lot in me, giving me the tools I requested in order to build up my role. This in turn has helped my personal development. In terms of formal training however, there has been very little, with me wishing I had been given more official technical training over the course of my placement.

Unfortunately, the prospects are not good. Graduate roles have almost never been mentioned and very few English placement students go on to graduate placements. There seems to be little apetite for reemploying placements students, though i cannot say why. As for my role the project I am working on ends before I graduate, meaning it is unlikely I will be re-employed after I graduate. your only real prospect is to learn German and try and get a job in Munich.

There was a good social scene amongst the interns. We had social secretaries which organised weekly pub nights, as well as events such as paintballing and pub crawls. We also regularly had smaller events organisedwhere a few people would go the the cinema or round someones house for the night in. There were usually plenty of options when it came to socialised with colleagues.

Oxford is quite an expensive place to live and socialise. You will most likely be renting a lower quality house towards the outskirts of Oxford due to the housing costs, which leaves you far from the town centre. Furthermore, the cost of resturants and drinking in Oxford is quite expensive outside of the colleges, meaning you will be spending a large amount of your earnings on socialising if this is your choice of afterwork activity.

Due to my nature I do not particularly care about nightlife. However, due to Oxford being a university town there are clubs and other nightlife activities to go to should this be your thing. There is also the opportunity to try and integrate with the Oxford University crowd should you wish, giving you an experience more unique to Oxford.

Due to its proximitity to Oxford University there are many opportunities to get involved in activites outside of work. I myself joined a number of university societies even though I was not affiliated with the university itself. The town also has a number of other activites and attractions in which to go to, and my colleagues were always organising events outside of work, meaning there was always plenty to do outside of work.