Human Factors Intern Review

As a Human Factors intern at Siemens Rail Automation, I really enjoyed my placement overall, I was able to learn about the rail industry and understand how large companies work. I have learnt a lot in terms of human factors especially in the rail industry, and have been able to apply some of the knowledge from my years at uni to real world projects, including going to meetings with stakeholders and doing focus groups with mock-ups as well as CAD analysis.

In the company as a Human Factors intern, other people in the other departments do not understand the work we did in human factors so I did not feel valued by many of the people who I had to work with or report to. However I felt very valued by the people in the Human Factors team, who understood the work we were doing and the gave me support and encouragement.

At the beginning I was given a lot of support and guidance and my line manger was mentoring me in our area of work, since they left I lost a bit of support but other colleagues have supported me as much as they can. When I felt like projects were asking too much of me, I was able to talk to people to help me with the workload.

Workload varied, I was given a familiarization project to start with to help understand how the company worked, which kept me busy for a month or so. Then I picked which project I wanted to work on, and that kept me busy, however with timescales and budgets the project was put on hold and my workload dropped. Then I began to help a colleague with another large project which I have stayed on and have been kept busy with up until my last day.

I was given a the responsibility of writing many documents which would be used internally for development projects, as well as documents that were given to subcontractors and clients/customers. I got to represent Siemens and Human Factors at a few events, going to a Universities for career days and an CIEHF event.

My document writing has improved a lot, as well as gaining a better understanding of the rail industry and how a large company works. I have learnt a lot in my specialty of Human Factors and Ergonomics, which I will use in my final year of study as well as when I get jobs after my studies.

In the Chippenham office, the atmosphere is different depending on which buildings you are in, the R&D building is usually quiet, whereas the other buildings are louder with more people talking. Both are good environments to work in. There are Christmas parties held every year and occasionally departments will have socials, e.g. bowling or mini golf. For the interns at the end there was a Gala held.

The internships are dependent on the department, but there is an overall group that also has an Intern Development Training programme which includes 3 modules. My internship was organized quite well as my line manager when I arrived had a plan set up and gave me a list of projects to read through that I could get involved in. However there was not much help when trying to find accommodation or anything to make all the interns get together (and grads).

We had the Intern Development Training programme, which we got to travel to different sites for if we wanted to. The 3 modules included: 1. Business Influencing Awareness 2. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 3. Career Development There were okay, however they seemed a bit rushed. The best part was getting to travel and see the other sites.

If there was a Human Factors team at the company which I knew I could learn from and develop my skills I would go back, however as there is little to no team, I know that if I go back as a graduate, I will be overwhelmed with work that I do not have the experience to do. However in the future when I get the experience and they have built a good team, I would think about coming back, as the work is interesting and it is a good company to work for.

The interns didn't really get to know each other that well due to there being no formal ways of meeting, and as everyone worked in separate departments it took a while for everyone to meet. I knew a few of the grads and so there was a good social scene with them, they had training together often and got to meet together before they started. There are events like Halloween nights out which were good and many people met each other, as well as the Christmas parties and other events that were set up by ourselves (outside of work).

In Chippenham the living cost is lower than those in Bath or Bristol however the social life and night life is better in Bath and Bristol compared to Chippenham, however there a re reasonably frequent trains to Bath and Bristol which are quite cheap. Bath or Bristol living costs will be around £600+ a month for a room/1 bed whereas Chippenham is £400-500 for a room/apartment.

In Chippenham the nightlife is poor, however there are a few nice bars and pubs. To go out for a night out, everyone either goes to Bath or Bristol which are good nights out. However you would need to get a taxi back as trains stop annoyingly early in the direction of Chippenham, but a taxi would cost around£30-40 back from Bath, so share taxis.

There were pubs and gyms around Chippenham. There weren't much activities involving work itself, apart from the Siemens football team which trained once a week. For things to do everyone would go into Bath or Bristol, as there is a lot more happening around there. There were STEM events to get involved in.