Intern Review

As a first proper job, I was relatively anxious and had fears about my placement. Since day one, my team have been supportive and friendly and this has been invaluable in my experience. Even when the work has been less enjoyable, the people around the office improved the morale and helped me enjoy the days as they flew by!

I really feel valued by my team. They have been asking me about future plans, going back to university, et cetera. We go out for lunch/drinks occasionally and have stand-ups as part of our working week, so from the higher manager to the support team, there is a 'family' ethic amongst the department.

I have had a range of supervisors/managers and all have been supportive in any work or personal issues I have had over my year with Siemens. There have been on some occasions a communication barrier between my line manager and placement manager, but after a meeting this was resolved and since then there is a better alignment.

Naturally with my role, it varies. But I have noticed that particularly in the last quarter/half of my placement, as I have grown in confidence and picked up more work, I've been extremely busy! But being busy is good in the sense that the days fly by and you feel achieved and like your work is valued.

I have certainly been given increasing responsibility as I have developed as an intern at Siemens- I am now responsible for some fast-return asset management for an essential project, for example. This means building, setting up and configuring systems with quick turn-arounds. And, significantly, across all my work I manage my own time- this in itself is a huge responsibility, as there's lots to do and various deadlines to meet!

The experience in industry has been really valuable to my organization, communication and interfacing skills, particularly. I think all of these will help me upon my return to university and, for example, with my dissertation project- as I have had experience with the logistics of real project management. I believe is will continue to assist me post-university.

The office has the ideal atmosphere- we all get on with our work, get the jobs done, but also when the time is right have some great chats. These can either be work or personal related, as sometimes it's good to just take a few minutes break (from screens particularly) and speak/support your colleagues.

The staggered start/finish dates did lead to some organizational issues, which we addressed with the entry level talent team and they made changes to address this for future cohorts. Considering this, I would say the internship was well set-up and structured with quarterly placement reviews to track progress. I would recommend it!

I attended the standard Intern Development Programme which consisted of multiple useful training courses, and all epitomized with the Siemens Entry Level Talent Gala - this felt like a real investment in the interns and other entry level talent as it was an exceptionally hosted event with senior management and the UK CEO present.

There is a degree of uncertainty in the future of the grad scheme in terms of my area of work, however I am hopeful that I will be able to either find a grad scheme position or a full-time role within the company- whether that be the site I worked at, or another site within Siemens UK. The business asked us to fill in a form gauging this interest in future employment so I am hopeful that my feedback on this helps with my future applications.

The intern cohort, undoubtedly, have been invaluable to my intern experience. I have made lifelong friends and will greatly miss them! It's been rewarding to look back and see how we have all developed over the year in various personal/work developments, and I am proud of my colleagues and wish them all the best upon return to university and beyond.

Fairly cheap- accommodation was ~£100 per week and we sorted this quite late, the nightlife can be expensive on weekends but we utilized in-town accommodation for socializing and then went out to further socialize. There are a variety of food/drink places for different price ranges so the area suits any budget.

A great range in terms of types of music scene available, opening times, general type of nightlife (old school bars/pubs, clubs, Bierkeller, karaoke bars, et cetera). And to top it off, a variety of food places to go after the night out! Overall fairly cheap and a good range of places to go.

Most of the activities we did outside of work were organized amongst ourselves, but of course we would not expect this to be organized by the company. I know of some other colleagues who have done team bowling/escape rooms et cetera but I haven't done this personally. Nonetheless has been great